Li Minzhou (1881-1935), born in Shiqi Town of Xiangshan County, was the 7th child in his family. He was active and adventurous since childhood. When he was 18 years old, under the help of Liang Kunhe (a business tycoon of Zhongshan origin who did banana trade in Queensland, Australia), he went to work for his sponsor’s farm. With the help of a missionary named Miller, he learned English by self-study and baptized to be a Christian. Later he opened his own store to do business, which gradually prospered and brought him a large fortune.

Once he returned to his hometown to visit relatives, he got the help from Huang Huannan, who worked in Shanghai Sincere Company, together with fellow folk Liu Xiji. The three of them worked together and opened a big department store named Sun Sun Company in Shanghai in 1926, which also sold general merchandise. Everything went on smoothly because Li Minzhou was good at making friends in different places. The stock of Sun Sun Company totaled 2.3 million silver dollars; besides the 200,000 silver dollars invested by Li and 1.5 million silver dollars invested by the syndicate of Guangdong and Hong Kong, together with other Guangdong people living in Shanghai, the rest of more than 600,000 silver dollars was collected by Li from his Australian friends and fellow folks. The Sun Sun Company integrated the advantages of both Sincere and Wing On Company, with more magnificent, practical and solid architectures. The whole building was a combination of department store, restaurants and sightseeing spot, which made it the famous place in Shanghai at that time. In order to attract customers, Li Minzhou opened a studio in the sixth floor. It was a huge glass studio with performance by famous singers and DJ, which turned out to be a great success.

On the evening of February 1st, 1935, Li Minzhou was murdered, and the booming business of Sun Sun Company was affected deeply.

Li Minzhou was a pious Christian. When he was operating Sun Sun Company in Shanghai, he found there was no organization for Christians in Shanghai. Therefore, he established the first Christian organization which used Cantonese to preach for people in Shanghai. It not only provided a good place for all the believers, but also gave the merchants from Xiangshan County precious opportunities to communicate and unite with their fellow folks in Shanghai.