Foo Choo Choon

Foo Choo Choon 胡子春 (b. 30 July 1860; d. 27 Mar 1921), a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak was, in his time, said to have been the richest Chairman in the world.Chinese Business Enterprise By Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown Published by Taylor & Francis, 1996 ISBN 0415142938, ISBN 9780415142939; pp. 58] [Pinang Gazette, 7th September 1907] He was called the "Tin King" and 'the Carnagie of the Orient'. Although his own father was born in Penang, Foo Choo Choon was born in Yongding, in the Fujian province. At thirteen years of age he accompanied his father, Foo Yu Chio, to Malaya where he studied at Penang and worked his uncles mines in Perak. [Asian Merchants and Businessmen in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea By Denys Lombard, Jean Aubin Contributor Denys Lombard Published by Oxford University Press, 2000; p. 345, 351] Re-examination of the “Chinese nationalism” and Categorization of the Chinese in Malaya: The Case of the Chinese in Penang, 1890s-1910s by SHINOZAKI Kaori, Ph.D. student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences University of Tokyo Email: [e-mail] at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002, 18-21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia, Organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications] A 1908 profile reads:

"Mr. Foo Choo Choon, proprietor of the Tronoh Mines, and a member of the Perak State Council has had a remarkable career. he is a scion of an ancient family, whose ancestral home is in Choong hang, Eng Teng, Hokien, near Kwantung. His grandfather emigrated to Pinang many years ago and was one of the pioneers of the northern settlement. His father was born in Pinang, but spent most of his life in China. Mr Foo Choo Choon was born on July 30, 1860, and at the age of thirteen came to Pinang to be educated. Afterwards he entered the employment of an uncle who had extensive mining rights at Taiping, and a few years later commenced business on his own account. Subsequently he removed to Kinta, and settling down at Lahat, was soon employing several thousand workmen. Ill-health necessitated a visit to China, and on returning to the Federated Malay States he became connected to the Tronoh Mines owing to the owners abandoning their workings. He visited and examined the place thoroughly, and subsequently obtained a sublease of the land, upon which he decided to install extensive modern plant. Although this decision was not entertained favourably in many quarters, the results achieved have since testified to the wisdom of the proprietor. Mr. Foo Choo Choon's acquisition of wealth has been accompanied by many philantrophic acts. On returning to China during a famine he built and supplied several public granaries, established schools in his native district, and directed that the revenue of his property there should be used in assisting the poorer scholars. His generosity during the Shantung famine was the means in bringing him to the notice of the Chinese Government, and he received the honorary title of magistrate, with the additional privilege of wearing peacock feathers. Further acts of generosity raised him to the rank of Taotai, and finally, to that of Commissioner of the Salt Revenue. In the Federated Malay States he has been recognised always as one of the most advanced Chinese in educational reform and towards the movement he has contributed largely by instituting and maintaining many Chinese and English schools. Mr. Foo Choo Choon is a naturalised British subject, and is a Fellow of the Society of Arts of England. In addition to the Tronoh Mines, he is proprietor of the Selangor, Sungei Besi, and other mines, is a director of the Kledang Mines, Ltd., The Ipoh Foundry, Ltd., and of the Tanglin Rubber Syndicate, besides owning several estates. He employs some 10,000 coolies. He has always associated himself with public affairs in the Federated Malay States. He is president for the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States of the Chinese Board of Education; of the Pinang Anti-Opium Society; and of the Chinese Widows and Orphans' Association, Ipoh. Mr. Foo Choo Choon is also a member of the State Council of Perak and of the Chinese Advisory Board for that State. He founded the Perak Mining and Planting Association, the Chinese Maternity Hospital and the Chinese Girls' School at Ipoh, and the Mandarin School at Lahat. He is a member of the committee of King Edward VII School, Taiping, and is a patron in the Perak Anti-Opium Society. In 1906, H. I. M. the Emperor of China, by special command, ordered the ex-Viceroy Shum of Canton to confer on Mr. Foo Choo Choon the Order of Merit for his services to his country, and this decoration, together with a gold medal, was sent from China and presented by a special envoy. Mr. Cheah Cheang Lim, his cousin, is Mr. Foo Choo Choon's attorney, and since 1894, has managed his business affairs in the native states."

Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, Arnold Wright, 1908]

He sat on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Shipping Company, Ltd. - one of nine joint-stock companies registered in Penang in 1907 - whose members also included the Khaw family, Quah Beng Kee (b. 1872), and Cheah Choo Yew.

In the late 1880s he sublet land originally granted to Chung Keng Quee, father of Chung Thye Phin. [The Mining Magazine: For Minerals Industry Management Worldwide Published by Mining Publications, 1909; p. 123] This, one of his first ventures, was the famous Tronoh Mine, [The Far East Revisited: Essays on Political, Commercial, Social, and General Conditions in Malaya, China, Korea and Japan By A. Gorton Angier Published by Witherby & co., 1908; pp. 32, 360] which he then floated. [Mines and Minerals of the British Empire: Being a Description of the Historical, Physical, & Industrial Features of the Principal Centres of Mineral Production in the British Dominions Beyond the Seas By Ralph S. G. Stokes Published by E. Arnold, 1908; p. 71]

"One of the biggest mining ventures in Malaya has been successfully floated in London. A company has been formed to work the land at Tronoh owned by Foo Choo Choon. The company was registered under the name of Tronoh Mines, Ltd., on December 4th. The Capital is £160,000 and the working capital £20,000. The property was examined and reported on by Mr Frederick Wickett M. I. M. E. of Ipoh, and now Manager of the Kinta Tin Mines, Ltd., who has been appointed Manager of the Tronoh Mines, Ltd., and will probably take over at the end of the year. The property will be fully equipped with modern mining machinery and promises to be the largest and the best paying property in the East. The property was very much over-subscribed, 2,000 shares only were reserved for local applications -- Penang Gazette"

