Historically speaking ...
Malaysian Business, Nov 1, 2003 by Jeffery Seow
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Historically speaking ...
Jeffery Seow
I REFER to the article on Kapitan Chung Keng Quee in the Oct 16th- 31st issue of Malaysian Business. While the article about my great- grandfather made interesting reading, I have to point out a few inaccuracies.
Being interested in genealogy, I have been doing some research. So, I do have some knowledge about this ancestor of mine.
1. It is true that Keng Quee had many mansions, along with other forms of property. The Shanghai Hotel and Relau Villa, however, were not among them. If you check the date of construction of those two mansions, you will find that they were built after he had passed away. They were built by his son, my grandfather, Kapitan Chung Thye Phin, who brought plans for them back from his travels to Italy.
2. The proper name for the Chung Keng Kwee temple, as it is called in the article, is Hai Kee Chan/Hye Kee Chan or `Sea Remembrance Store'. To the best of my knowledge, it was restored by another descendent of Keng Quee (either through his son Chung Thye Yong or Chung Ah Yong), Owen Chung Choong King (the former Aide De Camp of our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman), who successfully managed to get this declared a heritage house. Hai Kee Chan was built around 1890 and the cast-iron work was produced by Walter Macfarlane & Co (Saracen Foundry).
3. The monitor pump was introduced by Thye Phin and not Keng Quee.
Jeffery Seow via e-mail
Editor's note
The feature on Chung Cheng Kwee was based on historical writings, including excerpts from the books Streets of George Town, Penang and Biographical Dictionary Of The Chinese in Malaysia.
Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
Jeffery Seow
I REFER to the article on Kapitan Chung Keng Quee in the Oct 16th- 31st issue of Malaysian Business. While the article about my great- grandfather made interesting reading, I have to point out a few inaccuracies.
Being interested in genealogy, I have been doing some research. So, I do have some knowledge about this ancestor of mine.
1. It is true that Keng Quee had many mansions, along with other forms of property. The Shanghai Hotel and Relau Villa, however, were not among them. If you check the date of construction of those two mansions, you will find that they were built after he had passed away. They were built by his son, my grandfather, Kapitan Chung Thye Phin, who brought plans for them back from his travels to Italy.
2. The proper name for the Chung Keng Kwee temple, as it is called in the article, is Hai Kee Chan/Hye Kee Chan or `Sea Remembrance Store'. To the best of my knowledge, it was restored by another descendent of Keng Quee (either through his son Chung Thye Yong or Chung Ah Yong), Owen Chung Choong King (the former Aide De Camp of our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman), who successfully managed to get this declared a heritage house. Hai Kee Chan was built around 1890 and the cast-iron work was produced by Walter Macfarlane & Co (Saracen Foundry).
3. The monitor pump was introduced by Thye Phin and not Keng Quee.
Jeffery Seow via e-mail
Editor's note
The feature on Chung Cheng Kwee was based on historical writings, including excerpts from the books Streets of George Town, Penang and Biographical Dictionary Of The Chinese in Malaysia.
Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
Pioneer businessman
Malaysian Business, Oct 16, 2003 by Clarence Y K Ngui
FindArticles > Malaysian Business > Oct 16, 2003 > Article > Print friendly
Pioneer businessman
Clarence Y K Ngui
Chung Keng Kwee (1821-1901)
TRADITIONALIST Chung Keng Kwee best represents the early Chinese businessmen of British Malaya and Southeast Asia. Then, in the 19th Century, with little industrial and commercial agriculture development, most Chinese businessmen made their mark in revenue farming - or a kind of state business concession.
Chung, a Hakka clansman, was no different. Although he had tin mining and plantation interests, Chung derived the bulk of his wealth from revenue farming in gambling, opium, pawn broking, timber, and spirit and tobacco farms in the Perak towns of Larut, Kuala Kangsar, Krian and Selama. Then, Perak was a new frontier state in the-then Malaya.
Doing business in the 19th Century was no easy task. There was little infrastructure and practically no political stability - Malay feudal rivalry and contests for the throne, sporadic secret-society clashes and outright wars between various parties were all rampant and common occurrences.
Chung@ Chung Ah Kwee @ Chung Zhen Zhi @ Chung Si Wen @ Chung Keng Kooi, made his business success by heading the Hai San secret society of Penang.
The Hai Sans or `Sea Mountains', which Yap Ah Loy also belonged to, were primarily a Hakka-based secret society with various business interests - both legal and illegal.
Khoo Su Nin @ Khoo Salma Nasution in Streets of George Town, Penang, writes, `Chung led the Hai San secret society throughout the years of protracted tin wars (Larut Wars) with Ghee Hin, a Hokkien-based secret society.' Yet, it was these wars that made Chung's business forays possible.
Interestingly, Chung's main business base was not in Penang but in Perak. He was credited with the development and progress of the mining- town of Taiping, including holding the distinction of being the first tin miner to use a hydraulic pump at his Tupai tin mine.
