{{Short description|Chinese (Australian) merchant}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata=ALL}} {{Infobox Chinese | t = 葉繡華 | s = 叶绣华 | p = Yè Xiùhuá | j = Jip6 Sau3 Waa4 | altname = [[Courtesy name]] | c2 = 維利 | p2 = Wéi Lì | j2 = Wai4 Lei6 }}
'''Yet Soo War Way Lee''' ({{Lang-zh|c=葉繡華維利}}; born '''Yett Soo War'''; 6 August 1852<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief Introduction to Some of Our Members |url=https://www.cafhov.com/our-stories/a-brief-introduction-to-some-of-our-members/ |access-date= |website=Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria}}</ref> - 21 August 1909), also known as '''Yett Way Lee''' and '''Y. S. W. Way Lee''', was a [[Chinese Australians|Chinese-Australian]] merchant who lived in [[Adelaide]], [[South Australia]].
== Early life and move to Australia == Yett Soo War was born in King Shan ({{Lang-zh|c=京山|p=Jīngshān}}), a village of [[Tungkun]], [[Guangdong]]. He was the only child of Yett She Clum, a rice-miller, and Cau She Ho King. His great-grandfather was reportedly an [[admiral]] in the [[Imperial Chinese Navy]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Gibbs |first=R. M. |title=Way Lee, Yet Soo War (1853–1909) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/way-lee-yet-soo-war-9015/text15877 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en |access-date=2022-04-16}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Burritt |first=Roger L. |last2=Walker |first2=Dylan |last3=Carter |first3=Amanda J. |year=2009 |title=Way Lee: 100 years on |url=https://chineseancestor.org/public_download/WayLeeMonograph.pdf |isbn=978-0-646-51826-8}}</ref> As a young man, he married and had a son, Yett King Sum.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> Before his emigration, Yett had adopted the [[courtesy name]] Way Lee, which he used in business, often compounding it with his birth name, using "Way Lee" as a surname in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yett Way Lee, Chinese Australian |url=https://chineseancestor.org/waylee/wl-life-in-australia/wl-yett-way-lee-chinese-australian/ |website=Chinese Ancestors}}</ref>
Way Lee migrated to Australia in 1874, joining his uncle [[Way Key|Way Kee]] on [[George Street, Sydney|George Street]] in [[Sydney]], in the [[colony of New South Wales]]. He spent the next two years studying, first in Sydney and later [[Brisbane]], in the [[colony of Queensland]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Way Lee, Yet Soo War - Biographical entry - Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia |url=https://www.chia.chinesemuseum.com.au/biogs/CH00005b.htm |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=[[Chinese Museum, Melbourne]] |language=en-gb}}</ref> In 1880, Way Lee settled in [[Adelaide]], in the [[colony of South Australia]], taking English classes at the [[City Mission]] of Adelaide.<ref name=":3" />
== Way Lee & Company == Having maintained work with his uncle, by 1878, Way Lee had established an importing firm, Way Lee & Co. in [[Hindley Street]], Adelaide.<ref>{{cite news |date=1 November 1889 |title=PERSONAL PARS. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166369652 |accessdate=6 December 2024 |newspaper=[[Quiz]] |location=South Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=I |issue=10}}</ref> The company dealt in tea, [[porcelain]], fireworks, [[Traditional Chinese medicine|Chinese medicines]] and general [[Bric-à-brac|bric-a-brac]]. He expanded its operations across regional Australian with branches in [[Wentworth, New South Wales|Wentworth]] and [[Wilcannia]] in New South Wales, [[Quorn, South Australia|Quorn]] and [[Hawker, South Australia|Hawker]], and further interests in the [[Daly River, Northern Territory|Daly River]], [[Northern Territory]] and [[Millicent, South Australia|Millicent]], South Australia.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Way Lee 100 years on |url=https://chineseancestor.org/public_download/WayLeeMonograph.pdf |website=University of South Australia}}</ref>
Way Lee had one of the government contracts to supply the [[Central Australia Railway|Ghan]] railway from [[Port Augusta]] to Hergott Springs/[[Marree, South Australia|Maree]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1909-08-28 |title=DEATH OF MR. WAY LEE. |work=Observer |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164687583 |access-date=2022-04-16}}</ref> He partnered with several other Chinese merchants, including Hu Ting, to deliver food and other supplies to the expanding railway in the late 1880s.
