Honoring C.B. Sung, Hang-Sheng Cheng & Billy Lee
Presented May 25, 2011 at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Hotel in Burlingame, CA.
By Wei-Tai Kwok, Chairman
Tonite we honor three founders of The 1990 Institute: C.B. Sung, founding Chairman; Hang-Sheng Cheng, Founding President; and Billy Lee, founding Board member.
The San Francisco Bay Area is no stranger to start-up companies -- for profit start-up companies, that is.
But how many people do you know who have actually started a non-profit Bay Area company?
In fact, what type of person would that be, who would do something like that? Who would do a start-up designed not to make money?
Do you think a 60 old person would do that? Or maybe two 60 year olds teaming up to do it? With an energetic 50 year old in tow?
China in the 1980’s
Let’s go back to the 1980’s, China was on a real march towards reform. The Mao era had ended, and Deng Xiaoping’s reforms had begun to transform the country and improve people’s livelihoods. Hopes were high for an opening society.
But then things changed.
The events in 1989 shocked the world, and the enthusiasm and goodwill abruptly ended. China’s positive momentum had shifted, and China was suddenly in trouble.
Most of the world turned against China. And while Chinese in America were frustrated, our founders decided to take an unusual path at the time and instead of focusing on criticizing China, they decided to do something productive and positive that could help China.
What type of Chinese American would start such a nonprofit to help China?
Hang-Sheng Cheng
Let me tell you first about Dr. Hang-Sheng Cheng, our co-founding president, who was in fact about 62 years old when he started thinking about starting the Institute. Hang-Sheng was born in China and left in 1948 after receiving his BA in History from Qinghua University. He came to the states to get his Masters in International Relations from George Washington University, then Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton in 1963. He was a professor of Economics at Iowa State University before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 to join the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where he was a vice president and researcher at the Center for Pacific Basin Studies for over 20 years.
When faced with China’s challenges in 1989, he believed that he could help. As a lifelong intellectual and researcher and basic all-around brainiac, he proposed to start an independent Western think-tank focused on China’s macroeconomic policies. China needed independent, informed and non-political advice on pursuing market oriented reforms. But how would he actually start a think tank, and how would this research get funded? As we all know, he told C.B. Sung about his idea, and the rest is history. The institute was born, and Hang-Sheng subsequently led dozens of researchers to tackle topics and publish research on agricultural reform, enterprise reform, foreign trade, pricing, labor, taxes, banking. He retired from the Federal Reserve in 1992 which thankfully freed him up for even more full time work at the Institute.
Well those are some of the facts about Hang-Sheng. What I most admire having known Hang-Sheng for 20 years are:
- Brains. High Standards. Meticulous. Attention to detail – reviewed every book (and every newsletter)
- Thoughtfulness, gracefulness, humility, kindness.
- Fun and laughter. I always enjoy being with Hang-Sheng
Hang-Sheng, you dedicated a significant portion of your life to starting The 1990 Institute in order to help improve the livelihood of the people of China. You wanted to solve the big picture, macro issues to have the greatest impact. And you brought together the best minds from East and West to focus on China at a time it was unpopular to do so. And you did all this and led all of us with a smile on your face…who thought economics could be so much fun. Thank you for setting a wonderful tone for all of us.
In your honor, I would like to read you a limerick authored by our very own board member, James Luce, who sends his greetings from Spain but who could not join us tonight. [
see below]
William M.S. Lee
Now while Hang-Sheng has brought us economic firepower, our next honoree is Billy Lee, our creative tour-de-force. Billy also was born in China and immigrated to the U.S. in 1947 to attend Philips Academy, a prep school in Andover, MA. He went on to get a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree in Architecture at Yale University. At the time of the founding of the Institute, he was a well-established architect frequently seen with a bowtie.
Billy is one of the most creative thinkers I know. He is a real visionary who thinks so far ahead. He has held a number of roles at The 1990 Institute, and the major ones which come to mind are his chairmanship of the nominating committee, where he recruited some of the most amazing talent to our board. He initiated some successful new directions for us, namely programs, lectures and workshops on women’s issues and environmental sustainability at least five years before those words became fashionable.
He’s created a number of U.S. China exchange programs involving Children Art and the Environment. Art can be a means to engage American and Chinese youth on the topic of the environment. He started an annual mural painting festival in Beijing, an idea so successful that the Chinese have taken over carrying it forward.
Billy, you have been a creative spark for The Institute. One day you told me that you were at the point in life that what was most important to you was to “do something interesting”. I have always remembered you telling me that. What a great philosophy to share with all of us. So thank you for making our lives much more interesting along the way. You are a real visionary and it has been a privilege being on the journey with you.
I would like to share the limerick James Luce also wrote for you. [see below]
C.B. Sung
C.B. Sung, our founding Chairman, came to the United States in 1947 to study. He earned his engineering degree at MIT and then MBA at Harvard Business School. In 1967 he went on to become the first Asian American vice president of a Fortune 500 company (Bendix).
