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Lew Hing (劉興) (May 1858 in Canton, China – March 7, 1934) was a Chinese-born American industrialist. His formal married name was Lew Yu-ling. After immigrating to the United States from China in 1871, Lew became a pioneer in the canning industry. He owned four canneries in California, in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Monterey, and Antioch. His canneries supplied Herbert Hoover’s American Relief program following World War I. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Lew also owned a shipping company, two hotels, and an import-export business. In Mexico, he owned a cotton plantation. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors for the China Mail Steamship Company, and President of the Bank of Canton. He was also a real estate developer. Today, his legacy is being carried on in the Pacific Cannery Lofts in Oakland by Holliday Development, where dedications are made in his honor in one of his original buildings for the Pacific Coast Canning Company. ==Early life== Lew Hing was the second of three children born to his father’s third wife (after the first two wives died). Lew had an older sister and a younger brother, as well as half brothers and sisters. His ancestral roots were in the county of Toy San, district of Sun Ning, village of Liao and province of Kwong-tung, China. He received his formal education in Hong Kong. Before Lew Hing was born, his father had journeyed to San Francisco to find prosperity. He didn’t find it. Rejecting conscription as a laborer, as well as the debauchery of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast lifestyle, he camped along the shores of San Francisco Bay until the frustration of disappointment and loneliness caused him to return to China after two months. A few years later, Lew Hing would cross the ocean to San Francisco and fare much better. In 1868 an older half brother of Lew Hing ventured to San Francisco to start a small metal shop on Commercial Street. With the success of his shop, in 1871 he urged his 12-year-old half brother, Lew Hing, to immigrate to America to join him in his growing business. A few months after Lew arrived, his half-brother planned a brief vacation back to Canton to visit his family. His square rigged sailing vessel was off the coast of Japan when it caught fire and sank, causing all aboard to perish at sea. This left the young Lew Hing, at age 13, alone in San Francisco, without family or money. Despite his grim circumstance, the growing Chinese community that would later become known as San Francisco’s Chinatown was beginning to form familial associations that provided leadership and social opportunities among the Chinese immigrants to America. Men with the same surnames would help each other as brothers. This was the beginning of Family Associations in Chinatown, and it was through such association that the young Lew Hing was able to survive. It was with such Family Association guidance that Lew continued working at his deceased brother’s metal shop, while attending a local church mission to learn to read and write English. In doing so, he also learned to do his own bookkeeping and accounting. Never afraid to work long hours, he also accepted odd jobs for extra money. His industrious and entrepreneurial spirit carried him through these difficult years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lew Hing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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