These business forays were also a result of the historic Pangkor Engagement of Jan 20, 1874. Incidentally, Chung was also one of the signatories of the agreement that brought British intervention in Perak, and subsequently the economic development of the state.
Consequently, from the Pangkor Engagement, Chung was appointed the Kapitan Cina of Perak and made a member of the first Perak State Council of 1877. Chung was also a prominent member and director of the Penang Chinese Town Hall in the 1880s and 1890s.
This Penang-Perak tycoon was also recognised by the Qing Dynasty of China. For his role in endowing huge numbers of scholarships to poor Chinese students, and his contributions to charity, including a flood relief fund in China, Chung was conferred the title of `Mandarin of Second Rank', a highly esteemed honour in those days.
Today, many Penangites are familiar with the Hokkien saying attributed to Chung, `Others may equal him in wealth, but not in mansions.' Khoo describes Chung as having many mansions in Penang, Perak, Hong Kong and China. Among some of the mansions in Penang were the former Shanghai Hotel and the Relau Villa.
Chung died in 1901, and his grand tomb at Mount Erskine, Penang today bears testament to his wealth and influence. He was succeeded by his fourth son, the Western-educated Chung Thye Pin, who later became the last Kapitan Cina of Perak.
Unlike other businessmen, Chung has been memorialised in a very unique way. He has an ancestral temple dedicated to him, the Chung Keng Kwee Temple, on Penang's Church Street. The temple plays host to a life- sized bronze statue of Kapitan Chung in the Qing Dynasty's flowing mandarin robes, where private ancestral worship takes place regularly. He also has two streets in Penang named after him, the Keng Kwee Street and Ah Quee Street.
Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
Clarence Y K Ngui
Chung Keng Kwee (1821-1901)
TRADITIONALIST Chung Keng Kwee best represents the early Chinese businessmen of British Malaya and Southeast Asia. Then, in the 19th Century, with little industrial and commercial agriculture development, most Chinese businessmen made their mark in revenue farming - or a kind of state business concession.
Chung, a Hakka clansman, was no different. Although he had tin mining and plantation interests, Chung derived the bulk of his wealth from revenue farming in gambling, opium, pawn broking, timber, and spirit and tobacco farms in the Perak towns of Larut, Kuala Kangsar, Krian and Selama. Then, Perak was a new frontier state in the-then Malaya.
Doing business in the 19th Century was no easy task. There was little infrastructure and practically no political stability - Malay feudal rivalry and contests for the throne, sporadic secret-society clashes and outright wars between various parties were all rampant and common occurrences.
Chung@ Chung Ah Kwee @ Chung Zhen Zhi @ Chung Si Wen @ Chung Keng Kooi, made his business success by heading the Hai San secret society of Penang.
The Hai Sans or `Sea Mountains', which Yap Ah Loy also belonged to, were primarily a Hakka-based secret society with various business interests - both legal and illegal.
Khoo Su Nin @ Khoo Salma Nasution in Streets of George Town, Penang, writes, `Chung led the Hai San secret society throughout the years of protracted tin wars (Larut Wars) with Ghee Hin, a Hokkien-based secret society.' Yet, it was these wars that made Chung's business forays possible.
Interestingly, Chung's main business base was not in Penang but in Perak. He was credited with the development and progress of the mining- town of Taiping, including holding the distinction of being the first tin miner to use a hydraulic pump at his Tupai tin mine.
These business forays were also a result of the historic Pangkor Engagement of Jan 20, 1874. Incidentally, Chung was also one of the signatories of the agreement that brought British intervention in Perak, and subsequently the economic development of the state.
Consequently, from the Pangkor Engagement, Chung was appointed the Kapitan Cina of Perak and made a member of the first Perak State Council of 1877. Chung was also a prominent member and director of the Penang Chinese Town Hall in the 1880s and 1890s.
This Penang-Perak tycoon was also recognised by the Qing Dynasty of China. For his role in endowing huge numbers of scholarships to poor Chinese students, and his contributions to charity, including a flood relief fund in China, Chung was conferred the title of `Mandarin of Second Rank', a highly esteemed honour in those days.
Today, many Penangites are familiar with the Hokkien saying attributed to Chung, `Others may equal him in wealth, but not in mansions.' Khoo describes Chung as having many mansions in Penang, Perak, Hong Kong and China. Among some of the mansions in Penang were the former Shanghai Hotel and the Relau Villa.
Chung died in 1901, and his grand tomb at Mount Erskine, Penang today bears testament to his wealth and influence. He was succeeded by his fourth son, the Western-educated Chung Thye Pin, who later became the last Kapitan Cina of Perak.
Unlike other businessmen, Chung has been memorialised in a very unique way. He has an ancestral temple dedicated to him, the Chung Keng Kwee Temple, on Penang's Church Street. The temple plays host to a life- sized bronze statue of Kapitan Chung in the Qing Dynasty's flowing mandarin robes, where private ancestral worship takes place regularly. He also has two streets in Penang named after him, the Keng Kwee Street and Ah Quee Street.
Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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