Dr Lien was closely associated with education throughout his life. He believed in helping the poor and needy through formal education, and he played a key role in the founding of Nanyang University, the predecessor of Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
The legacy of Dr Lien continues to this day through the Lien Foundation, established in 1980, and has grown from strength-to-strength in recent years with the partnership with NTU. These programmes are the Lien Ying Chow Legacy Fellowship, the Lien Challenge for Sustainable Society, the Lien Public Service Excellence Index for Chinese Cities, an initiative under the Lien Chinese Public Service Research, and Lien’s China Private Philanthropy Sector Research and Survey.