JTCW Founder, Joseph Tse Sianjung
Artist's graphic rendering of Joseph Tse Sianjung from a portrait taken in the 1960s.
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Joseph Tse was born in the economically depressed port city of Zhenjiang, China in 1917. When Joseph was just 2 years old, his father died, forcing his mother to sell most of the family’s belongings to support them and pay for his education. In 1934, when Joseph was 17, his mother died as well. Orphaned, poor and unable to continue his education, he began working at a local textile mill to support himself. This was undoubtedly a difficult time in Joseph’s life, but soon his ambition and intelligence helped him secure a |
job as an assistant broker on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It was the beginning of a long and illustrious career, though the details of how it happened are mostly lost to time, which was a common realization in researching Joseph’s life.
Joseph was a private man who focused his attention on others rather than himself, and many of the specifics of his life went unrecorded and unremembered. However, he lived and worked in a time of great change, and the social and political unrest that surrounded him can give us some idea of the struggles he faced and the direction his life took.
In the mid 1930s, 19 year old Joseph arrived in Shanghai. During this period, Shanghai experienced a golden age of economic, social and artistic growth, and Joseph’s own life began anew in this setting. He was hired by one of the American owned banks operating in the city, either Chase National or Citibank. Both have incomplete records, so it is unclear which was his employer. What is clear is that he made a wise choice in entering Shanghai’s world of finance. Joseph’s new home was a huge commercial center at the time that attracted foreign banks from all over the world. Half of all imports and exports to China flowed through the Port of Shanghai. Partly due to this economic power, from 1927-1950, while the rest of China was embroiled in a massive civil war, Shanghai was an island of stability amid a country in chaos. For Joseph personally as well, Shanghai was a place of opportunity and prosperity. It was the city where he would cement his career, meet his wife and start his family. But the path to those happy years would first lead through World War II and many significant challenges in Joseph’s life.
In 1937, tensions between Chinese citizens and the Japanese military in Shanghai boiled over, resulting in the killing of sixteen pro-Japanese businessmen and politicians by Chinese resistance groups. The Japanese forces tightened their controls, and by 1941, foreign nationals, as well as the Chinese citizens, had lost many of their rights. Around the start of World War II, the Japanese began interning foreign nationals and some Chinese. Thirteen camps in China and six in Hong Kong held bankers, missionaries, socialites and any others deemed a threat to Japan. The camps were severely overcrowded, sanitation was non existent, no medical care was provided and food was in short supply. Tens of thousands of prisoners were held in the camps, and although some were freed by resistance fighters and some foreign women were returned to their countries of origin, most remained interned for the duration of the war. With their employees imprisoned, the foreign banks closed. Registers were kept on some of the prisoners, but many Chinese names were excluded. Where Joseph spent the war is not known, but whether he was interned, was able to return to Zhenjiang, or remained in Shanghai, his life, like so many in the region, was upended, and would never be the same.
In 1945, not long after the bombing of Hiroshima and the German surrender, World War II ended. The internment camps across China and Hong Kong closed, and the next day foreign bankers returned to work. Joseph, now 28 years old, returned to work in Shanghai as well. It was around this time that he met and married his wife, Grace and started a family. He was well on his way to a successful career in banking, and had already developed a solid reputation for honesty and hard work.
But the peace was short lived. On May 27, 1949, in what was claimed to be a peaceful action, Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army brought Shanghai under Communist rule. One of Mao’s first actions, to gain control of the city, was to kill thousands considered to be counter-revolutionaries, and bury them in mass graves. Many were artists, musicians, educators, and intellectuals. They were executed in large numbers in prominent buildings such as the Canidrome, where musicians like American Jazz pioneer Buck Clayton had performed for black tie balls. After the massacre, most foreign companies relocated to North Point, Hong Kong, which came to be known as Little Shanghai. Joseph left for Hong Kong that same year. There he became a member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and started his own successful brokerage firm, which he ran for nearly 40 years. Because he was a truthful and honorable broker, he quickly developed a substantial client base.
In 1986 Joseph retired to Singapore, after sharing with his family his concerns about Hong Kong’s coming transition from British to Chinese rule. He started his charitable foundation in Singapore, and focused on education for poor children in the city of his birth, Zhenjiang, China. In those ten years before his death, he oversaw two new village schools that served 1,600 students, a library in Dagang High School, and funding and improvements for 55 universities, primary and middle schools. Upon his death, he left behind a foundation that would carry on his work through his grandsons who have continued and expanded on the work he began.
