Chung Thye Phin
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Kapitan Chung Thye Phin (1879 - 1935) was a wealthy Chinese tin miner who was raised on the island of Penang in the state of the same name in Malaysia, known at that time as Malaya. He was a member of the Perak Advisory Board and the last Kapitan China of Perak and Malaya.
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[edit] Life
Kapitan Chung Keng Quee had nine male issue, the 4th and best known of whom was Chung Thye-phin. Kapitan Chung Thye Phin (Zheng Daping 鄭大平) was born 28 Sep 1876 in Kota, Taiping, Perak Malaya. He received his education at the St. Xavier's Penang. Upon leaving school, he was initiated into his father's business.
An enterprising youth with a flair for progress, he later started a number of tin mines of his own, including a deep-shaft mine at Tronoh or Teronoh, adjoining the famous mine of the same name, and the hydraulic mine at Batu Tugoh. Tronoh was the centre of the mining field containing the mine of Chung Thye Phin's Tronoh Mines Company Ltd. His open-cast mines were operated on the most modern system in his time. He had the distinction of being the first Chinese miner to have introduced the latest appliances on the mines, under the supervision of an European engineer. (Vide "Twentieth Century Impression of British Malaya", op. cit., p. 130)
He also had vast interests in some of the Government farm monopolies. At one time, during the latter part of the first World War, he was among the few who were permitted by the Government to print and issue 10-cent notes for circulation.
On 2, July 1903, the public tenders were declared open for the running of the Kedah and Penang Opium Farms. There were eight tenders. The highest tender was made by Chung Thye Phin for the Penang farm at $260,000 a month. An understanding was reached that: (i) the government cut the Penang opium farm from the $260,000 a month tendered by Chung Thye Phin to $220,000 (later reduced to $217,000), and agreed that the syndicate could have both the Penang and Kedah farms at an overall price of $260,000 per month; (ii) Gan Ngoh Bee could have half the farm, but the other half should go to Chung Thye Phin, whose tender was the highest; and (iii) the government would undertake to secure the Kedah farm on behalf of the Penang syndicate at $40,000 a month with one-to-three months' deposits.
Chung Thye Phin co-founded the Toh Allang Chinese Tin Company in Perak, the first Chinese limited liability company, in 1925.
Despite his many business concerns, Chung Thye Phin envinced a lively interest in various philantrophic works, foreign famine funds and local charities.
In public life, this worthy descendent of Kapitan Chung Keng Quee was the recipient of a tassled "gold medal" from the Government of Indo China (Annam) for his liberal gifts to the Relief Fund. (Vide "The Chung Family Record", op. cit., pp. 9-12)
He appears in the 1904 List of Qualified Jurors. He was just 25 years of age at that time.
He was appointed in March 1918, by Sir Arthur Henderson Young to be a member of the Federal Council of the Federated Malay States during the temporary absence of the Honourable Mr. Eu Tong-sen (Vide K. L. F. M. S. Correspondence Ref: No 3663-1917 dated 20th March 1918).
He also served as a member of the Commission to enquire into and report on the Mining Industry, for which all the members were thanked by Mr. E. L. Brockman, Chief Secretary, F. M. S., for "the thoroughness with which you have gone into the various and important points raised and the clearness with which the conclusion arrived at regarding them have been recorded". (K. L., F. M. S. Correspondence Ref: No. 508-1919 dated 29th Jan., 1920)
At about this time he was made a Justice of the Peace.
On 24th March 1921, His Highness Iskandar Shah K. C. M. G., the Sultan of Perak, with the advice of Colonel W. J. P. Hume, British Resident, Perak, conferred on him the title of "Kapitan China", in all probability, the last of the Chjinese Kapitans in Malaya.
