Tam Shiu Hong (aka Tam Sze Nin)
譚肇康（譚時秊）
(1875–1961)
Class of 1899 - Titan of Hong Kong’s Early-20th-Century Infrastructure Projects
1899屆畢業 — 二十世紀香港基建泰斗
Tam Shiu Hong was born in Xinhui, and studied at St. Paul’s College between 1898 and 1899. Tam founded the Hong Kong Construction Association in 1920 (which he chaired in 1922) and led many of the city’s early–twentieth-century infrastructure projects. Having joined the Tongmenghui in 1906, Tam also left a mark in modern Chinese history.
After graduating from the College, Tam chose to enter construction, first honing his craft in Russian-held Dalniy (today Dalian). Returning to Hong Kong, he joined the Tongmenghui in 1906, and was assigned to internal bookkeeping work. Following the failed Second Guangzhou Uprising (April 1911), Tam was one of the people who risked life and limb to rebury the uprising’s seventy-two martyrs. Although Tam was offered a position in Sun’s new government, he declined, preferring instead to focus on construction projects.
With his two companies, Wing Lee & Co. and Yee Lee & Co., Tam was awarded multiple large-scale building contracts, including:
Extensions to the Dairy Farm Depot (1910s; the building was awarded Grade 1 status in 2009);
The North Point power station (Hongkong Electric, completed 1919, rebuilt as City Gardens in the 1980s);
The Hok Un power station (CLP, completed 1921, demolished 1991, rebuilt as Laguna Verde);
The Gloucester Building in Central (completed 1932, demolished 1977, now part of Landmark);
The Confucius Hall in So Kon Po (completed 1935, awarded Grade 1 status in 2020);
The Government Trade School on Wood Road, in Wan Chai (completed 1936, the forerunner to the Polytechnic University; popularly known as the ‘red brick house’, demolished 1988); and so on.
Tam was also a philanthropist, having served on the boards of Tung Wah Hospital (1932–33 lunar year) and Po Leung Kuk (1934–35 lunar year).