Li Ming (1887-22 October 1966), banker who was noted for his pioneering work in investment banking in China and for his efforts to promote Sino-foreign economic cooperation. He served on the board of directors of many banks and businesses and was general manager of the Chekiang Industrial Bank from 1922 to 1946.

The son of a silver merchant in Chekiang, Li Ming was born in Shaohsing. After receiving his primary education in the Chinese classics, he went to Hangchow- in 1902 and enrolled at the W^ayland Academy, which was operated by American Baptist missionaries. In 1905 he went to Japan to study at Yamaguchi Commercial College, where he majored in banking and commerce. He returned to China after graduation in 1910 and joined the Chekiang Provincial and Industrial Bank in Hangchow as an auditor. He became manager of the bank's Shanghai office in 1911 and soon proved his abilities by expanding the branch's business activities. He helped found the Chinese Bankers Association at Shanghai in 1917, and he was named to the board of directors of the Bank of China in 1920.

Because the Chekiang Provincial and Industrial Bank was a semi-governmental enterprise, it was unable to resist the frequent demands made on it by the provincial authorities. Because Li Ivling believed that the bank could not prosper in such circumstances, he persuaded its private shareholders to allow him to negotiate with the provincial government for the creation of two banks to replace the Chekiang Provincial and Industrial Bank. A 1922 agreement resulted in the establishment of the Provincial Bank of Chekiang, solely owned by the provincial government, and the Chekiang Industrial Bank, a private banking firm with its head office at Shanghai. Li Ming became the general manager of the Chekiang Industrial Bank. The three chief features of his management policy were concentration, liquidity, and prudent investment. The Chekiang Industrial Bank maintained only two branches, one in Hankow and one in Hangchow, because Li believed that branches located in politically unstable areas were apt to become liabilities rather than assets. He followed a stringent loan policy, for he believed that, because China lacked a central banking system, it was necessary for commercial banks to maintain sufficient reserves to meet all of their obligations at any time. Under Li's guidance, the Chekiang Industrial Bank became one of the first Chinese banks to engage in foreign-exchange and international trade operations. Li Ming established a foreign-exchange department and employed a European expert to train his staff. The Chekiang Industrial Bank grew to become one of the five leading private banks in China.

In 1926 Li Ming became chairman of the Chinese Bankers Association at Shanghai, a post he held from 1926 to 1934 and from 1946 to 1949. Also in 1926 he was appointed liquidator of the Russo-Asiatic Bank, which had been established by the imperial governments of Russia and China and which was being liquidated as a result of the revolutions in both countries. In 1927 Li assumed the chairmanship, which he held until 1940, of the newly established National Bonds Sinking Fund Committee, which was charged with the custody and servicing of National Government treasury notes and domestic bonds. This committee, which was composed of bankers, other financiers, and government officials, was particularly important because the balancing of the National Government budget depended on the domestic bond issues. Because the committee undertook to act as a sort of trustee for bondholders, the National Government bonds won sufficient public confidence to be traded freely in Shanghai. However, the excessive number of bonds issued to meet the continued budget deficit, the frequent shortage of sinking funds, and the repeated attempts of the National Government to reorganize the loan services, defeated Li Ming's attempts to avoid a breakdown of national credit.

When the Bank of China was reorganized as a foreign-exchange bank in November 1928, Li Ming became chairman of its board of directors and Chang Kia-ngau (Chang Chia-ao, q.v.) became its general manager. Both men resigned from office when the bank was nationalized in 1935. Also in 1928 Li became a director of the Bank of Communications and chairman of the board of supervisors of the Central Bank of China, which he also helped to organize. He held these posts until 1949 and made every effort to modernize and strengthen the banking system of China.

In January 1932 fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces at Shanghai caused financial panic and runs on banks. Many Chinese banks had made large investments in real estate, and some bankers feared that they might have insufficient liquid assets to meet the emergency. Furthermore, land prices declined at this time. Li Ming took the lead in forming the Joint Reserve Board of the Chinese Bankers Association and served as its chairman. Real estate, securities, and other marketable properties with an aggregate value of CNSlOO million were submitted by the various member banks to the reserve board. It then issued notes, which were mutually acceptable among the member banks as cash, and certificates, which could be used by banks with the power of issue as security reserves and by other banks for securing up to 40 percent of the face value of the certificates in bank notes from the banks of issue. The liquidity achieved by these measures ended the financial panic. In January 1933 Li Ming sponsored the establishment of the Shanghai Clearance House as a subsidiary organ of the Joint Reserve Board. He also made plans for the creation of the Shanghai Bankers Acceptance House, which finally came into being in March 1936 as a subsidiary of the Joint Reserve Board.

