when he was sixteen years old. He studied at Raffles Institution where he passed his Senior Cambridge Examination in 1928 and later at the University of Hong Kong. After his graduation he joined his father’s construction company.
& #8217;s historical buildings including the Victoria Memorial Hall and Parliament House. After Japanese invasion of China in 1973 Lim Bo Seng raised funds to support the Chinese war effort. Because of his anti-Japanese activities the British government at one time considered banishing him from
would fall to the Japanese in 1942. He, however, returned to Malaya in 1943 in a British submarine to join the underground resistance movement in Malaya. Later he went to Ipoh, the capital of Perak, to direct guerilla operations against the Japanese. The Japanese Military Police (the Kempetai) captured him in March 1944. He died on 29 June 1944 at the age of 34 after three months of Japanese torture at Batu Bajah Jail where he stubbornly refused to betray his comrades. He was buried in a shallow grave behind the prison.
When the British returned to Malaya in 1945 his body was brought to
. He was buried with military honours at MacRitchie Reservoir on 13 January 1946. A Memorial Service was held at the steps of the Municipal Building (City Hall). The memorial at MacRitchie Reservoir was erected on 27 June 1952 by the Lim Bo Seng Memorial Committee.
Later, a more befitting monument was erected. A sum of Hong Kong $85,000 was raised to erect the pagoda at the Esplanade. It was officially unveiled in 1954.
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