Father Targeted as China's Top Traitor

In 1932, Billy Ming Sing Lee was born into a wealthy family in Shanghai. (See post one.) That immense wealth allowed for many things at a time when WWII was ramping up and scarcity prevailed. But, it could not stop Billy from coming down with Scarlet Fever, and forever becoming deaf in one ear. (See post two.) While Billy's mother refused to believe her son couldn't hear properly, his father was very understanding, only ever punishing Billy one time. (See post three.) He encouraged Billy's interest in studying at the Shanghai American School, and then Phillips Academy Andover in Mass. (See post four.) He prepared Billy for all the ribbing that he got at Andover. (See post five.) 

While Billy was adjusting to life in America, life in China was changing rapidly. In the early 1900s, Shanghai had been considered the “Hollywood of the East.” However, after WWII ended, all the film-makers fled to Hong Kong, worried that the Communists would win the ensuing Civil War.

Billy's father (Lee, Tsu Yung) --an avid entrepreneur with an affinity towards theater--moved to Hong Kong and established Hong Kong’s first large-scale private film company: Yung Hua Picture Industries. One of his 16 films, The Soul of China (1948), won an award at the Cannes Film festival. This was both a feather in his cap and the straw that broke his back.

The Soul of China: "My father was a moralist."

The movie tells the story of an imperial secretary who fights against the Mongols, a story about justice and taking a stand against authoritarianism. “My father was a moralist. He thinks that Chinese stories usually always should have moral lessons.” 

Unfortunately, when the Communists won the civil battle and came to power in 1949, The Soul of China was labeled the wrong kind of film, and Billy’s father the wrong kind of person.

“Once the Communist government was well-established, they sent a representative to Hong Kong to try to convince him to lean his film-making toward Communist propaganda. My father maybe not-very-politely rejected them. Subsequently, about a year later, there was a huge explosion. His studio—films and buildings—were burned to ashes.”

Billy’s father was branded one of “China’s Top Traitors.” That hurt him and finally broke him. He died in 1959. 

“There was a big funeral given by friends. Thousands and thousands of people came.” 

Billy was unable to return.

Many years later—after Deng Xiao Ping opened China (late 1970s)—the Chinese government gave Billy’s father a Ping Fan celebration to "redeem his reputation."

(To be continued: Next: Billy Forever Touched by Homestay Experience.)