Kapitan China Chung Keng Quee (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Chhang Kín-kui, 182713 December1901)(Researched by his great grandson, Jeffery Seow) was the founder and administrator of modern Taiping in Perak, Malaysia.Melaka: the transformation of a Malay capital, c. 1400-1980, Volume 2 written by Kernial Singh Sandhu, Paul Wheatley, Abdul Aziz bin Mat Ton, published by Oxford University Press, 1983, P 327, Who's who in Malaysia & Singapore By John Victor Morais Published by Who's Who Publications, 1978; p. 26Southeast Asian Urbanism: The Meaning and Power of Social Space by Evers, Hans-Dieter Evers, Rüdiger Korff page 49Founder of Taiping, Compiled by NSTP Research & Information Services, Sunday Mail (The Malay Mail), 27 June 2004Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, Volume 75; Volume 77 by Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1979, pf 477, Item notes: v. 75; v. 77 - 1979 Appointed "Capitan China" by the British in 1877,The Chinese in Penang - A Pictorial History (Binglang Yu Hua ren shi tu lu), Tan, Kim-Hong, he was a millionaire philanthropist and known as an innovator in the mining of tin. He was involved in many other industries including farming, pawnbroking and logging.66 Usahawan Malaysia by Mohamad Ashadi bin Mohd Zaini, Page 162 He was respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement.The Chinese in Southeast Asia and beyond: socioeconomic and political dimensions By Qinghuang Yan, Published by World Scientific, 2008, , 457 pages, Page 393 His survival in the chaotic era owes much to his standing as leader of the Hai San, a Chinese secret society in British Malaya during the time of the Larut Wars (1862–73),The Journals of J. W. W. Birch, First British Resident to Perak, 1874-1875 By James Wheeler Woodford Birch pg 63; A Gallery of Chinese Kapitans by CS Wong a position he is said to have held until early 1884,C. A. Schultz S.C.A. Perak and Acting Protector of Chinese, Singapore in his memo of 16 July 1884 C.S.O. Perak 6795/84 on The Powell Report notes that Chung Keng Quee informed him that he had resigned his membership in the Hai San in the beginning of the year although in all probability he continued to remain a leading member.W.A. Pickering's response of 13 August 1884 to C.A. Schultz memo of 16 July shows that Pickering was aware that the secret societies and indeed their headmen were still very much at large. The old fort at Teluk Batu was built by him to safeguard the mine that he opened there.Malaysia in history, Volumes 3-5 By Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia (Malaysian Historical Society), 1956
He was a member of the Commission for the Pacification of Larut and sat as one of six members of the Advisory Perak State Council appointed by the British.Papers on Malayan History - Page 100, by Kenneth Gordon Tregonning - 1962, Published 1962, Journal of Southeast Asian History
Early life Third among his father's five sons, Chung was born into a peasant Hakka family in Xin Cun (新村) village, Cheng Sheng (Zengcheng 增城) county of Guangdong province, China.
It is believed that in 1841, he journeyed from China to British Malaya in a junk, sent by his mother, Madam Lai, to look for his father, Chung, Hsing Fah (Chung, Xingfa 郑兴发; Hakka: Chang Hin Fatt). He had left his wife (Madam Lin) in China to look after his elderly mother.See 'Chia-pi-tan Cheng Ching-kuei' (Kapitan Chung Keng Quee) and 'Cheng Ching-kuei kung yen-p'ei Lin fu-jen (Madam Lin: Wife of Chung Keng Quee), in Chang Wei-yung (editor), Hsin Ma Tseng Lung hui-kuan lien-ho t'e-k'an (Souvenir Magazine of the Tseng Lung Association in Singapore and Malaysia), Penang, 1969 pp 57-8Kek Lok Si: Temple of Paradise by Choon-san Wong, Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 1963 pp93 He is thought to have been 20 years of age at that time.广东省地方史志编纂委员会, 2010. 广东省志: 华侨志 - Volume 47 of 广东省志, 广东省地方史志编纂委员会(Local Chronicles Compilation Committee of Guangdong Province, 2010. Guangdong Province zhi: Huaqiao zhi Volume 47 of Guangdong Province, Chi, Local Chronicles Compilation Committee of Guangdong Province.)
At the time of his death the Perak Pioneer & Native States Advertiser Vol. VIII Taiping Saturday 14 December 1901 reports:
"Precise information as to the date of his arrival in Perak is difficult to obtain but it is apparently certain that he has passed over forty-five years in the State before he retired to Penang."
Chung Hsing Fa, had come to Malaya as an indentured labourer during a time of great turbulence in China to make a living and support his family in China (see First and Second Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion). After some time when Madam Lai received no news from her husband she sent Chung Keng Seng (鄭景勝 / 郑景胜), her second son. Still receiving no news, she then sent Keng Quee. When Keng Quee arrived in Perak, he discovered that both his father Hsing Fa and his brother Keng Seng were by that time well established in business. In fact, Keng Seng was so popular he was known as Lui Kong Seng (literally Thunder God Seng). His father, Hsing Fa was one of the early leaders of the Tseng Lung association on King Street.Chinese in Penang By KimHong Tan (陈剑虹), 2007 p.54 Keng Quee entered the mining business which his father and brother were engaged in.
