Thomas Lee, founder of Hong Kong's leading music store, Tom Lee Music Store, passed away on February 26 at the age of 101.
His family announced that the funeral will be held on March 4. Due to the severe epidemic situation, relatives and friends will be arranged to send off with Zoom.
According to the reporter's understanding, Tom Lee Music Store yesterday (1st) informed the employees of the news of the founder's death.
Ho Bingshun, Ho's brother and musician, wrote a tribute on social media, thanking Li Ziwen for all his contributions to the Hong Kong music industry.
The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" also inquired about the arrangement of the farewell ceremony by Zoom.
The Tsuen Wan warehouse of Tom Lee Music Co., Ltd. applied for revitalization and reconstruction into a 25-storey commercial building.
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Started in 1951 and started assembling pianos
Tom Lee Music Store is currently one of the largest musical instruments and audio equipment distributors in Southeast Asia. It was founded by Li Ziwen in 1951.
He originally came to Hong Kong from Shanghai to run a textile and silk business. Later, after lobbying by his old classmates, he took over the piano shop he ran and changed his name to Tom Lee. The English name of the piano shop Tom Lee is the abbreviation of Li Ziwen's English name Thomas Lee.
Li Ziwen popularized the piano in the 1960s, and obtained the license to assemble the piano in Germany and the United Kingdom. He assembled the piano in Hong Kong, which greatly reduced the cost of the piano at that time. He established the Tongli Music Fund and opened a concert hall in the name of the piano shop.
According to Li Ziwen’s son, Li Jingzhang, in an interview with a magazine in his early years, Yamaha, which was not yet well-known in Japan in the 1960s, wanted to open up the Asian market after World War II. His father saw that Yamaha’s qin was 60 to 70% higher than that of German qin, and thought it would be attractive. Locals bought pianos and signed up to be their agents in Hong Kong.