To further the economic development of China, Li Ming organized the National Industrial Syndicate in 1932, and this banking group purchased an electric company at Hangchow which it reorganized as the Hangchow Electricity Company. A new general station with modern equipment was constructed on the northern bank of the Ch'ientang River, and the transmission and distribution systems were overhauled and modernized. The new and efficient electric power system was a source of great pride and increased comfort for the Hangchow citizenry. Li Ming served as chairman of the board of the Hangchow Electricity Company until 1949.

Li Ming also worked to promote economic cooperation between Chinese and foreign interests. He believed that China needed foreign capital and technology to increase its rate of economic development and that only through joint investment could popular fears of imperialistic aggression be allayed. Accordingly, in the early 1930's he participated in the joint American-Chinese purchase of the electric power system in the International Settlement at Shanghai and of the Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company. The Shanghai Municipal Council had decided to sell its electric power system in 1929, and the American and Foreign Power Company, a New York holding company, had formed a syndicate to purchase it. Li Ming was one of the syndicate members representing Chinese interests.

When the Shanghai Power Company, headed by Paul S. Hopkins, was established to operate the electric system, Li became the principal adviser to the company. This purchase involved about CNS120 million, and additional funds were needed for the rehabilitation and expansion of the utility. Because of the depression in the United States, the company had to turn to the Shanghai market. Li Ming helped form a group composed of Chinese banks, a British bank, an American bank, and the American brokerage firm of Swan, Culbertson, and Fritz to underwrite the issue of bonds and preferred stock of the Shanghai Power Company. This action marked the introduction into the Chinese banking system of such Western investment banking practices as investigating proposals, forming syndicates for underwriting, selling securities, and investment counseling. Soon afterwards, the Shanghai Mutual Telephone Company was sold to the International Telephone and Telegraph Company, which then created the Shanghai Telephone Company to operate the system. Once again, Li Ming and the brokerage firm of Swan, Culbertson, and Fritz underwrote a bond issue and rendered invaluable services to a joint Sino-foreign venture. Li served on the board of directors of the Shanghai Telephone Company from 1933 to 1949. In January 1934 the Western District Pow er Company, of which Li Ming was chairman of the board of directors and Paul S. Hopkins was president, received National Government permission to supply electricity to the western districts of Shanghai.

After the Sino-Japanese war began and a Japanese-sponsored government was established at Nanking (see Wang Ching-wei), Li Ming was threatened with arrest if he did not cooperate with the Nanking regime. In March 1941 Li suddenly left Shanghai and went to the United States, where he remained until the War in the Pacific ended in 1945. He became a New York director of the Shanghai Power Company in 1942 and a member of the New York board of trustees of Peking Union Medical College in 1944. He also served as an adviser to the Chinese delegation to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and as a Chinese delegate to the International Business Conference, held at Rye, New York. In 1945 he played a leading role in the formation of China Industries, Inc., which was organized in conjunction with K. P. Ch'en (Ch'en Kuang-fu, q.v.), Lehman Brothers, Lazard Frères, and the Rockefeller interests to facilitate the financing of postwar Chinese industrial enterprises. The organization never became operative, however, because of the civil war that broke out in China: it was dissolved in 1949.

After returning to Shanghai in 1946, Li Ming resigned as general manager of the Chekiang Industrial Bank, but continued to control its operations as chairman of the board of directors. In 1947 he became a director of the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture and chairman of the National Bankers Association. For two months, he served as chairman of the Central Bank of China's import and export control board. The National Government passed a banking law in 1947 which classified banks according to their primary functions and which required that the names of banks reflect these functions. Accordingly, in 1948 the Chekiang Industrial Bank became the Chekiang First Bank of Commerce.

When the Chinese Communist forces crossed the Yangtze in 1949, Li went to Hong Kong. Li Ming raised a small amount of capital in Hong Kong and founded the Chekiang First Bank of Commerce, Ltd. Li was elected chairman of the board of directors, and his son Li Te-chuan became manager of the bank.

Li Ming died in Hong Kong on 22 October 1966, at the age of 78. He was survived by two sons, two daughters, ten grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. One of his daughters married Szeming Sze, a son of Sao-ke Alfred Sze (Shih Chao-chi, q.v.) who became medical director of the United Nations.

In the course of his career, Li Ming held more than 30 directorships in banks, industrial concerns, insurance companies, and public utilities. He was particularly noted for his pioneering work in investment banking and for promoting Sino-foreign economic cooperation.