Way Lee and other Chinese Australian merchants of the time formed the Chinese Empire Reform Association, of which he was president.<ref>{{cite news |date=18 February 1907 |title=CHINESE REFORM ASSOCIATION. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5056078 |accessdate=7 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |location=South Australia |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLIX |issue=15,081}}</ref>
== Advocacy == Way Lee was a leader of the [[South Australia]]n Chinese community, actively participating in community events, including hosting [[Chinese New Year]] dinners and providing support for disaster relief efforts in China. He advocated for the rights of Chinese residents of Australia, focusing on education, living conditions, and opposing [[opium]] trafficking.<ref>{{cite AuDB |first= R. M.|last= Gibbs|author-link= |title= 'Way Lee, Yet Soo War (1853–1909)'|volume= 12|edition= |year= 1990|id2= way-lee-yet-soo-war-9015/text15877|access-date= 7 September 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://w3.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2009/September/story7.asp Uncovering the remarkable Way Lee, (September 2009), UniSANews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113222349/http://w3.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2009/September/story7.asp |date=13 January 2019 }}. Accessed 7 September 2018</ref>
He and Hu Ting authored at least one [[letter to the editor]] during the height of the anti-Chinese immigration debates in South Australia in the 1880s,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1888-03-31 |title=Correspondence. |work=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94732632 |access-date=2022-04-16}}</ref> and advocated to remove laws or rules that limited the ability of Chinese individuals to travel freely between the colonies.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |date=24 November 1900 |title=FROM A CHINAMAN'S POINT OF VIEW. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23848380 |accessdate=6 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |location=Western Australia |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=16 |issue=4,593}}</ref>
In connection with the [[Jubilee Exhibition Building|Jubilee Exhibition]] of 1887, Chinese Commissioners Wong Yung Ho (Wang Ronghe) and U Taing (Yu Quiong)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Chinese Imperial Commissioners, 1887 |url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstreams/483237d1-1145-4308-87bc-2c1c9b39821a/download |website=The Australian National University}}</ref> visited Adelaide and appointed Way Lee, along with three others, including Quong Wing from Melbourne and [[Mei Quong Tart]] from Sydney, to deliver a memorial from the Chinese community in Australia to the [[Beiyang government|Beijing Government]]. During the presentation of this document, Way Lee was honoured with the rank of [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|Mandarin]] of the {{Interlanguage link|Fourth Rank (Mandarin)|lt=fourth degree|zh|正四品}}.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |date=28 August 1909 |title=DEATH OF MR. WAY LEE. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164687583 |accessdate=10 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Observer (Adelaide)|Observer]] |location=South Australia |page=40 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXVI |issue=5,243}}</ref>
==Personal life== Way Lee became a naturalised citizen of the [[colony of South Australia]] in 1882 and also joined the [[United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia|United Tradesmen]]'s [[Masonic lodge|Masonic Lodge]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |date=21 August 1909 |title=DEATH OF MR. WAY LEE |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209672852 |accessdate=9 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Express and Telegraph]] |location=South Australia |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLVI |issue=13,789}}</ref> He had also converted to [[Presbyterianism]].<ref name=":0" />
In 1889, Way Lee married Margaret Ann McDonald. They had three children.<ref name=":0" />
==Death and legacy== In 1909, he was appointed Chinese Vice-Consul for South Australia but died before taking up the post,<ref name=":2" /> on 21 August 1909, in Adelaide.<ref name=":0" /> His cause of death was chronic [[nephritis]] and [[amyloid]] disease.<ref name=":0" />
He is buried in [[West Terrace Cemetery]], where thousands reportedly attended his funeral, including the [[Chief Justice of South Australia|South Australian Chief Justice]], Sir [[Samuel Way]], represented by his associate, W. L. Stuart.<ref>{{cite news |date=23 August 1909 |title=DEATH OF MR, WAY LEE. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56732098 |accessdate=10 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)]] |location=South Australia |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXIV |issue=19,587}}</ref>
The [[University_of_South_Australia#Other_City_West_buildings|Way Lee Building]], part of the [[University of South Australia]] on [[North Terrace, Adelaide]], was named after him.<ref name=wlb>{{cite web | title=101 things you may not know about UniSA | website=[[UniSA]]|date=2022 | url=https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/about-unisa/docs/101-things_2021-edition_web.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250826093731/https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/about-unisa/docs/101-things_2021-edition_web.pdf | archive-date=26 August 2025 | url-status=dead | access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Building WL | website=UniSA | date=21 October 2019 | url=https://i.unisa.edu.au/staff/facilities/space-information/floor-plans/city-west/building-wl---way-lee/ | access-date=25 November 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Citation | last1=Burritt|first1= Roger L | last2=Way Lee|first2= Yett Soo War | last3=Walker|first3= Dylan | last4=Carter|first4= Amanda J |last5=Monaghan-Jamieson|first5= Patricia | title=Way Lee 100 years on | date=2009 | publisher=Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability, University of South Australia | isbn=978-0-646-51826-8 |url=http://www.unisa.edu.au/global/business/centres/cags/docs/wayleemonograph(burritt.walker.carter)final1.pdf}} * [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88558885 The case of Mr. Way Lee]. (1889, January 11). ''Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918)'', p. 2.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Way Lee, Yet Soo War}} [[Category:1852 births]] [[Category:1909 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century Australian businesspeople]] [[Category:Australian merchants]] [[Category:Australian people of Chinese descent]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Guangdong]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Adelaide]] [[Category:Chinese merchants]] [[Category:Chinese emigrants to Australia]] [[Category:Chinese expatriates in Australia]] [[Category:Immigrants to former British colonies and protectorates in Oceania]] [[Category:People from Dongguan]] [[Category:Colony of South Australia people]] [[Category:Deaths from amyloidosis]] [[Category:Deaths from nephritis]] [[Category:Chinese Presbyterians]] [[Category:Converts to Presbyterianism]]