Wu Zhande was born in 1922 in a patriotic overseas Chinese family in Taishan, Guangdong. He is one of the founders of Maxim’s Group.
After graduating from Lingnan University in Guangzhou in 1947, he and his brother Wu Shunde managed the Queen's Theater together. In 1956, Wu Zhande and his brother Wu Shunde founded "Max's Restaurant" in Central, which gradually developed into "Max's Group".
Between 1956 and 1958, Maxim’s held several international food festivals. In the 1960s and 1970s, Maxim's pioneered the pastry and fast food chain stores; between the 1970s and 1980s, Maxim's established a series of restaurants from outside the province such as Chaojiang Chun, Beijing Restaurant, and Dongting Restaurant. Until today, Maxim's Group has gradually developed into a diversified catering group including Eastern cuisine, Western cuisine, fast food, pastries, and even Starbucks cafes. It also provides catering institutions for many institutions, hospitals, etc. Serve.
In 1987, thanks to the active advocacy of James Wu and a group of old Lingnan alumni, Lingnan College was established at CUHK. At the same time, Wu Zhande served as the first chairman of the board of directors of Lingnan College, Sun Yat-sen University. In more than 10 years, James Ng and his wife Li Yuzhen have donated a total of more than 20 million Hong Kong dollars to CUHK. At the same time, Wu Zhande also traveled around the world at his own expense, mobilizing Lingnan alumni and enthusiastic and friendly people at home and abroad to donate for education.
In 1979, Wu Zhande and his eldest daughter Wu Shuqing (Wu Zhande had two sons and four daughters) collaborated with the Beijing Administration of Civil Aviation of China to establish the first joint venture in mainland China, Beijing Aviation Catering Co., Ltd.
In 1983, Wu Zhande introduced the high-end cruise ship "Royal Star", proposed and helped simplify the procedures for tourists to enter and exit customs, and promoted the development of domestic tourism, causing major cruise ships in the world to organize groups to China. travel.
In 1995, James Wu received an honorary doctorate from Spring University in the United States.
In 2001, he was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
In 2003, he was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Guangzhou City". In 2005, Sun Yat-sen University officially awarded James Wu an honorary doctorate.
In 2009, he was awarded the Golden Bauhinia Star for promoting Hong Kong as an international center for food and wine.
Before this, Wu Shuqing believed that the root causes of many social problems in Hong Kong originated from education. Therefore, she consciously cultivated students' patriotic feelings in education. Starting from kindergarten, students must understand themselves. Are you Chinese?
In the school founded by Wu Shuqing, the school song must be in Chinese, and students must understand Mandarin and Cantonese. She hopes that students will be "based on Hong Kong, backed by the country, and go global." In May 2020, Ng Shu-ching was selected as the "Moving Chinese Figure in 2019". She is also the only Hong Kong person among the 10 winners. The award speech commented that she has "the vision to transcend Hong Kong Island and not to let men take responsibility", referring to her ?Loving young people and loving Hong Kong even more is a beautiful heart and a conscience? Although we have no way of knowing the cause of his death, was it illness? Is it age? However, James Ng's enthusiasm for the catering industry not only promotes the development and growth of the group, but also spares no effort to serve the society and make contributions, and makes substantial donations and promotes the development of education.
This is an example worth learning from! ?