Percy Chen was a Chinese Trinidadian lawyer of Hakka Han descent, as well as a journalist, businessman and pro-CCP political activist.
18 Facts About Percy Chen
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Percy Chen was the eldest son of Eugene Chen, the leader of the left wing faction in the Kuomintang and the Foreign Minister of the Republic of China, and Agatha Alphosin Ganteaume, known as Aisy, daughter of a French Creole father who owned one of the largest estates in Trinidad.
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Percy Chen did his apprenticeship at the Middle Temple and called to the English Bar at the age of 21 in 1922 and practiced law for several years in Trinidad.
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Percy Chen followed the National Revolutionary Army to Hankou during the Northern Expedition.
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Percy Chen stayed in Moscow for six years under his Russian name Pertsei Ievgenovich Tschen before he became advisor to the General Motors Corporation in their negotiations with the Soviet Commissariat of Heavy Industry with his wide knowledge of the conditions in Russia, probably the first Chinese person to be employed by a giant foreign corporation as its advisor in a foreign country.
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Percy Chen was a correspondent of the Ta Kung Pao, a pro-Communist newspaper, in Tianjin.
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Percy Chen became increasingly disappointed with the Kuomintang and grew sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party.
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Percy Chen moved to Hong Kong and established a private law practice in 1947.
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Percy Chen was a founding member of the Hong Kong Bar Association in 1948 and served as its first secretary.
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Percy Chen was the most energetic campaigner and was expected to win.
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Percy Chen eventually lost to Brook Bernacchi and William Louey in the election.
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Percy Chen contested again in the 1953 Urban Council election but was still unable to win a seat.
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The mission was rejected by the colonial government and Mok was deported in September 1952, Percy Chen succeeded Mok as the chairman of the association and sought help from the Hong Kong Chinese Clerks Association in reorganising the association.
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In 1956, Percy Chen founded the Marco Polo Club, a dinner club with a select membership consisting of mainly foreign businessmen, journalists, trade representatives, and consular officers.
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Percy Chen did not allow Americans to dinner gatherings until 1972 due to the poor relations between the Communist China and the United States.
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Percy Chen was a member of the Sino-British Club of Hong Kong and led a group to visit Guangdong in 1957.
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Percy Chen was a member of the Committee of Hong Kong and Kowloon Compatriots from All Circles for Struggle Against British Hong Kong Persecution during the 1967 leftist riots against British colonial rule.
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Percy Chen published an autobiography China Called Me: My Life Inside the Chinese Revolution in 1979.