[THE MALAY MAIL THURSDAY DEC 12, 1901 PAGE 3]

In 1904 he opened one of the largest opencast mines in the country, worked by Sungei Besi Mines Ltd, [The Geology of Malayan Ore-deposits By John Brooke Scrivenor Published by Macmillan and co., 1928; p. 108, 209] previously owned by Kapitan China Yap Kwan Seng. He had a mine in Southern Thailand, known as Tongkah. In 1935 with Choo Kia Peng as partner Foo established Tong Hin Company. [Historical Personalities of Penang By Historical Personalities of Penang Committee, Published by Historical Personalities of Penang Committee, 1986; p. 54]

He once hosted the geologist Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Jr., better known as R.A.F. Penrose as Penrose notes in his letters. ["I was treated finely at the house of a rich Chinaman named Foo Choo Choon, at a place called Lahat. He owns a big tin mine. When I left he gave me his photograph. (Life and letters of R.A.F. Penrose, Jr: Y Helen R. Fairbanks and Charles P. Berkey By Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Helen R. Fairbanks, Charles P. Berkey Published by Geological Society of America, 1952; p. 273)]

Foo Choo Choon and partner Loke Yew defrayed the total cost of the Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh, in 1904. [Methodist Schools in Malaysia: Their Record and History By Seng Ong Ho Published by Board of Education, Malaya Annual Conference, 1965] Rev W. E. Horley, founder of the Anglo Chinese School Ipoh, said of him, "In 1905, Mr. Foo Choo Choon, one of the most enlightened Chinese towkays in Malaya, built the present Primary Hall and presented it as a gift to the School. I have never met a finer type of a Chinese gentleman than he and it was mainly due to his and Mr. Cheah Chiang Lim's exertions that a monster petition was presented to the Government asking for the suppression of licensed gambling houses." [Extract from Rev. Horley's letter to Dr. L. Proebstel, published in the 1928 Voyager] When due to an increase in student enrolment, Rev. Pykett wanted to expand the Anglo Chinese School, Penang, Foo Choo Choon, together with two other benefactors donated $6,000 for the purchase of a site at Maxwell Road on April 16, 1895 (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Boys'_School_(Penang)#Foo_Choo_Choon| History of Methodist Boy's School] ). To that school also he endowed a well selected library. Together with Cheong Fatt Tze and Leong Fee, he founded the Chung Hua School, Penang.

On 9th Sep 1906 he was made a president of the Penang Chinese Town Hall. In 1913 he was elected as a president of Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce in and appointed to both the Perak State Council and Perak Chinese Advisory Board. [Re-examination of the “Chinese nationalism” and Categorization of the Chinese in Malaya: The Case of the Chinese in Penang, 1890s-1910s by SHINOZAKI Kaori, Ph.D. student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences University of Tokyo Email: [e-mail] at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002, 18-21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia, Organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications] [Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, Arnold Wright, 1908]

He was very well connected through his business networks, his seats on social, commercial and political councils and bodies. Through marriage he was connected to Chung Keng Quee and Chung Thye Phin, fellow tin magnates and revenue farmers.

References

ee also

# [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/London_Gazette_Notices_Re_Foo_Choo_Choon_Mining_Companies London Gazette Notices To Creditors Re Liquidation of Foo Choo Choon Mining Companies]
# [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/London_Gazette_Notices_To_Creditors_Re_Appointment_of_Liquidators_Re_Liquidation_of_Foo_Choo_Choon_Mining_Companies London Gazette Notices To Creditors Re Appointment of Liquidators Re Liquidation of Foo Choo Choon Mining Companies]
# [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/London_Gazette_Notices_To_Creditors_Re_Notice_of_Claims_Re_Liquidation_of_Foo_Choo_Choon_Mining_Companies London Gazette Notices To Creditors Re Notice of Claims Re Liquidation of Foo Choo Choon Mining Companies]
# [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/London_Gazette_Notices_Re_General_Meeting_For_Liquidators_to_Present_Report_to_Members_of_the_company_Re_Liquidation_of_Foo_Choo_Choon_Mining_Companies London Gazette Notices Re General Meeting For Liquidators to Present Report to Members of the company Re Liquidation of Foo Choo Choon Mining Companies]
# [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/London_Gazette_Notices_Re_Winding_Up_of_Foo_Choo_Choon_Mining_Companies London Gazette Notices Re Winding Up of Foo Choo Choon Mining Companies ‎ ]
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#History of English Schools in Perak By E. C. Hicks, Compiled by E. C. Hicks, Contributor E. C. Hicks Published by Perak Library, 1958; p. 6
#Who's who in the Far East, 1907-08 and 1906-07, Published by China Mail, Hong Kong, 1907; p. 51
#兩次世界大戰期間在亞洲之海外華人 By Chiyan Zheng, Chak-Yan Chang, Nixia Wu Lun, Lun Ngai-ha Ng Published by Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989; p. 422
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#Mining in Malaya for Gold and Tin By Charles George Warnford Lock Published by Crowther and Goodman, 1907; 190
#Journal of Tropical Medicine, v.6 (1903), Published by John Bale Sons & Danielsson., 1903; p. 347
#The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas Chinese Enterprise in the Modernisation of China 1893-1911 By Michael R. Godley Contributor Patrick Hannan, Denis Twitchett, Published by Cambridge university press, 2002; ISBN 0521526957, ISBN 9780521526951
#Chinese Business in the Making of a Malay State, 1882-1941: Kedah and Penang By Wu Xiao An, Xiao An Wu Published by RoutledgeCurzon, 2003; ISBN 0415301769, ISBN 9780415301763