It has emerged that Samsung restored the Shanghai building of South Korea’s Provisional Government in 1993. Samsung said the building that President Lee Jae Myung is due to visit during his state trip to China was restored in 1993 after a voluntary proposal by Samsung C&T employees.

Lee has been on a state visit to China since Jan. 4 and held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Jan. 5. He is scheduled to visit the Shanghai provisional government building on Jan. 7.

The building served as the provisional government’s hub for about 6 years, from July 1926 until it moved to Hangzhou in April 1932. It was later left for a long time as a private home and damaged to the point that it was difficult to recognize its original form.

Samsung C&T, which from 1990 was preparing to enter the Chinese market before formal diplomatic ties with China in August 1992, confirmed the building was at risk of disappearing without a trace. It decided to pursue a restoration project. Samsung C&T held an in-house event idea contest after publishing a booklet titled “Our History Introduced Incorrectly” in December 1990.

Lee Jaecheong, a deputy general manager in charge of sales at the distribution division who returned from a business trip to Shanghai, proposed restoring the Shanghai provisional government building and won the top prize. The project was approved by a headquarters management meeting and named the “Sungsan Project.”

Samsung C&T, with cooperation from the Ministry of Culture and the Independence Hall of Korea, adopted a restoration agreement with Shanghai city in 1991. It relocated residents living in the building, providing relocation costs. The company explained it repaired details such as stairways and window frames and collected tables, chairs and beds used in the 1920s to recreate the meeting room, kitchen, reception room, office and accommodations for key figures to match how they were during the provisional government period.

About 100 people attended the completion ceremony held on April 13, 1993 to coincide with the anniversary of the provisional government’s establishment, including Kim Shin, a former transport minister and son of Kim Gu; Ahn Chunsaeng, a former head of the Liberation Association and nephew of Ahn Jung-geun; Yoon Juwoong, the grandson of Yoon Bong-gil; Choi Chang-gyu, head of the Independence Hall of Korea; and Shin Segil, president of Samsung C&T.

Samsung C&T also conducted a survey of Korean cultural heritage scattered across China as part of the Shanghai restoration project and unearthed about 1,400 items, including artifacts, historical texts and historic sites.