Shan Sheng, President of the UK Chinese Association for the Promotion of National Reunification.

Shan Sheng in his house in London.

Shan Sheng, President of the UK Chinese Association for the Promotion of National Reunification

Shan Sheng was born in 1929 in Shanghai. His ancestral home is Taizhou, Jiangsu province. His father, Shan Yuhua, was a renowned attorney in Shanghai.

In 1949, when Shan Sheng was 20 years old, he enrolled in the law department at Aurora University Shanghai. He graduated from the university in 1951. His father-in-law was a well-known businessman in Shanghai and wanted him to go to Hong Kong to work in the family business. But under her wife’s insistence, he went to France to further his study. At Paris University, Shan Sheng majored in international law and received his Doctor of Laws in 1954. He went to the University of London afterwards to continue his studies.

In the early 1960s, tourism-oriented property in southern Spain was relatively undeveloped and land price was very low. Shan Sheng traveled to virtually every corner of southern Spain and seized the opportunity to make a bold investment. Shortly after, the tourism industry in the region started to boom and land prices skyrocketed. Today, Rota, a small coastal town, has become one of the best-known tourist destinations in Spain. In the 30 years since Shan Sheng purchased land there, prices increased by 1,000 to 5,000 times, making him the most successful Chinese real estate developer in the region. Today, his business has expanded to securities and futures.

Shan Sheng cares passionately about reunification along the Taiwan Straits. He has always been one of the most active organizers and participants at international conferences regarding reunification. He helped establish the UK Chinese Association for the Promotion of National Reunification, which organized several seminars on national reunification. At these seminars, he explained the “one country, two systems” policy to overseas Chinese and denounced separatist activities. He also led delegations or organizations to take part in overseas Chinese activities on national reunification in Berlin, Washington, Panama City and Tokyo. In August 2001, Shan Sheng was invited to serve as an adviser to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. His suggestion to enact laws to check Taiwan independence was highly appreciated and adopted by the federation. Today, Shan continues to work hard to promote the national reunification of China. He said, “I hope I can see the reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits in my life.”