Lam Chi-fung, also written as "Lam Tze Fung", "Lin Zifeng" or "Chi-fung Lam" (, 1892 – 1971), OBE, was a Hong Kong banker, Baptist educator and philanthropist. He founded Ka Wah Bank in 1922, served as the principal of Pui Ching Middle School from 1950 to 1965, the founding principal of Hong Kong Baptist College from 1956 to 1971, and the chairman of the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1971.

Early life

Lam Chi-fung was born on November 6, 1892 in Jinkeng, Jieyang County, Guangdong Province of China. His father, Lam Shiu‑fun (), was a primary school teacher in the countryside and later became a Baptist pastor.曾向榮（2003-04), p. 3. Growing up in a Christian family, Lam Chi-fung became a Christian at the age of 14. He attended Jieyang Zhenli Baptist Middle School in his early years and later transferred to Queshi Middle School in Shantou.曾向榮（2003-04), p. 4. After graduating from middle school, he went to Peking Union Medical College in 1911 to study medicine, but soon returned to Tongwen Academy in Xiamen to study foreign languages ​​and commerce.曾向榮（2003-04), pp. 4, 5. After completing his studies, Lam returned to his hometown.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 5.

Banking and business career

In 1916, Lam Chi-fung, who knew English, was hired by his uncle to work as an English clerk at Guangyuan Shengxing, a rice company in Chaoshan. He was sent to Hong Kong to help the rice company expand its market and was soon promoted to manager.〈中西合璧植豐園〉（2013-06-05）曾向榮（2003-04），p. 6. Later, Lam established Siwei Company and served as its general manager. He imported and acted as an agent for Vietnamese anthracite coal and ventured into the rice industry and shipping. In 1926, he co-founded Zhongyi Shipping Company with Chaoshan businessman Chen Zizhao and others. Its business covered Macau, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, Shantou and Vietnam.曾向榮（2003-04），pp. 6-7. It is understood that the mother of entrepreneur Fok Ying-tung was helped by Lam Chi-fung in her early years due to poverty. He hired her to transport coal from Vietnam to the shore, thereby earning commissions to help support her family.蔡少琪（2014）

After Lam Chi-fung's trading business stabilized, he saw an opportunity to expand into the banking industry. On February 2, 1922, he founded Ka Wah Bank (or "Jia Hua Bank" in Pinyin) in Guangzhou. The bank was initially operated by shareholders of Jia Nan Tang and Nan Hua Company, invited by Lam, hence the name.曾向榮（2003-04)，p. 7. In 1924, Lam moved the head office of the Bank to Des Voeux Road Central in Central, Hong Kong, with a capital of HK$500,000. By 1931, he had opened a branch in Shanghai, increasing the capital to HK$1 million, and the business expanded rapidly. However, later, due to political turmoil and Japan's invasion of China, Lam was forced to close the branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou in 1935 due to economic instability. Despite this, as a well-known Teochew businessman in Hong Kong, Lam was elected president of the Hong Kong Teochew Chamber of Commerce from 1937 to 1939.曾向榮（2003-04），林子豐年表。 Furthermore, through his influence in Vietnam, he helped facilitate the signing of Part B of the Sino-French Vietnam Commercial Treaty between the Nationalist government of China and the French government of Vietnam in 1935, and was subsequently awarded the Order of the Dragon and the Star by the Vietnamese Royal Family in 1936 in recognition of this achievement.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 9. However, after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Lam's banking business was severely impacted, and all operations ceased after the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 and the fall of Hong Kong. It was not until after the liberation of Hong Kong in 1945 that Ka Wah Bank reopened in Hong Kong, and subsequently changed its name to "Ka Wah Bank Limited" in January 1949.

After the war, Lam continued to serve as Chairman of Ka Wah Bank, and the banking business developed steadily. At the same time, in 1947 he founded the Jee Ho Manufacturing Plant, which mainly produced flashlights, and later established Chi Fung Properties Limited, serving as Chairman of both companies. In the 1950s, Lam began to withdraw from his business and focused on church and education work. He gradually handed over the family business to his sons, Lin Sixian and Lin Sijin, but he remained chairman of three companies: Ka Wah Bank, Jehwa Manufacturing Plant and Chi Fung Properties, until his death.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 12.〈嘉華銀行業務擴展〉（1970-12-16） Later, the controlling stake in Ka Wah Bank fell into the hands of an American consortium and in 1974 it fell into the hands of Liu Cansong, a Singaporean businessman. In 1986, Ka Wah Bank, which was in financial crisis, received capital injection from CITIC Group to get out of trouble and was renamed "CITIC Ka Wah Bank" in 1998.〈發展歷史〉 In 2002, CITIC Ka Wah Bank acquired Hong Kong Chinese Bank under the planning of CITIC Group. In the same year, CITIC Ka Wah Bank was renamed "CITIC International Financial Holdings Limited", while Hong Kong Chinese Bank, which was acquired by it, was renamed "CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited'. The Lam family completely withdrew from Ka Wah Bank business.〈公佈更改公司名稱董事委任及辭任〉（2002-11-25） In May 2010, CITIC Ka Wah Bank Limited was further renamed "CITIC Bank International", and the name "Ka Wah" officially became history.

