Ho-tung (2 December 1862-26 April 1956), an internationally known entrepreneur and philanthropist, became Hong Kong's largest property owner and one of its wealthiest citizens. He was knighted (1915) by King George V for his patriotic generosity.

Born in a small house off d'Aguilar Street in Hong Kong, Ho-tung began life in unpromising circumstances. He was the eldest son in a large family of moderate means and had strikingly handsome European features. He received his early education in a private Chinese school. At the age of 12, he was admitted to the British Central School (later renamed Queen's College), operated by the colonial government in Hong Kong. At this school, English was the language of instruction. In 1878 Ho-tung passed a competitive examination for the staff of the Chinese Maritime Customs service at Canton, and he worked there for two years. Because that position did not seem promising, he returned to Hong Kong. Through personal connections, he became an office assistant at the British firm of Jardine, Matheson and Company, long known on the China coast as the "princely hong." In 1882 he was made Chinese agent of the Hong Kong Fire Insurance Company and the Canton Fire Insurance Company, both subsidiaries of Jardine's. In 1898 he resigned and was succeeded by his brother Ho Kom-tong. Ho-tung himself remained actively associated with Jardine's for another two years as a Chinese adviser to the firm. Although he resigned from the company again in 1900, his association with it continued throughout his life. Later, he became a member of the board of directors of several enterprises in the Jardine group, including those in which he had worked.

During the latter part of his 20-year direct association with Jardine's, Ho-tung launched his own enterprises. He entered the sugar trade, dealing with the Philippines and the Netherlands East Indies, and gradually expanded his business interests both in Hong Kong and in the Yangtze ports. He also entered and greatly developed the real estate business in Hong Kong. By 1896 he had become a millionaire. In 1898 he was elected chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the colony's leading Chinese charity organization. In 1899 he was named a justice of the peace by the Hong Kong government, an appointment that indicated his acceptance by British social circles in the colony.

In 1898 K'ang Yu-wei (q.v.) fled to Hong Kong after the unsuccessful reform effort of that year. His close friends and relatives were anxious to avoid him, but Ho-tung gave him shelter and treated him as an honored guest. Ho-tung also gave financial aid to members of K'ang's family and to some of his other dependents. In 1900 Ho-tung made his debut as a public benefactor in Hong Kong by establishing the Kowloon British School. The first school for children of European parentage in the colony, it later was renamed the King George V School. At the same time, he established a scholarship at Queen's College. Ho-tung was one of the founders of Hong Kong University, and his accumulated donations to the institution reached HKS260 thousand by 1941.

Ho-tung became Hong Kong's largest property owner and was generally thought to be the colony's wealthiest citizen. He was a director of many companies and a shareholder in many more. His interests included the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company, the Hongkong Electric Company, the Hongkong Tramway Company, the Hongkong Land Investment Company, and other shipping, insurance, investment, and manufacturing companies. During the First World War, Ho-tung contributed HK$100 thousand to the Prince of Wales War Fund and donated ambulances and airplanes to the British government. When a war emergency surcharge was imposed by the government, he paid not only his share of the tax, but that of all the tenants of his extensive properties in the colony. Because of his patriotic generosity, he was knighted by King George V in 1915, becoming Sir Robert Ho-tung.

In 1920 Sir Robert Ho-tung served as chairman of the Chinese industries section of an economic planning board set up by the Hong Kong government. In 1922 he acted as a mediator during the great strike which paralyzed Hong Kong. The same year, he acquired a controlling interest in the Chinese-language newspaper Kung Sheng Daily News. That paper suspended publication during the Japanese occupation; after the Second World War it was noted for its consistently anti-Communist stand. Although Sir Robert Ho-tung's primary loyalty was to the British government, he showed genuine concern for republican China. His concern did not lead to direct involvement in Chinese politics, but in 1923 he sponsored a proposal for a round-table conference to settle the differences between the several contending factions in China. After the establishment of the National Government at Nanking in 1928, Sir Robert made such major financial contributions to China as a donation of HK$30 thousand to the fund for additional buildings for the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum at Nanking.

In 1935, as a memorial to his wife Clara, Sir Robert built one of the finest Buddhist temples in Hong Kong, the Tung-lien-chuehyuan, located in Happy Valley. The building also housed a vocational school for young women, with a primary school for poor children as an annex. Sir Robert paid the operating expenses of all these institutions. After the Second World War, the temple became a leading center for the study of Buddhism, with regular lectures given by monks and lay Buddhist leaders.

In December 1941 Sir Robert and Lady Ho-tung (Margaret) celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. After the event, Sir Robert took a trip to Macao. Thus, he was not in Hong Kong when the War in the Pacific broke out. He remained in Macao for the duration of the war and refused many invitations from the Japanese occupation authorities to return to Hong Kong. Lady Ho-tung, however, lived in Hong Kong during the war, and she died there in 1944. At the end of the war, Sir Robert returned to Hong Kong with Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt, the military governor. In 1948 Sir Robert made his largest single contribution, HKSl million, for the construction of the Lady Ho-tung Hostel for women students at the University of Hong Kong.

In 1947, at the age of 85, Sir Robert visited the United States. In 1949 he went to Europe, where he was received by the royal families of England, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and by President of France Vincent Auriol. In England, Sir Robert called on George Bernard Shaw, who had visited him in Hong Kong in 1935. He brought Shaw a Chinese gown, which so pleased the playwright that he immediately put it on and had his photograph taken with Sir Robert. Sir Robert was then 87, and Shaw was 93. On his ninetieth birthday in 1952 Sir Robert Ho-tung was honored by Hong Kong. Jardine, Matheson and Company noted that his association with the firm and with the Keswick family, who ran it, had lasted for more than three generations. Thus, Hong Kong paid tribute to one of its most distinguished citizens. In addition to honors received from the British government. Sir Robert Ho-tung had been decorated by the governments of China, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Annam.

Sir Robert Ho-tung's eldest son. Ho Sai-wing, was actually a nephew whom he adopted; Ho died shortly after the war, having served as an agent of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The second son. Ho Sai-san, died in childhood. Edward Ho-tung, the elder of the two brothers surviving him, was a successful businessman, and Ho Sai-lai was the first Chinese cadet to be admitted to Woolwich Military Academy in England and had a distinguished army career in the service of the Chinese National Government. General Ho Sai-lai served for a period as a Chinese representative on the United Nations Military Staff Committee. Sir Robert's eight daughters were: Lady Lo (wife of Sir Man-kam Lo, a prominent Hong Kong solicitor) ; Mrs. Daisy Au-yeung; Mrs. Mary Wong; Dr. Eva Ho; Irene Cheng; Mrs. Jean Gittens; Mrs. Grace Lo; and Mrs. Florence Yeo.

In 1955 Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of Sir Robert Ho-tung's service in the colony of Hong Kong, made him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Despite his age and feeble health, he flew to London to receive the honor. It was his last public appearance. He was baptized a Christian on his deathbed, an example followed three years later by Sir Shouson Chow (Chou Ch'ang-ling, q.v.), and he died on 26 April 1956.