Lee Kuan Yew together with supporters in 1959. (Photo/Haiwainet.cn)

The late Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, visited China 27 times. He was a foreign politician with an unmatched understanding of China’s crucial period of reform and opening-up. He was very supportive for China and provided clear analysis of China's future development in his book One Man's View of the World.

Lee Kuan Yew was born in 1923 in Singapore. In 1954, together with a group of fellow representatives of Singapore's middle-class who had been educated in the U.K., Lee formed the 'socialist' People's Action Party (PAP) in an expedient alliance with pro-communist trade unionists. As the first Prime Minister, he thought that a country with scarce resources like Singapore could not prosper without a hinterland. In 1963, Singapore became part of the Malaysian federation.

Lee Kuan Yew and his wife Kwa Geok Choo in 1950. They married in 1947 in England. (Photo/Haiwainet.cn)