Tong King-sing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tong King-sing (1832 – 1892, 唐景星, pinyin: Táng Jǐngxīng) also known as Tang Tingshu (唐廷樞). Chinese comprador and businessman during the Qing dynasty. Born in Xiangshan in Guangdong province, he studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy and his classmates included Yung Wing. Because of his knowledge of English he obtained employment in the Hong Kong colonial government 1851-7 and 1857-61 he served the Chinese Maritime Customs Service as interpreter and chief secretary . In 1861-63, he joined the Jardine Matheson Company as a salesman in Tianjin.

Tong is mainly known for his participation in a number of officially sponsored commercial projects during the last decades of the Qing dynasty, collectively known as enterprises under "official supervision and merchant management" (官督商辦). Between 1873-84 he served as the general manager of China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company (輪船招商局) in Shanghai, after which he worked in the coalmines in Kaiping in Hebei until his death in 1892.