Background
Mr. L. N. Lau was born in 1892 in the district of Sunwui, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
Mr. L. N. Lau was born in 1892 in the district of Sunwui, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
Mr. Lau graduated from Guangzhou Christian College at the age of 23 and went to America, graduating in 1919 from the College of Arts and Sciences of Cornell University.
After graduation Mr. Lau went into the real estate business in Florida, organizing the Florida Agricultural Corporation in 1919 which now has a paid-up capital of $200,000. He was director, vice-president and treasurer of the concern since its organization.
Returning to China in 1920 Mr. Lau was appointed secretary to the director of the Guangzhou Mint. When the Chinese Merchants Bank, Ltd. of Hong Kong opened an agency in New York City in 1922, Mr. Lau took charge there and has remained as agent since. In 1924 he was elected vice-president and a director of Vantine, Inc., a flourishing store near Fifth Avenue, New York, dealing in Oriental merchandise. Mr. Lau was one of the founders of the Rho Psi Fraternity at Cornell University, a society particularly well-known to Chinese students in America.