Ping
Lee was born in Canton, China February 16, 1891. He
immigrated to Canada, when he was young, with his
father, Li Te Neu. He went to public school in Vancouver,
British Columbia. After he graduated from school,
Ping married a woman named Lena. The date of the wedding
is unknown. She died suddenly in 1939. Before her
death, Ping and Lena had four children: Henry, Mabel,
Fred and Anna. Ping moved to Windsor in 1921. Since
job opportunities for Chinese people were limited,
Ping decided to go into business for himself. Throughout
his life Ping ran a number of restaurants and stores.
The first restaurant he opened in 1924 was called ‘The
Cadillac Café’ at 1134 Pelissier Street.
It was designed as a dinner cabaret lounge. At the
time it advertised as having the largest dance floor
in downtown Windsor. After the closure of the Café he
opened a dry good store in 1935 called the ‘Oriental
Goods Co.’ at 123 Sandwich St. E. In 1944 he
operated another restaurant called ‘Handy Lunch’ at
4271 Riverside Dr. E. In 1947 Ping Lee founded the ‘Oriental
Commerce Ltd,’ which later expanded into ‘Dragon
Brands’ frozen Chinese foods on Lincoln Road.
It became very successful, and employed many local
Chinese and non-Chinese people.
It later expanded
into the former Sterling Drug Plant on Elliott Street
when production increased. The food produced at Dragon
Brands was innovative at the time, and was distributed
throughout Ontario. The operation was eventually bought
out by Chun King Corporation of Canada Limited during
the 1960s. Two of his four children worked with him
at Dragon Brands. Frederick, a chemical engineering
graduate from the University of Toronto was the General
Manager of the company and Anna, a chemistry graduate
from the same university, was in charge of the laboratory,
quality control and inspection. Henry went on to work
as an electrical engineer with Chrysler. After the
purchase of Dragon Brand, the family opened the Oriental
Centre on Goyeau and Wyandotte, where the Detroit
Windsor Tunnel plaza is located, which imported and
sold Chinese decorative objects. Ping died November
22, 1969. 
Ping Lee was a founding member of the Chinese
Benevolent Society of Windsor and the founder of the
Chinese Language School in Windsor in 1925. He was
a member of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church,
Windsor, the Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Windsor
Foundation, the Canadian Council of Christians & Jews,
and the Canadian Import-Export Association. He was
the past president and national director of the ‘Shing
Wah Po’ - the largest Chinese daily newspaper
in Canada and was on the board of governors of South
China University. Ping Lee was active in the Chinese
War Relief organization and was a delegate to the
Chinese Nationalist Government which elected the first
executive committee for the government of China.
