Kayser Winsiang Sung, editor-in-chief and publisher of Textile Asia, passed away peacefully at the age of 90 on January 12, 2010 in Hong Kong. He was born on October 1, 1919 in Nanjing, China. After honing his journalistic skills as chief reporter and feature editor of Chinese newspapers, he joined the Reuters News Agency as reporter, translator and feature writer in 1947. He was transferred to Hong Kong in 1949 and remained with Reuters for the next ten years. In 1959, he was asked to join the Far Eastern Economic Review, and was managing editor and publisher there until 1968. In 1964, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism and literature jointly with Richard G. Wilson, then editor of the Review. The Magsaysay Award was in recognition of “their accuracy, impartiality and continuing search for facts and insights in recording Asia’s quest for economic advance.”

Kayser Winsiang Sung.

The citation also said: “In their editing of the Review, they have demonstrated that journalism can play a constructive role in fostering healthy growth.”

Since 1960, Kayser Sung has applied his journalistic acumen to the Asian textile industry, editing the bilingual Hong Kong Textile Annual and the Asian Textile Annual and Survey. His expertise was recognized in 1965 when he was asked to join a four member textile experts group in a joint research project on the Asian textile industry for the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) of the United Nations. The textile industry was at that time the most substantial industrial activity undertaken by developing nations, which were moving from being textile importers to exporters.

In 1970, Kayser Sung established and co-founded Business Press, Ltd., with the late Cha Chi-Ming, a noted Hong Kong industrialist, and started publication of the monthly journal Textile Asia – the Asian Textile and Apparel Monthly, devoted to the coverage of the textile industry in Asia and the world. He was an expert on quotas and trade agreements, and an outspoken critic of protectionism, which he viewed as a threat to the economic welfare of developing countries, and could stunt growth in rich developed countries. The 2,022 page chronicle of his writings on the textile industry, Asia in the Textile World 1950s to 2000, was recently published by Business Press, Ltd. He remained editor-in-chief and publisher of Textile Asia for 40 years until his passing. He has just reached the age of 90 years and was planning for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Textile Asia at the time of his passing.

In addition to the Magsaysay Award, Kayser Sung garnered numerous citations during his long career. In 1983 he was awarded the Medal of the Council of the Textile Institute, Manchester, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the textile industry in Asia.

It was the first time that a journalist has received this honour from the Textile Institute. In 1999, he was elected to the companionship of the Textile Institute, an honour limited to 50 life members. In 2004, he received a certificate of honour from Professor Xu Mingzhi, President of Donghua University, at the Textile Institute World Conference in Shanghai, China. He was chairman of the Textile Institute (Hong Kong Section) from 1986 to 1996, and world vice-president of Textile Institute International from 1993 to 1996.

In 2006, he was one of 100 recipients receiving the China Enterprise Award for Creative Personalities in a convocation ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

Kayser Sung has a long standing association with the Hong Kong Economic Association. He was vice-president from 1966 to 2000; and a member of its executive committee thereafter.

Kayser Sung was devoted husband to Eleanor Wu I-Wan, whom he married in Xi’an, China, in 1945. They had met when they were both teachers in a school for gifted orphans in Xi’an. While in Xi’an, he collaborated as librettist with the Korean composer Han You-Han in composing the first classical Korean opera, Arirang. Eleanor was the female lead in the opera.

Kayser Sung is loving father of Lilian, Emily, Vicky and Max, loving father-in-law of Swee Chua, Teddy and Helen, and loving grandfather of Kevin, Jennifer, Kimberly and Richard.