Film and Theater: A Few Details About James Zee-min Lee / Li Shimin 李時敏

Hong Kong Who’s Who: An Almanac of Personalities and Their History, 1958–1960

Lee, James Zee-Min, 李時敏, Author; born September 7th, Cantonese, Protestant; educated at St. Stephen’s College, Hongkong, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.; Author of “Chinese Potpourri” and “The Song of Lee Kee”. Founder and Life Member of the Sun Lodge No. 114, Shanghai; Life Member of Amity Lodge No. 106, Shanghai; Member of Signet Chapter No. 57 Royal Arch, Los Angeles Commandery No. 9  Los Angeles Council No. 11, Royal and Select Masters; Jinnistan Grotto No. 76; Los Angeles Consistory and Al Malaikah Shrine in America.

Addresses: 4 Tsat Tze Mui Road, North Point, Hongkong and G.P.O. Box 665 Hongkong.

Hongkong Album, Fourth Edition, 1966

Lee, James Zee-Min
李時敏
Author: 4 Swallow Road, Ground Floor, Hongkong; G.P.O. Box 665, Hongkong, Tel: 707141. Born in Canton; Chinese; Protestant; Educ. St. Stephen’s College, Hongkong; William Holman’s School of Elocution, Sydney, Australia; University of Southern California, U.S.A.

Literary Works: “Chinese Potpourri”; “Song of Lee Kee”; “The Stone Monkey King”; “Romance of the Chinese Theatre.”

Chinese Technical Advisor for MGM’s “Good Earth” and other film productions for four years; Narrator and Manager, Chinese Cultural Theatre Group on its two tours throughout the United States, 1946 and 1947; Founder and Life Member, Sun Lodge No. 114; Life Member, Amity Lodge No. 106; Member, Hongkong Square Club; Signet Chapter No. 57 Royal Arch Masons; Los Angeles Commandery No. 9; Los Angeles Council No. 11 Royal and Select Masters; Jinnistan Grotto No. 76; Los Angeles Consistory and Al Malaikah Shrine; Recently appointed Hongkong representative, The World Craft Council of New York.

The Young Companion, February 29, 1928

California Passenger List

departed Shanghai, October 28, 1932; arrived Los Angeles, California, November 18, 1932

California Passenger List

departed Shanghai, July 7, 1934; arrived Los Angeles, California, July 25, 1934

Hongkong Telegraph, October 10, 1936

Chinese Digest, October 23, 1936

The Young Companion, January 15, 1937

Daily News, (Los Angeles, California), January 30, 1937, “The Good Earth”

Buffalo Courier-Express (New York), August 28, 1937

The Rainbow Pass, 1937 short film

Chinese Digest, January 1938

Brooklyn Eagle (New York), March 15, 1939, “An Evening in Cathay”

Hongkong Telegraph, November 6, 1939

1940 United States Census
James Zee Min Lee, 1048 West 36th Street, Los Angeles, California; self-employed art dealer

California Passenger List

departed Hong Kong, September 9, 1940; arrived Los Angeles, California, September 30, 1940; deported October 11, 1940

California Passenger List

departed Shanghai, July 18, 1946; arrived San Francisco, California, July 18, 1946

An Evening in Cathay, March 22, 1947, program

Chinese Potpourri, Oriental Publishers, 1950

 

South China Morning Post, November 22, 1950

Chinese Potpourri
Acceptable Book by a H.K. Man

Chinese Potpourri, by James Zee-min Lee. Published by the Oriental Publishers, Hong Kong. $18.

In time for Christmas comes a welcome volume, “Chinese Potpourri”, a collection of discoveries, reminiscences and explanations in answer to some of the questions perpetually asked about China and the Chinese. It is, as Sir Shouson Chow says in a brief preface, a book of quality, though without great pretension. It is smoothly and confidently written and excellently printed and illustrated (by the Local Printing Press). Entirely a Hongkong product, it is one in which the Colony can take pride, and for which it will tender to the author its congratulations and (with the Christmas gift problem upon us) its thanks.

Mr. James Zee-min Lee is of a well-known Australian Chinese family long domiciled in Hongkong. His brother William Yinson Lee will be remembered for his association with the Sun Life Insurance and as a prominent Rotarian. Another brother was the late Mr. George Lee (Li Choi-chi) who won repute as Hongkong’s most popular tenor vocalist. A sister is Mrs. Rose Chow, wife of Mr. Chow Yat-kwong (China Emporium) son of Sir Shouson Chow. To her and to another sister (Mrs. Alice Chow) the book is affectionately dedicated. The author himself probably owes his literary career to his interest in the cinema. From Hongkong he went to Shanghai and thence to Hollywood where, as well as appearing in films, he became a valuable adviser on things Chinese. Keen curiosity had impelled research into Chinese customs, and he had travelled in many parts of the country talking with elders and delving into history and folklore. The result was an accumulation of intriguing information, some of which is now presented in this entertaining and instructive melange.

Of Many Things: The old China hand, collector of many books of this sort, will with some suspicion search his memory for sources and will question the omission of a bibliography. He will find, however, that while the author has drawn upon familiar works he has also carried out much original research. He makes no claim to profundity, with the happy result that his descriptions and interpretations are presented with an engaging simplicity and freshness. In covering a wide field he has also employed a mature faculty for diagnosis; his foreign contacts have enabled him to select accurately those subjects upon which the stranger in China ever inquires. They range from dragons to dynasties, from art and calligraphy to food, flowers, and the departed queue. The festivals, of course, receive due attention—music, also, the Great Wall, fruit, and the source of rice. A revealing chapter is that on the Imperial Eunuchs.

The wealth of explanation, reference and legend tempts the reviewer to quotation; but space forbids. Newcomers to China will find very instructive the chapters on Chinese writing, the ly-chee (fruit), Chinese wines, poetry and music. Historical chapters deal absorbingly with the Ming Emperor (and China’s best known beauty), the Dowager Empress and the last of the Sung Emperors whose refuge near Kowloon City used to be a Hongkong land-mark. There are also a map of China, chronology of Chinese periods and an Anglo-Chinese calendar for 1951.—In conclusion, the reader is presented with the philosophy of Chu Hai, a score and more of maxims on “How to be a Man”. He will close the book with the verdict that the author’s labour of love has been well worth while.

Theater Pictorial: A History of World Theater as Recorded in Drawings, Paintings, Engravings, and Photographs, University of California Press, 1953

Living on Air: Some of the Memories of Wilfrid Thomas, Frederick Muller, 1958

 

 

Related Posts 

The Good Earth

The Rainbow Pass
An Evening in Cathay, 1938–1939

 

(Next post on Wednesday: Poy Gum Lee, Peter Chinn and King Wah Restaurant)