Sham Hing Hei

Biography

Sham Hing Hei was born in 1949 in the Fujian town of Zhaoan where his father ran a shop selling imported goods. After migrating to Hong Kong in 1956, the family lived in a rooftop hut in Kowloon City. Initially enrolled in a rooftop primary school run by Swatow Christian Church, Sham Hing Hei later studied Primary 4in Bethel Bible Seminary Primary School. He subsequently dropped out of school after completing Primary 6 in 1963, becoming a general worker in a garment factory and then joining a travel agency. During this period, Sham Hing Hei furthered his secondary studies at some eight different evening schools. He married in 1969 and became an unskilled worker in an Urban Council slaughterhouse at the year’s end. Having completed Form 5 at Wah Yan College’s evening school in 1971, he obtained five passes in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and was promoted to foreman at Urban Council in charge of hygiene and cleaning. In 1973, Sham Hing Hei studied post-secondary course in the Law and Business Department of Shue Yan College’s evening school. The following year, his family moved from Kowloon City to a low-cost housing unit at Oi Man Estate in Ho Man Tin. In 1977, Sham Hing Hei completed his post-secondary studies at Shue Yan College and was transferred to the Housing Department shortly thereafter. He returned to the Urban Council in 1979, handling recreation and amenities affairs until his retirement in 2004.