“You have to love and be devoted to your career.”
Dr Rebecca Lee Lok-sze is the first Hong Kong female explorer to have travelled to the three poles. For four times she reached the snowy area of the world’s highest mountain Mount Everest. She also travelled between North and South Poles 18 times. With broadened vision and thinking, and deep concern for the environment, she strove to arouse public awareness of the ecology in both poles and the need for a balance between natural resources and human desires. Through photographs and documentaries, she spread the message of respect for nature and being positive towards life.
An outstanding PolyU alumnus and University Fellow, Dr Lee is multi-talented, well-versed in advertising design, painting, photography and writing. Hoping to save enough money to travel around the world before she reached 30, the young Lee Lok-sze worked for the commercial graphic industry. During that period, she was invited to create an exhibition in Hong Kong on China’s first scientific research station in the Antarctica, which paved the way for her enriching lifelong environmental journey.
Since the 1980s, Dr Lee has been devoted to polar explorations and environmental protection work. Through impressive images shared in various exchange platforms, she drew people’s attention to overconsumption and daily habits, which pose threats to ecological balance. She also delivered numerous talks, seminars and exhibitions around the world as well as wrote books and articles to garner awareness about the problem of global pollution. In 1997, she established the Polar Museum Foundation to promote scientific research in the polar regions and young people’s knowledge in that area. In 2011, she donated a precious collection of thousands of images and specimens to the Polar Museum at a local university for educational purpose.
The environmental warrior not just weathered snowy storms but also the blows of a broken marriage and cancer. With exceptional perseverance, she raised her two daughters singlehandedly, and underwent physical treatments with a positive spirit while focusing on environmental work. Time and again, she overcame life’s challenges with joy and gratitude.
Dr Lee's attitude of not giving up in the face of adversity is of exemplary value for young people.
The above is an English translation of a story abridged from the Chinese book “Heartening Stories” published by PolyU in 2017.