Nixon’s opening of China allowed C.B. and his wife Beulah to return to China and visit their parents in 1973. His parents encouraged him to “come back and help China.” He ultimately quit Bendix to start his own company, Unison International. C.B.’s company was the one responsible for building the first foreign-invested hotel in China, The Great Wall Hotel in Beijing. And Unison brokered nearly 40 joint ventures including the Beijing Jeep JV, China’s first automotive JV, Xerox Shanghai, and numerous other industrial ventures.
Those decades of being one of the earliest and most prominent Chinese American businessmen helped C.B. establish relationships and friendships at the highest echelon of Chinese leaders. These relationships and trust built up would be instrumental in the founding of The 1990 Institute and providing a willing audience for our research work.
C.B. was an incredible force in creating a whole organization for the Institute. Whereas Hang-Sheng Cheng provided the economic research firepower, both through his own brainpower, and those of his friends like economist Milton Friedman, Chancellor Chang Lin Tien of Berkeley, or his Princeton roommate Harold Shapiro, who went on to become President of Princeton University. C.B. on the other hand brought fundraising, entrepreneurial drive and world-class organizational skills to The Institute.
C.B.: 21-years ago I was just a 26-year old volunteer involved in helping the Institute, and I remember so vividly seeing you in action, chairing board meetings with such formality and professionalism. “Wow, this guy is serious!” I have always felt you to be a corporate executive of the highest caliber. Savvy about China like few other Americans. You are one of those people who always do what you say you are going to do. And in so doing, and with that “can-do” approach, you made us all believe anything is possible.
C.B. you have been a rock of stability, foresight, and you have had incredible instincts in guiding the Institute the past 20 years. I am so privileged to have learned from you and seen you as a role model for 20 years. Thank you.
I also have one more limerick to share.
[see below]
A most unusual start-up
In closing, let me once again ask my original question: what type of individuals is it that starts up a Bay Area non-profit organization?
On the one hand, it is individuals similar to you and me. They were raising families, they had jobs and businesses to run. They led busy lives. They were very ordinary in that way. And yes, C.B. and Hang-Sheng were both over 60 years old when they started up this venture.
But when a crisis in China occurred in 1989, these ordinary individuals began an extraordinary journey. When China needed help, and no others were helping, they stepped forward to serve their motherland, China, with the skills they had on hand (economic intellect, business savvy, guanxi, creative thinking). And in helping China, they believed they could benefit the people of the world.
They showed such passion, tenacity, and delivered the very highest level of scholarship and professionalism in their output. They believed that they could make a difference and help China along the way to become a more open, market-oriented society, which in fact has come to pass.
We can all be proud that The 1990 Institute over 20 years, has played a small but significant part in where China is today. And it was because of the great leadership of our honorees today.
C.B, Hang-Sheng, Billy: we salute you, we thank you, and we wish you all the best.
# # #
Tribute to Hang-Sheng Cheng
By James Luce
He’s Left His Part in San Francisco
Attending any meeting with HSC
Was always an exciting place to be
Sometimes he sat so quietly calm
Sometimes he sat quietly like a bomb
When his brain exploded it was too late to flee
Like a smooth Cadillac engine of years gone by
Hang-Sheng’s mind purrs quietly when in high
He listens to all we have to say
Even if it’s been a very long day
Then his thoughts and counsel take wing and fly
How can someone so talented be so humble?
How can someone so smart never grumble
About flawed or silly thoughts of others?
Rather gently guiding us like little brothers
And lighting our path so we don’t stumble
An egg-headed, macroeconomics kind of guy
Cautious, contemplative, always asking “Why?”
A guiding light of the Federal Bank
A founding father of our think tank
It makes me cry to say “Goodbye”
Tribute to Billy Lee
By James Luce
Look! Up in the sky…
What can we say about our retiring Billy
Always energetic, never willy-nilly
A Captain in the 1990 Fleet
Quick of both wit and of feet
Never a shrinking violet nor a placid lily
Always coursing strong in storm-tossed seas
Courageous and bold, never on his knees
Able to leap tall tasks with determination
Able to do the impossible without hesitation
A one man hive of very busy bees
He’s joining our Admiral in quiet retirement
Pulling up his stakes and folding up his tent
Leaping into the nearest telephone booth
To strip off his Institute uniform without being uncouth
Transforming from Superman back to Clark Kent
He was and is always more than he can be
Facing each task with joy and obvious glee
My sorrow is mitigated by just one truth
Billy is far too young to act long of tooth
He’ll never be content to stay sheltered in the Lee
Enjoy your thirty seconds of retirement!
Tribute to C.B. Sung
By James Luce
In Harmony, Please
Hark, a herald brings us all bad news
The kind that makes you feel the blues
Our Chairman of so many years
Has given notice he’s changing gears
Into retirement he intends to cruise
I would like the Board to carefully note
That our Captain’s still onboard the boat
He did not abandon ship
In the middle of the trip
And the vessel’s still very much afloat
C.B.’s just moved up another rung
And he’s still very with us and among
The cherished few who have retired
After leadership both wise and inspired
So let’s all give tongue to a song for Sung
