Fonds 03 - Stanley Kwan Archives 關士光檔案

Stanley Kwan (關士光), best known as the "Father of Hang Seng Index" (恒指之父) is a Hong Kong banker, writer, and history enthusiasts. Kwan was born in a traditional Chinese banker family in January 10, 1925. His uncle Kwan Wai Chow (關懷州) owned two money shop (銀號) in Sheung Wan, where his father Kwan Tsai Tung (關濟東) worked. In 1931, Kwan went to Western District School (西環小學), which was registered as an "overseas Chinese" school with the Nationalist government's Ministry of Education (南京國民政府教育部). In every morning assembly, he would sing San Min Zhu Yi (三民主意) and recite Sun Yat-sen's Last Will and Testament. This upbringing nurtured his sense of patriotism and care for the motherland. In 1937, he began attending King's College, but the second world war broke out before he could finish high school education.

In 1943, he finished a translator training of the Military Affairs Commission (國民政府軍事委員會), acquiring Lieutenant title. He was dispatched to the Burma campaign to helped train driver and supervise the building of the Burma Road (滇緬公路). After the war, Kwan had gone through different careers until he entered Hang Seng Bank in February 1962 to lead a the research department. Under the direction of Ho Sin Hang (何善衡), Kwan researched and created the Hang Seng Index (恒生指數) that was officially published on November 24, 1969. In 1974, he was commissioned by the Hong Kong government to research and further release released the Hang Seng Consumer Price Index (恒生消費物價指數). To this date, the Hang Seng Index is still the ultimate capitalist measurement of Hong Kong's market.

Kwan retired in 1984 and immigrated to Toronto, Canada in the same year. Other than enjoying the new life in his apartment in Scarborough, he began writing miticulously. He published his Chinese autobiography 七十年來家國: 一個老香港的回憶 in 1999 and English bautobiography The Dragon and the Crown: Hong Kong Memoirs in 2011. He also wrote several private papers on Battle of Hong Kong, China's issues, and his new found faith in Christianity. He passed away in Scarborough Grace Hospital on December 31, 2011.