He was installed by the Sultan of Perak in Kuala Kangsar amidst much traditional pomp and pagentry. His appointment was so popular with the community that he was escorted to Kuala Kangsar by the delegates of more than 70 Chinese organisations from Perak. (Vide "Miscellaneous Chronicles of Penang", Kuang, Kuo-hsiang op. cit., pp. 112-113)
He donated a fountain to the Penang Turf Club and the Taiping Lake Gardens to the Perak State Government (Sita Ram , Stories Of Yesteryear , The Ipoh Echo 16 March - 31 March 2006). Both of these still exist today.
According to berita.perak.gov.my, Foo Yet Kai, another Perak philantrophist, bought Chung Thye Phin's villa in Ipoh from the family of the late Kapitan and later gave permission for it to be converted into a private hospital, then known as Our Lady's Hospital and run by the Franciscan Sisters from Salzkotten, Germany.
It is known that he owned expensive cars, prize-winning horses, and even issued his own currency for use in his mines.
Motoring was one of his passions. When the Duke and the Duchess of Connaught and Princess Patricia paid an official visit to Penang, they were driven by Kapitan Chung Thye Phin in his own private car.
Chung Thye Phin was an enthusiastic sportsman and on more than one occasion won the Blue Ribbon of the Straits Turf apart from many lesser events. Among his racing trophies are one for the 1095 Singapore Derby won by one of his horses, Devilment. He was also a good billiards player.
Chung Thye Phin first issued private banknotes in 10 cent denominations on February 11, 1918. These notes were only circulated within his mining concessions and the Kapitan's trading outlets at Phin Kee Chan in Ipoh and were used by large numbers of labourers in the mining areas in exchange for goods (Source: Museum Numismatik Maybank). No other denominations have been discovered. Circa 1918 the notes bear the legends Ten Cents "Phin Kee Chan Ten Cents" at top and bottom border and "Phin Kee Chan" at left and right border. The legend Chung Thye Phin was printed in a black panel diagonally. On the top left corner is a value of "10cents" and written in Chinese on the right is "bearer of this bill may exchange 10c from Phin Kee Chan". Embossed on it was an oval seal bearing the legend of Chung Thye Phin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CTPbanknotefront.jpg & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CTPbanknoteback.jpg)
Chung Thye Phin Building, 14 Station Road is a three-storey corner building from 1907. It originally housed the Medical Hall established by Dr. R.M. Connolly, the Oilfileds Dispensaries Ltd. and more recently the George Town Dispensary. Mr W. Cecil Payne, managing director of the Times of Malaya and a member of the Institute of Incorporated Accountants, had offices in Chung Thye Phin's buildings.
Apart from Phin Kee Chan (referred to by many other names, among them the Chung Thye Phin Building), he is also associated with his father's townhouse cum office in Penang, Hai Kee Chan, and with some other structures, most of which exist today.
The fabled Chung Thye Phin Mansion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CTPMansion.jpg) at Gurney Drive with its subterranean passageways and chambers was, after his passing, sold and turned into a hotel (The Shanghai Hotel) but was later demolished and on its footprint now stands an imposing condominium (1 Gurney Drive).
He designed Relau Villa, his holiday resort with a swimming pool ringed by private and other types of rooms. Its derelict structure can still be seen and explored at Taman Metropolitan, Relau in Penang, today. According to family history Kapitan Chung Thye Phin was inspired by the artistic canals of Venice and the enchanting ponds and lakes of China when he designed the swimming-pool, which was constructed by Mr. B. H. Ung, the first Chinese architect who introduced reinforced concrete buildings to the community, notably the Ban Hin Lee Bank.
A commentary by his grand daughter, Oola goes, "Chung Thye Phin had many residences, some of them mansions, in Penang, Ipoh and Taiping. His residence in what is now Persiaran Gurney was the most famous, with its grand entertaining rooms and undersea wing. It was built before there was a Persiaran Gurney or a Gurney Drive, and was therefore right on the shore. His largest residence in Ipoh was in a street that carried his name (and stil does). This mansion now serves as a hospital. He built a summer house on a large estate near Relau and surrounded it with gardens, orchards and fish ponds. However its most striking feature was the fact that it was built around a swimming pool (the first in Penang) in the Roman tradition. This house still exists in its ruined state, now surrounded by high rise 21st century flats. There are indeed many stories to be told about Chung Thye Phin."
