Henry Chang-Yu Lee, known to many as “the Chinese Sherlock Holmes,” is one of the most respected forensic scientists in the world. He was born in 1938 in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, China, into a wealthy merchant family. His father, Li Haomin, frequently traveled between mainland China and Taiwan for business. Henry C. Lee was one of 14 siblings — though one passed away in infancy.
In 1946, amid the chaos of the Chinese Civil War, his mother, Wang Shuzhen, took the children to settle in Taiwan for safety. Tragedy struck three years later. In January 1949, his father boarded the ill-fated Taiping steamer bound for Taiwan. The overloaded ship encountered a violent storm and sank in the Taiwan Strait. All aboard perished.
Left to raise a large family alone, Henry C. Lee’s mother sold off the family’s remaining property and endured countless hardships to ensure her children received a proper education. Her perseverance deeply influenced his life.
From police academy in Taiwan to world-class forensic scientist
Henry C. Lee was 18 when he passed the entrance exam for the National Taiwan Ocean University. However, he ultimately enrolled in the Central Police College instead, since it offered free room and board — relieving some of the financial burden on his mother. He graduated with honors and served as a police officer in Taipei before moving to the United States in 1964 to pursue further education.
In New York, he juggled multiple jobs to pay for school, working as a restaurant waiter, a clerk at a securities firm, a martial arts instructor, and a laboratory technician — all while attending New York University. After 10 years of intense effort, Henry C. Lee earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biochemistry.
He later joined the faculty at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, starting as an assistant and eventually becoming a tenured professor of forensic science. In 1979, he was appointed chief criminalist and director of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory.
Over the decades, Dr. Lee has worked on more than 6,000 major cases across 17 countries, averaging about 200 cases per year. These include the Watergate scandal, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the genocide in Yugoslavia, and Taiwan’s 319 shooting incident involving politician Annette Lu.
He has received more than 800 awards, including the Distinguished Service Award in Criminal Justice (1998), the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award, and the World Outstanding Chinese Award (2007). He has authored over 20 books and published more than 200 academic papers.
A name that revealed a deeper mystery
Henry C. Lee has often spoken about his belief in reincarnation, particularly that his past life was that of a Buddhist monk. This idea was first sparked by his unusual nickname as a child. While all his brothers had nicknames with the character bao (meaning “treasure”) and his sisters had names with zhu (meaning “pearl”), his was Jiechen (解塵), which literally means “to escape the dust of the world.”
As a child, he was upset by this odd name and even suspected he had been adopted. But when he asked his mother, she explained the story. When Henry C. Lee was a newborn, he cried constantly. Doctors found nothing wrong. Then, one day, a monk visited the family. Henry C. Lee’s father assumed he was begging for alms and offered him food, but the monk replied: “I’m not here to beg. I’ve come to find my master.”
Puzzled, his father asked what he meant. The monk explained that the newborn baby was his teacher from a past life — Master Jiechen — who had been punished and sent to the mortal world. Because the child had resisted reincarnation, he cried nonstop. The monk knelt before the infant and addressed him as “Master.” From that moment on, the family called the baby Jiechen.
Strange encounters that confirmed his past
In 1987, while in mainland China to give lectures, Henry C. Lee visited his hometown by boat. As he disembarked, he was surprised to see a large crowd waiting. A public security officer explained that they were all relatives. One elderly man told Henry C. Lee he was his cousin, the son of his maternal uncle, and had worked with his father in business. When asked how many siblings Henry C. Lee had, the man correctly answered 14 and even listed all their names and nicknames — perfectly including Jiechen.
He also mentioned that Jiechen had once lived at Langshan, a mountain near Nantong known for its ancient Buddhist temple.
In 1989, Henry C. Lee returned to China and asked to visit Langshan. At the monastery there, he requested to see historical records, but the abbot explained they had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Henry C. Lee then asked if he had heard of a monk named Master Jiechen. The abbot exclaimed: “Ah yes, he was a great senior monk. My own master told me stories of the ‘Jie’ generation.” This marked the second time his past identity was seemingly confirmed.
A final encounter with another monk from Langshan
Years later, while visiting Taiwan, Henry C. Lee arrived on a rainy Sunday and made a spontaneous decision to visit a temple on Dharma Drum Mountain. Coincidentally, a Buddhist ceremony was in progress. Wanting to avoid disrupting it, he wandered quietly through the temple alone.
When he reached the seventh floor, the abbot came out to greet him and said: “Master Sheng-yen heard you were here. He’s been in seclusion due to illness, but very much wishes to see you.” The two spoke privately for two and a half hours, discussing life, karma, and spiritual cultivation. Sheng-yen was surprised at how well they connected and revealed that he had also once practiced at Langshan. When Henry C. Lee told him: “I was Master Jiechen,” they agreed to one day return to Langshan together. Sadly, Sheng-yen passed away before they could make the journey.
A life of service and a view of destiny
Now in his 80s, Henry C. Lee reflects on his life with humility and a spiritual outlook. “All my life,” he said, “I have been serving humanity.” His only regret is reincarnating into the human world. “The goal of spiritual cultivation is to transcend this world and escape the cycle of rebirth.”
Still, he added: “Life is about fate. The people we meet — our friends, spouses, parents, and children — are all part of that fate. If we respect and cherish these connections, our lives will be joyful.”
Translated by Eva
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