Baptist ministry and public welfare

Lam Chi-fung's family were devout Christians. In his early years, he was a member of Caine Road Baptist Church and presided over the work of the church's finance department and mission department.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 18. In 1938, he moved his family from Hong Kong Island to a mansion on Ka Lam Road in Kowloon City. The following year, he participated in the founding of Kowloon City Baptist Church. In addition to becoming the first deacon of the church with his wife, he also served as the chairman of the board of directors for life.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 10. Lam and his wife have been very concerned about the development of Kowloon City Baptist Church for many years. In 1962, the couple donated HK$120,000 to support the construction of the new Kowloon City Baptist Church.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 15 In addition to his work at Kowloon City Baptist Church, Lam participated in the founding of the Po Kong Gospel Church in 1938 and was elected chairman of the board of directors. The church was specifically set up for Christians from Chaozhou and was later reorganized into the Kowloon City Chaozhou Baptist Church. In March of the same year, the Hong Kong Baptist Convention was established, and Lam was invited to serve as one of the executive committee members, responsible for presiding over wartime relief work.廖志勤（2007） From 1941, he also served as chairman of the Baptist Convention for life, guiding the development of the Hong Kong Baptist Church and witnessing the rapid expansion of Baptist Church affairs in Hong Kong after World War II.曾向榮（2003-04），pp. 11, 12.曾向榮（2003-04），pp. 25, 26. In addition, Lam was a director of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong from 1930 to 1932, and later served as president of the YMCA from 1933 to 1934 and from 1939 to 1956. During this period, he also served as the Hong Kong chairman of the YMCA's military service corps in Guangdong and Hong Kong in 1938, and briefly served as the general secretary of the YMCA in 1947.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 8.曾向榮（2003-04），p. 22. After stepping down as president of the YMCA in 1956, he was invited to serve as honorary president until 1959.曾向榮（2003-04），pp. 23-24.

Lam hi-fung, who was enthusiastic about church ministry, also actively participated in social welfare. In 1935, he funded the construction of an irrigation canal for his hometown, Jieyang County. During World War II, in addition to presiding over relief work through the church, he also responded to the call of the Nationalist government in 1940 to raise funds for national salvation bonds in Hong Kong and Macau. He eventually raised more than 2 million yuan in legal tender. In the same year, he was awarded a plaque with the inscription "Loyalty and Righteousness" by the Nationalist government to express gratitude. During his time in Macau, he was invited by the Portuguese government of Macau to serve as a standing committee member of the Macau Food Control Committee and a member of the International Refugee Relief Committee to assist the authorities in dealing with the challenges of a large influx of refugees into the area during the war. After the liberation of Hong Kong in 1945, at the request of Sir John Harker, the then head of the British Provisional Military Government, Lam brought a large amount of anthracite coal, which he was acting as an agent for, from Macau to Hong Kong to help solve the problem of insufficient coal supplies in the market. In the early years after the war, Lam also paid attention to the housing shortage in Hong Kong. At that time, a large number of refugees from mainland China fled to Hong Kong to escape the Chinese Civil War. Most of them lived in wooden shacks built on the hillside, and the living and sanitary conditions were very poor. In January 1950, a fire broke out in the wooden shack area of ​​Tung Tau Village in Kowloon City, destroying 6,000 wooden shacks and leaving 20,000 people homeless.朱秀蓮（2003-03） Since the Hong Kong government did not have a comprehensive public housing policy at the time, Lam participated in the establishment of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Joint Relief Committee for Refugees from the Kowloon City Fire and donated HK$1,000 to help the victims.曾向榮（2003-04），pp. 12, 13. During this period, he repeatedly appealed to the public to donate money for disaster relief work on the radio in his capacity as president of the YMCA of China. Later, he served as vice chairman of the Kowloon City Fire Reconstruction Committee and participated in the construction subcommittee of the committee. Finally, the "Po Oi Village" was established on the original site to resettle the victims. The "Po Oi Village" was later reorganized by the Hong Kong government and became part of the Tung Tau bungalow area.

Education and hospital