Passing of an Icon

Writer Li Lien Fung dies at age 88
She was a prolific columnist and keen supporter of the arts

By Melissa Sim and Hoe Pei Shan (with thanks to Straits Times, Fri 5 Aug 2011)

BILINGUAL writer Li Lien Fung died on Wednesday night at the age of 88.

The wife of former ambassador to Thailand Ho Rih Hwa suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and slipped into a coma on Monday.

The family said she died peacefully at the National University Hospital at 11.30pm with family members by her side.

Madam Li, the mother of businessman Ho Kwon Ping, writer Ho Min Fong and architect Ho Kwon Cjan, was a prolific writer and a keen supporter of the arts.

She served as chairman of the Singapore Totalisator Board Arts Fund and wrote the popular bilingual Bamboo Green column in The Straits Times - between 1979 and 1984, then again from 1993 to 1998. She also was a columnist for Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao from 1998 to 2009.

Many will remember the colourful reminiscences of her life growing up in China where she was born.

She published a collection of essays on life in China at the tender age of 13, moved to Hong Kong in 1937, and then to the United States in 1940.

She read chemistry at Mills College, California, and took her Master's in Literature at Cornell University, where she met her Singaporean husband. They were married in 1946.

Madam Li also had keen business acumen and, together with her husband, expanded her father's business - Wah Chang Group, which deals in manufacturing and trading.

In Thailand, where Mr Ho was Singapore's ambassador from 1967 to 1971, the couple built a string of successful tapioca, bean vermicelli and wheat flour factories before returning to Singapore. Mr Ho died in 1999.

A generous woman, she celebrated her 78th birthday by presenting $500,000 to the Singapore Management University to establish the Ho Rih Hwa Leadership in Asia Public Lecture Series. The lectures feature entrepreneurs, business and political leaders. She later donated $1 million to set up the Lien Fung's Colloquium, which aims to enhance awareness and appreciation of cultural and societal issues.

Mr Ho Kwon Ping said: 'My mother was a lively and quick-witted personality with a strong conscience about the world that she passed on to me.

'She was a prolific writer and a good mother. I will miss the times when just the two of us would go for dinner and get tipsy on sake. I will also miss our regular Sunday lunches where the whole family would gather.'

Her daughter, writer Ho Min Fong, added: 'There are countless positive adjectives to describe her. She was kind, cogent, warm, lively, vivacious, curious and compassionate. Above all, she was a good mother.'

Madam Li's wake is held at 36 King Albert Park. The funeral is on Sunday afternoon.


Gifted and generous
The prolific and bilingual writer died of brain haemorrhage at 88 and is remembered as an ardent champion of the arts

Members of the arts community paid tribute to prolific writer and ardent arts supporter Li Lien Fung, who died on Wednesday after suffering a massive brain haemorrhage.

She was 88.

An expert on Chinese culture, she helmed a bilingual column in The Straits Times called Bamboo Green, which introduced many English- educated Singaporeans to stories of Chinese emperors, warriors, villains and poets. The column ran between 1979 and 1984.

Mr Paul Tan, 40, director of the Singapore Writers Festival, says he remembers reading the columns when he was growing up. He was in contact with her right up till a few weeks ago, discussing her participation in this year's festival.

'She's so effectively bilingual, it's amazing,' he says, adding that her e-mail were always full of wit.

Active and still raring to go at the age of 70, she revived her column in 1993. The second run was focused on personal reminiscences of growing up in China and insights into the Chinese way of life.

Still alert and involved in the arts scene, she had expressed interest in attending the Lien Fung's Colloquium at Singapore Management University (SMU) next Friday - an invitation-only event.

She had donated $1 million to establish and run the colloquium, which aims to enhance awareness and appreciation of cultural and societal issues, with a particular focus on everyday life.

She was married to the late Ho Rih Hwa, a former ambassador to Thailand, and her children are prominent businessman Ho Kwon Ping, author Ho Min Fong and architect Ho Kwon Cjan.

She is remembered most for her contribution to the Singapore arts scene and those who have worked with her had only praise for her talent, wit and dedication.

'She was an arts philanthropist who was gracious, gifted and generous, and it is a sad moment for the arts in Singapore,' says Mr Tay Tong, the 47-year-old managing director of TheatreWorks which did the second staging of her play, The Sword Has Two Edges, in 1990.

'She would always ring me the day after she had seen our productions and give me her thoughts and critique - always honest, at times harsh, but always encouraging.'

To Mr Alvin Tan, 48, artistic director of non- profit theatre company Necessary Stage, she was someone who commanded respect 'like an empress dowager' and played a key role in the development of the arts.

'She helped create a base of works in Singapore to which artists of the generations after could respond and react artistically,' he said.

Her contemporaries also fondly recall the passion and perception with which she produced her work and promoted the arts.

Playwright-poet Robert Yeo, 71, who served in the Singapore Totalisator Board Arts Fund committee while Madam Li was its chairman, recalled the first time he saw The Sword Has Two Edges.

'It appeared when Singapore's theatre scene was struggling to find its feet and she helped push the local play movement,' he said. 'That is what I remember her for.'

At the upcoming Lien Fung's Colloquium, SMU plans to observe one minute of silence in memory of Madam Li.