The Bei Shan Tang Legacy – Gifts of Chinese Rare Books
In 2008, the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library received its largest donation of Chinese ancient books from the Bei Shan Tang Foundation. The collection consists of 1,383 titles of Chinese ancient books in 9,886 volumes, among them, 52 titles are rare books. The editions are comprehensive, including woodblock printing, multi-colour printing, manuscripts, handwritten copies, and movable type printing. In 2020, fifteen Chinese ancient books from the CUHK Library’s Rare Book Collection have been selected for the six batch of “National Catalogue of Precious Ancient Books”, of which six titles were donated by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation. They are Shi Ji: 36 juan (詩緝三十六卷) (woodblock printed edition, Ming dynasty), Ji Gu Dian Shuoyuan Ji (紀古滇說原集) (woodblock printed edition, Ming dynasty), Zongxuan Xiansheng Wenji (宗玄先生文集) (manuscript, Ming dynasty), Huainan Hong Lie Jie: 21 juan (淮南鴻烈解二十一卷) (multi-colour printed edition, Ming dynasty), Yihai Jianwen (乙亥見聞) (manuscript, Qing dynasty) and Shi Wen Za Gao (詩文雜稿) (manuscript, Qing dynasty). To share these rare books with the public and the preservation of cultural heritage, the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library establishes the digital collection The Bei Shan Tang Legacy for open access in the CUHK Digital Repository.
About Bei Shan Tang
Bei Shan Tang was the private studio name of the late Dr. Lee Jung Sen (1915-2007). From an early age Dr. Lee had developed a deep interest in Chinese studies, cultures and art. The literary gatherings were held at the Lee Gardens in Bei Shan Tang in the 20th century.
The old Lee Gardens (formerly East Point Hill) was a hill south of East Point and west of Causeway Bay on the Hong Kong Island. It corresponds approximately to the present-day area between Percival Street, Hennessy Road and Leighton Road. The old East Point, a cape on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, was a pointed headland towards Kellett Island. It marked the eastern limits of the early City of Victoria. In early 19 th century, the land of East Point, including the hill, was owned by Jardine Matheson. In the spring of 1924, the entrepreneur Lee Hysan (1879-1928) bought this land with its old residences, offices and godowns of the Jardine taipans with the intention to level the hill, using the gravel as landfill to reclaim land nearby and to build housing on the land. But as this project was subsequently shelved, the hill and the neighbouring area were turned into an interim garden and amusement park with a theatre, a restaurant, tea houses and a skating rink, known as Lee Gardens.
In August in the same year, Mok Hon (alias Hok-ming, a family member of the Swire comprador Moks) made a suggestion to convert one of the former taipan residences into a venue for regular art and literary gatherings. The suggestion was readily endorsed and the former deputy manager’s residence was designated for the purpose.
Renovation work was soon completed following a loan of quite a number of old hardwood furniture pieces from Mok himself. Knowing that eventually the Lee Garden Hill would be levelled, Mok and his peers named the house Bei Shan Tang (Hall of North Mountain) and Yugong Yi (Side House of Mister Simple) using the parable of Mister Simple from North Mountain in the Daoist classic Liezi quoted above. Almost immediately Beishan Shishe, a society for the poets were formed. Initially, weekly gatherings were held in Bei Shan Tang. Before each gathering, themes for poems were announced in local newspapers. For example, in autumn that year, a giant exhibition of chrysanthemums from Mr. Lee’s house was displayed in Bei Shan Tang for inspiration and some 180 poems were composed for the occasion. The works composed, both during or after the gatherings would then be published in newspapers as well. The Beishan Shishe did not last long. It disbanded late next year following a severe strike in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. However, resident members of the Guangdong Nanshe still held regular meetings for poems in Bei Shan Tang. And in 1927 the Guangdong Society for Paintings had two large scale exhibitions in Lee Gardens, together with a series of meetings in Bei Shan Tan when members painted a good number of joint works. Such art and literary gatherings in Bei Shan Tang at Lee Gardens continued well into the early 1930s before the Sino-Japanese war.
The late Dr. Lee Jung Sen, the fourth son of the Mr. Lee Hysan, adopted Bei Shan Tang as his private studio name. Born in Hong Kong on 7 August 1915, J. S. Lee (known simply as J. S. to all his friends) was a native of Xinhui, Guangdong province. He received traditional private tutoring in his early youth and later attended Hong Kong’s Government Vernacular Middle School (forerunner of the present-day Clementi Secondary School). In contrast to all his siblings, who were educated in the West, J. S. attended university in mainland China, and came to develop a deep interest in Chinese studies, culture and art. He began his university studies at Yenching University in Beijing in the mid-1930s. J. S.’s fellow students included future luminaries such as the scholar and collector of Chinese furniture Wang Shixiang (b. 1914), the writer and translator Stephen C. Soong (1919-1996) and the noted collector J. M. Hu (1911-1995). His time in Beijing was cut short by the growing tensions of the Sino-Japanese war, however, and he moved inland to study at National Sichuan University in Chengdu, where he completed a B.A. in Economics.
J. S. also maintained a strong personal devotion to promoting cultural exchange and educational causes. He was one of the earliest and strongest supporters of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). When the university was founded in 1963, he was a member of its Provisional Council and later a member of the University Council. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by CUHK in 1974, and in recognition of his long and distinguished service to the university, made a Life Member of its Council in 1922.
J. S. passed away on 24 February 2007 at the age of 91. A true gentleman, a great collector and connoisseur, and a generous philanthropist, he is deeply missed by all in the art world who were privileged to know him. All those who benefited from J. S.’s support and generosity will remember and honour him as a great philanthropist as well as a dedicated collector.
About Bei Shan Tang. Excerpted from The Bei Shan Tang Legacy – Gifts of Chinese Art