He also had property on Penang Hill, as was the way with the rich in those days. His was a bungalow named, simply, "Highlands".
A widely-travelled Malayan, Kapitan Chung Thye Phin had gone round the world on many a business-cum-pleasure trip. On one occasion, he undertook a perilous trip up the scenic gorges of the Yangtze River at Chungking, China, thus earning for himself the disctinction of being the first non-China-born Chinese to have made the venture. It was here that he was enraptured by Nature's inimitable splendour.
In Perak he was honoured with roads named after him. Jalan Chung Thye Phin in Ipoh borders the Kinta Medical Centre. This location is appropriate - the Centre, a private hospital under the administration of the Foo Yet Kai foundation, was formerly the family mansion of Chung Thye Phin. There is another road named in his honour in his birthplace of Taiping.
Chung Thye Phin rubbed shoulders with with the rich and powerful including Sultan Iskandar Shah of Perak, a polo lover. A photograph in the National Archives shows him sitting next to the Sultan.
[edit] Education and Official Appointments
He studied at St. Xavier's Institution on Penang Island. He also played an important role in the administration of the country, as he was not only a State Councillor but also a Federal Councillor. He was a member of the Perak State Advisory Board and the last Kapitan China of Perak and Malaya. On March 24, 1921, His Highness Iskandar Shah K. C. M. G., the Sultan of Perak, conferred on him the title of "Kapitan China". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CTPappointmentcertificate.jpg)
[edit] Personal life
He was the son of Kapitan Chung Keng Quee (also spelt as Chung Ah Kwee) an immigrant from China. He had 7 wives but was survived by 6 of them who gave him 10 sons and 7 daughters. Chung Thye Phin was born in 1879 in Taiping, lived most of his life in Penang and passed on in 1935.
[edit] Notes
Sources
THE KAPITAN SYSTEM - XI Sunday Gazette, June 19, 1960, By Wu Liu (pen name of Mr. C. S. Wong)
A gallery of Chinese kapitans. by Mr. C. S. Wong; Published in Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1963. 114p. [DS596 Won]
Twentieth Century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, by Arnold Wright, Published 1908 - Page 130, 203, 252, 262, 508, 509, 568
Record of Meritous Deeds of the Chung Family, op. cit., pp. 9-12
K. L. F. M. S. Correspondence Ref: No 3663-1917 dated 20th March 1918
K. L., F. M. S. Correspondence Ref: No. 508-1919 dated 29th Jan., 1920
"Miscellaneous Chronicles of Penang", Kuang, Kuo-hsiang op. cit., pp. 112-113
The Case of the Chinese in Penang, 1890s-1910s | SHINOZAKI Kaori, Ph.D. student
200 years of the Hakkas in Penang (檳城客家兩百年) By the Federation of Hakka Associations of Malaysia
Reveal the True Face of Secret Societies (揭開私會黨真面目) Written by Guo Rende (郭仁德) Published by the Malaysian Chinese Cultural Center
"The Luxuriant Tree" and "Chung Keng Kwee, the Hakka Kapitan" by CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
The installation of Chung Thye Phin as Capitan in 1921. G.1784 (N.22/84) National Archives of Malaysia.
List of Qualified Jurors, Penang, 1904 transcribed from the Straits Settlements Government Gazette, December 23, 1904.
Heritage Road named in honour of Chung Thye Phin by Sita Ram, Stories Of Yesteryear, The Ipoh Echo 16 March - 31 March 2006
Timothy Tye who has been researching Chung Keng Quee for AsiaExplorers and historian Khoo Salma Nasution
The Tin Resources of the British Empire by Norman Mosley Penzer, published by W. Rider in 1921, page 90 of 716 pages.
Prose contains specific citations in source text which may be viewed in edit mode.
- ^ (Researched by his grandson, Jeffery Seow)
