Tseng Cheng

Tseng Cheng, OBE, JP [http://www.gld.gov.hk/cgi-bin/gld/egazette/gazettefiles.cgi?lang=e&year=2007&month=12&day=28&vol=11&no=52&gn=8602&header=1&part=0&move=3&df=1&nt=gn&acurrentpage=12&gaz_type=mg] (zh-tp|t=曾正|p=Zeng Zheng; July 29, 1915 – August 28, 2008) was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Zhuhai, Guangdong). He was best noted for his positions in the Hong Kong Housing Board, Director of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, and Chairman of the Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Disease Foundation.

Biography

Born on 29 July 1915 in Hong Kong, Tseng's father died when he was just fourteen. He studied at Diocesan Boys' School, Sun Yat Sen University and University of Hong Kong. He graduated from university just before the Japanese invasion in 1937. He took up an engineering job repairing bridges of the Kowloon Canton Railway damaged by the Japanese. His family (mother and brother Pei) fled to the neutral French concession of Guangzhouwan (present day Zhanjiang) at the height of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong.

After the war, he became a successful real estate developer in Hong Kong, founding the Tseng Brother's Construction Co. A bulk of his projects are located in Tsim Sha Tsui and Repulse Bay.

In 1965, he was appointed by Governor Sir Robert Brown Black to the Hong Kong Housing Board (predecessor of the current Hong Kong Housing Authority). While as a member he was instrumental in encouraging the board to improve living conditions of the poor. He strongly advised the Housing Board to continue its program resettling the numerous dwellers of squatter housing into proper government built flats. He noted that poor living conditions was an indirect cause of public disturbances such as the Hong Kong 1967 Leftist Riots.

From 1975 to 1999, he became the Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association, where he was involved in the redevelopment of Ruttonjee Hospital. He was promoted to chairman in 2000 [http://www.antitb.org.hk/hpc/cph/en/message_tsengcheng.asp] . Tseng also contributed to the redevelopment of Grantham Hospital and Freni Home, nursing home. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals from 1959 to 1964, serving as chairman for 1963-64 [http://www.tungwah.org.hk/?content=591&print=true] . From 1982 to 2004, he served on its advisory board.

He was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his contributions to Hong Kong society.

In the late 1990s, he funded the construction of a Vocational School, an elementary school and a student's residence in his ancestral home of Zhuhai, China. The Vocational school was subsequently named after him [http://www.zh-aptech.com.cn/news/school/news-school.asp?id=215] . A small museum in the school is dedicated to him. [http://www.zhuhai.gov.cn/ggfw/bmdha/jy/zxjy/200707/t20070719_1561.html] [http://news.zhnews.net/zhnews/2008/0911/article_2614.html]

Tseng Cheng suffered a stroke in 2004. He passed away at St. Theresa's Hospital on August 28, 2008.

Personal

Following the end of World War II, Tseng returned to Hong Kong and married a nurse from Macau. They had seven sons and five daughers, many of whom have studied or settled overseas in the United Kingdom or the United States of America.

Honours & recognition

* MBE, 1965
* Justice of Peace, 1965
* OBE, 1995

References

[http://www.zhuhai.gov.cn/ggfw/bmdha/jy/zxjy/200707/t20070719_1561.html]

External links