Our History
Dr Lien Ying Chow (1906-2004)
Dr Lien Ying Chow (1906 – 2004) was born in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to Singapore at the age of 14 in year 1920, with barely enough. He was an extraordinary business leader and banker, best known as the founder of Overseas Union Bank. He was also a dedicated community leader, trusted diplomat and big-hearted philanthropist.
Dr Lien was closely associated with education throughout his life. He believed in helping the poor and needy through formal education, and he played a key role in the founding of Nanyang University, the predecessor of Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
The legacy of Dr Lien continues to this day through the Lien Foundation, established in 1980, and has grown from strength-to-strength in recent years with the partnership with NTU. These programmes are the Lien Ying Chow Legacy Fellowship, the Lien Challenge for Sustainable Society, the Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities, an initiative under the Lien Chinese Public Service Research, and Lien’s China Private Philanthropy Sector Research and Survey.
