{{Short description|Singaporean businessperson (1906–2004)}} {{Family name hatnote|Lien|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox person | name = George Lien Ying Chow | honorific_suffix = PJG TM | image = George Lien Ying Chow.jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Lien in 1989 | birth_name = Lien Ying Chow | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|08|02}} | birth_place = Dabu, Guangdong, China | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2004|08|06|1906|08|02}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Businessman | years_active = | known_for = Founder of Overseas Chinese Union Bank | notable_works = | module = {{Infobox Chinese | child= yes | hide= yes | c = | t = 連瀛洲 | s = 连瀛洲 | p = Lián Yíngzhōu | mi = {{IPAc-cmn|l|i|an|2|.|ying|2|.|zh|ou|1}} }} }}
'''George Lien Ying Chow''' {{Post-nominals|country=||list=PJG TM}} (2 August 1906 – 6 August 2004) was a Singaporean businessperson. He is one of the founders of Overseas Chinese Union Bank (later known as Overseas Union Bank), which merged with United Overseas Bank in 2001.<ref name="eresources.nlb.gov.sg">{{Cite web|title=George Lien Ying Chow {{!}} Infopedia|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1786_2011-02-24.html|access-date=2021-06-16|website=eresources.nlb.gov.sg}}</ref>
==Early life== Lien was born on 2 August 1906 in the village of Dabu, Guangdong, China,<ref name="Justin 1"/> becoming an orphan at the age of ten.<ref name="LA 1"/> Around the age of fourteen, Lien immigrated to Singapore, with little money to spare. In 1928, some eight years after reaching Singapore, Lien founded his own trading company, Wah Hin and Company, using his savings.<ref name="Justin 1">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000corf |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000corf/page/152 152]– |title=Historical Dictionary of Singapore |first=Justin |last=Corfield |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780810873872 }}</ref>
==Career== Lien was given the role of president of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1941.<ref name="Justin 1"/> Also a food and drink supplier to the British Army,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Koi Pond |first=David W. F. |last=Wong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcgiBvPmEMUC&pg=PA15 |pages=15– |publisher=Armour |year=2004 |isbn=9789814138178 }}</ref> he fled by boat to Australia, a few days before the Japanese occupation of Singapore.<ref name="Justin 1"/> Singapore's Mandarin Hotel belonged to him.<ref name="Justin 1"/> During the 1960s, Lien was the High Commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia.{{Sfn|Natasha|2003|p=131}} Lien cofounded Nanyang University<ref name="Lien 1"/> and is the founder of Overseas Union Bank (formerly Overseas Chinese Union Bank), which, in 2001, became part of United Overseas Bank,<ref name="LA 1"/> as well as the Lien Foundation, which he established in 1980.<ref name="Lien 1">{{cite web|url=http://www.lienfellowship.org/ |title=Lien Ying Chow Legacy Fellowship |publisher=Lien Foundation |access-date=May 31, 2013 }}</ref> He was winner of the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in 1981.<ref name="Justin 1"/><ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/all-honorees/}}</ref>
Lien was appointed first chairman of the Preservation of Monuments Board in 1972, a statutory board of the Ministry of National Development.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19720422-1.2.74 |title=Board Formed to Preserve Monuments|publisher=Straits Times}}</ref>
==Personal life== Lien was acquainted with Tunku Abdul Rahman, then-Prime Minister of Malaysia. The duo were said to be "good friends".<ref name="Justin 1"/> He also had ties with the royal family of Thailand as well as a number of Thai officials.{{Sfn|Natasha|2003|p=132}}
Lien was married four times. His first wife, Wee Siew Kim, died. His marriages to Mok Mei Lan and Kay Leong ended in divorce. In 1964 Lien married Margaret Chan Wen Hsien, and he predeceased her. He had eight children (four daughters and four sons). Wee Siew Kim was the mother of seven of them, and the last was by Mok Mei Lan.<ref name="eresources.nlb.gov.sg"/><ref>{{cite web|work=Forbes |title=#13 Lien Family |access-date=May 31, 2013 |url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/79/singapore-billionaires-11_Lien-Family_CEQF.html }}</ref>
==Death== Lien died on 6 August 2004,<ref name="Justin 1"/> aged 98.<ref name="LA 1"/> The cause of his death was pneumonia.<ref name="LA 1">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-11-me-passings11.2-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=Lien Ying Chow, 98; Self-Made Singapore Banking Tycoon |date=August 11, 2004 }}</ref> Lien was described by Ming San Tee as "[t]he business kingpin known by households",<ref>{{cite book|pages=256– |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=26a0AAAAIAAJ |title=The Singapore Successful Business Elites |publisher=Cross Country Creative Century |year=1995 |author=Ming San Tee |isbn = 9789810069124}}</ref> while the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that he was a "self-made Singapore banking tycoon".<ref name="LA 1"/>
== Awards and decorations ==
* 80x80px Meritorious Service Medal, in 1964.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1975-07-20 |title=THE MILLIONAIRES' CLUB AND ITS MEMBERS |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/newnation19750720-1.2.28 |access-date=2025-01-11 |work=New Nation |pages=10–11}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1966-07-10 |title=The ambassador |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19660710-1.2.13.2 |access-date=2025-01-11 |work=The Straits Times |pages=2}}</ref> * 80x80px Order of the Crown of Thailand (Third Class), in 1965.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1965-11-18 |title=Thai King to honour four from S'pore |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19651118-1.2.43 |access-date=2025-01-11 |work=The Straits Times |pages=6}}</ref>
==Legacy== *In February 2016, Singapore's Mediacorp airs Men With A Mission, an SG50 documentary series that profiles five influential men who helped propel the rise of modern Singapore: Yusof Ishak, George Bogaars, Hon Sui Sen, Lien Ying Chow and S Rajaratnam. *Lien Ying Chow Drive, a road in Nanyang Technological University, is named after him. *Lien Ying Chow Library, a library in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, is named after him.
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Natasha|2003}} |title=Asian States, Asian Bankers: Central Banking in Southeast Asia |last=Hamilton-Hart |first=Natasha |isbn=9789971692704 |year=2003 |publisher=NUS Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsUdAfqpSV4C }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, Lien Ying}} Category:1906 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Singaporean people of Teochew descent Category:Chinese emigrants to British Malaya Category:20th-century Singaporean businesspeople Category:Singaporean bankers Category:Recipients of the Pingat Jasa Gemilang