Joseph certainly faced many challenges during his life, from being orphaned early on, to living through a World War and dire social and political instability. He overcame much, and at the end found meaning in what was most important–family, community and helping others, so that their paths in life might be a little brighter.
Joseph was a private man who focused his attention on others rather than himself, and many of the specifics of his life went unrecorded and unremembered. However, he lived and worked in a time of great change, and the social and political unrest that surrounded him can give us some idea of the struggles he faced and the direction his life took.
In the mid 1930s, 19 year old Joseph arrived in Shanghai. During this period, Shanghai experienced a golden age of economic, social and artistic growth, and Joseph’s own life began anew in this setting. He was hired by one of the American owned banks operating in the city, either Chase National or Citibank. Both have incomplete records, so it is unclear which was his employer. What is clear is that he made a wise choice in entering Shanghai’s world of finance. Joseph’s new home was a huge commercial center at the time that attracted foreign banks from all over the world. Half of all imports and exports to China flowed through the Port of Shanghai. Partly due to this economic power, from 1927-1950, while the rest of China was embroiled in a massive civil war, Shanghai was an island of stability amid a country in chaos. For Joseph personally as well, Shanghai was a place of opportunity and prosperity. It was the city where he would cement his career, meet his wife and start his family. But the path to those happy years would first lead through World War II and many significant challenges in Joseph’s life.
In 1937, tensions between Chinese citizens and the Japanese military in Shanghai boiled over, resulting in the killing of sixteen pro-Japanese businessmen and politicians by Chinese resistance groups. The Japanese forces tightened their controls, and by 1941, foreign nationals, as well as the Chinese citizens, had lost many of their rights. Around the start of World War II, the Japanese began interning foreign nationals and some Chinese. Thirteen camps in China and six in Hong Kong held bankers, missionaries, socialites and any others deemed a threat to Japan. The camps were severely overcrowded, sanitation was non existent, no medical care was provided and food was in short supply. Tens of thousands of prisoners were held in the camps, and although some were freed by resistance fighters and some foreign women were returned to their countries of origin, most remained interned for the duration of the war. With their employees imprisoned, the foreign banks closed. Registers were kept on some of the prisoners, but many Chinese names were excluded. Where Joseph spent the war is not known, but whether he was interned, was able to return to Zhenjiang, or remained in Shanghai, his life, like so many in the region, was upended, and would never be the same.
In 1945, not long after the bombing of Hiroshima and the German surrender, World War II ended. The internment camps across China and Hong Kong closed, and the next day foreign bankers returned to work. Joseph, now 28 years old, returned to work in Shanghai as well. It was around this time that he met and married his wife, Grace and started a family. He was well on his way to a successful career in banking, and had already developed a solid reputation for honesty and hard work.
But the peace was short lived. On May 27, 1949, in what was claimed to be a peaceful action, Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army brought Shanghai under Communist rule. One of Mao’s first actions, to gain control of the city, was to kill thousands considered to be counter-revolutionaries, and bury them in mass graves. Many were artists, musicians, educators, and intellectuals. They were executed in large numbers in prominent buildings such as the Canidrome, where musicians like American Jazz pioneer Buck Clayton had performed for black tie balls. After the massacre, most foreign companies relocated to North Point, Hong Kong, which came to be known as Little Shanghai. Joseph left for Hong Kong that same year. There he became a member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and started his own successful brokerage firm, which he ran for nearly 40 years. Because he was a truthful and honorable broker, he quickly developed a substantial client base.
In 1986 Joseph retired to Singapore, after sharing with his family his concerns about Hong Kong’s coming transition from British to Chinese rule. He started his charitable foundation in Singapore, and focused on education for poor children in the city of his birth, Zhenjiang, China. In those ten years before his death, he oversaw two new village schools that served 1,600 students, a library in Dagang High School, and funding and improvements for 55 universities, primary and middle schools. Upon his death, he left behind a foundation that would carry on his work through his grandsons who have continued and expanded on the work he began.
Joseph certainly faced many challenges during his life, from being orphaned early on, to living through a World War and dire social and political instability. He overcame much, and at the end found meaning in what was most important–family, community and helping others, so that their paths in life might be a little brighter.
"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
Mr. Rogers, spoken in 1994, quoted in his obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mr. Rogers, spoken in 1994, quoted in his obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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