By 1860 he controlled the Penang-based Hai San Secret Society as well as the Larut tin-fields the Hai San were associated with. Information about his career before that time is generally unknown.Kek Lok Si: Temple of Paradise By Choon-san Wong, Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 1963, pp 11, 93, 127
Names Chung's name has been spelt in many different ways due to differences of dialect and transliteration. Apart from Chung Keng Quee, the name has also been spelt Cheng Ching-kuei,Franke and Chen Vol II page 895 Chang Ching-kuei, Chung Keng KweeWong 1963 page 77 and Chang Ah Quee ().Yen 1995 page 337 Chung has also been spelt Chang, Chan, Cheng, Cheang. Keng has also been spelt Chin, Kung, King etc. Quee has also been spelt Kooi, Kwee, Kwi, Kuei and Kui. He has also been known as Teh Keng Quee (Zheng4 is Teh in Hokkien), Ah Quee, Ah Kwi, Ah Kooi etc. Upon receiving his honorary title from the Chinese Imperial Court, he took to using the "fancy" names Cheng Sheng Chih (慎之),Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica - Issues 61-64 - Page 98 Cheang Shin Thong and Cheng Ssu-Wen ().Franke and Chen Vol II page 816
Business interests Chung was involved in many different businesses but he was first and foremost a tin man. Not only did he help his sons start out in the business, he was apt to support others as well. Between 1884 and 1889, Chung sublet a part the land granted to him for his mining activities to a young man starting out in the business, Foo Choo Choon.The Mining Magazine: For Minerals Industry Management Worldwide Published by Mining Publications, 1909; Vols. 1 (September 1909) - 145 (December 1981) filmed with: Mining journal -v.297 (1981) University Microfilms International catalog.; p. 123
Mining business Around 1848, Malay Chief 'Che Long Ja'afar introduced Chinese miners to Larut (spelt Laroot or Larot at that time). The original mine field, Klian Pauh is where the jail at Taiping stands today. Long Ja'afar appointed Low Sam from Penang as agent and Low Sam was associated with Chung.The Impact of Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya: A Historical Study By Blythe, Wilfred, Published 1969 Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs [by] Oxford U. P.Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 3, pt. 2 comprises a monograph entitled: British Malaya, 1864-1867, by L.A. Mills, with appendix by C. O. Blagden, 1925. Issued also separately) By Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Malaysian Branch, Singapore Published by , 1991 p. 4Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor By Keat Gin Ooi Contributor Keat Gin Ooi Published by ABC-CLIO, 2004; Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei By Simon Richmond, Damian Harper, Tom Parkinson, Richard Watkins Published by Lonely Planet, 2007;
According to Chung, in his evidence provided to the Straits Government, the development of the Larut tin fields was initiated by Malay Chief 'Che Long Ja'afar by advancing money to the Chinese miners in his district to work the mines and it was only in his son Ngah Ibrahim's time (c. 1858–74) that the Chinese worked the mines with their own money.(Evidence of Ah Kwee, Report of Larot Commissioners, 21 February 1874, Swettenham papers, No 72)
At a time when Ngah Ibrahim was administrator of Larut, the Chinese had increased in number and in early 1860 two large groups were formed by the Chinese, the "Five Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Pauh and the "Four Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Baharu.
Mining rights were given to the Hakka "Five Associations" or Go-Kuan ( or ) (Hakka: Ng Khiun) and the Cantonese "Four Associations" or Si-Kuan (四馆). Chung was leader of the Hakka Go-Kuan and the Hai San Secret SocietyHai SanHakka secret society in Malaya - Hai San by "Dixie" () (Hakka: Hoi San) they were aligned with and began to operate his tin mines in Larut in the Larut, Matang and Selama District in 1860. Many Hakka fled China when the Taiping Rebellion broke out there and found work in the mines of Chung. Chung established his position over the mining area in Larut as leader of the Hai San from 1860 to 1884.
By 1879 there were 80 mines in operation in Larut, owned by 40 firms, with an average of nearly 86 men per mine. The largest mine of all in the country was owned by the Kong Loon Kongsi, in Kamunting, directed by ChungThe Malayan Tin Industry to 1914: With Special Reference to the States of Perak, Selangor, Negri, Sembilan, and Pahang By Lin Ken Wong Published by Published for the Association for Asian Studies by the University of Arizona Press, 1965; p. 270 whom Doyle in Mining In Larut describes as:
"an enterprising Chinese gentleman whose appreciation of European appliances is envinced by a centrifugal pump and engine, in supersession of the cumbrous and comparatively useless, Chinese water-wheel."Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. By Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Published by The Branch, 1959; p. 158Tin Mining in Larut By Patrick Doyle Published by Spon, 1879; pp. 7, 29, 30
The Kong Loon mine employed 300 coolies, more than any other mine at that time. Chung was a wealthy miner who (circa 1889 - 1895) was granted big mining concessions including (4 km2) in Kinta."Generations: The Story of Batu Gajah" By Ho, Tak Ming (Published 2005 by Ho, Tak Ming ; (page 105).
By 1887, Chung was the largest tin producer in Perak accounting for almost 29,000 pikuls or 1,700 tons out of a total state output of about 220,000 pikuls or about 13,000 tons—more than what all the foreign mines put together could produce.The Development of the Tin Mining Industry of Malaya By Yat Hoong Yip Published by University of Malaya Press, 1969 p. 97, 427