Professor Lee was admitted to Chung Chi College in 1962, and graduated in Sociology in 1965. During the course of his undergraduate years, he witnessed the founding of the Chinese University as a member of its second graduating class. Upon graduation he proceeded to the University of Pittsburgh for further studies in Sociology, and undertook research at Harvard University on social factors in mental illness. In 1968 he obtained his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, after which he returned to his alma mater to take up a teaching position at the tender age of 25, being the youngest lecturer with a doctorate in his department at the time. In 1975 he was promoted to senior lecturer, and appointed reader in 1980. In 1984, he was elevated to the Chair Professor of Sociology.

Professor Lee specializes in sample surveys and quantitative analysis. He has published eight specialist volumes and over a hundred papers on a diverse variety of subjects. These include (1) the development of traditional and modern medical and health services; (2) the socio-cultural factors affecting the mental health of the Chinese, and the Chinese ways of dealing with social stress; and (3) family problems and social networking in Hong Kong and neighbouring areas.

Professor Lee puts the fruit of his study and research to good use in society. He was involved in a large number of medical, health and social service projects, including the Health Services Research Committee, the Council for the AIDS Trust Fund, the Human Reproductive Technology Council, the S.K. Yee Medical Foundation, the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee on Social Work Training and Manpower Planning, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention. Professor Lee also participated in the Central Policy Unit, the District Council, the Police Education and Welfare Trustee Committee, the Release Under Supervision Board, the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Council, the Statistics Advisory Board, and the Research Grants Council. He also supported the social science teaching and research development programmes of other tertiary institutions including Baptist University, Lingnan University, Open University and Shue Yan University. In 1992 Professor Lee was appointed a Non-official Justice of the Peace by the Governor, and in 1997 he received the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from the Queen of the United Kingdom.

Professor Lee has been active in helping to rebuild sociology as an academic discipline on the mainland and, since the reforms that opened up the country began in 1978, he has been frequently invited by major universities and research institutions on the mainland to lecture on sociology and social research methods, to give seminars, and to assist various universities in re-establishing their sociology departments and training their postgraduates.

Those who are proficient in learning, govern. Professor Lee has taught at the Chinese University for more than 40 years, and during this long career of teaching and research, he has also shouldered many administrative appointments. He was the director of the Social Research Centre, the director of the Institute of Social Studies, the dean of Social Science, the Chairman of the Department of Sociology, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Physical Education, the director of Part-time Degree Studies, the chairman of the Management Committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, the chairman of the Committee on the Universities Service Centre for China Studies, the chairman of the Advisory Board of Continuing and Professional Studies, a member of the Steering Committee on Campus Master Planning and a member of the University Council. During the decade between 1994 and 2004, Professor Lee was Head of Chung Chi College. Since 2014, he has been the founding Master of Wu Yee Sun College.