Cheong Eak Chong

鍾奕莊Born1888 (1888)
Anxi County, Quanzhou, Fujian, Qing China
Died (aged 95)Known forReal estate businessTitleChairman of the Hong Fok CorporationChildren28
Cheong Eak Chong
Traditional Chinese鍾奕莊
Simplified Chinese钟奕庄
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōng Yìzhuāng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationJūng Yihkjōng
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChiong E̍k-chng
Zhong Mingxuan
Traditional Chinese鍾銘選
Simplified Chinese钟铭选
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōng Míngxuǎn
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationJūng Mìhngsyún
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChiong Bêng-sóan

Cheong Eak Chong (Chinese: 钟奕庄; pinyin: Zhōng Yìzhuāng; 1888 – 13 February 1984) was a Chinese businessman of She ethnicity. He was born in Anxi County in Fujian in 1888, but left China in 1921 for Singapore. He began his business career there as a goldsmith,[1] later diversifying into finance and opening a bank with offices in Hong Kong and focused his investments in the real estate and tourism industries in Singapore and Hong Kong, establishing a property empire whose eventual flagship was the Hong Fok Corporation. Throughout his career, Cheong contributed to poverty relief and development in his home county of Anxi, and he is commemorated in the names of a number of public institutions in Fujian.

Life and business career

Born in 1888[2] in Anxi County, Fujian, Cheong Eak Chong emigrated to Singapore in 1921.[3] He founded a jewellery firm there in 1925, and subsequently organized a bank with his cousin, sending his eldest son to open an office in Shanghai.[4] The political turbulence in China from the 1940s on led Cheong to focus on his interests in Singapore and Hong Kong, where he diversified into real estate, property development, and tourism.[3] He founded a real estate firm in Singapore, Yat Yuen Hong Holdings, in the 1950s, which he reorganized into the Hong Fok Corporation in 1977.[5] Among other properties in Singapore, he developed International Plaza,[6] The Concourse[5] and the Grand Hyatt.[7]

Charity in Fujian

Cheong sent back a significant amount of his earnings to China, financing the development of Anxi County and South Fujian: in 1946, he co-funded the establishment of a public hospital there, now named Mingxuan Hospital, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 he invested in transport infrastructure in the county.[3] Cheong also organized famine relief in the county, securing supplies of flour, rice, and cooking oil. Mingxuan High School [zh] in Quanzhou, which has supplied cadets for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, including a fighter pilot on the Liaoning carrier, is named after him.[8]

Family and successors

Cheong had three wives and a total of 28 children, 16 sons and 12 daughters,[9] who were split between Singapore and Hong Kong. His children were responsible for the development of numerous properties in Hong Kong and Singapore; in Hong Kong, his eldest two sons Kung-hai (鍾江海) and Ming-fai (鍾明輝) became known as the "Kings of Industrial Buildings".[2] Cheong died on 13 February 1984.[9] He chaired the Hong Fok Corporation until his death, and was succeeded in the post by another son, Kim Pong (鍾金榜).[10] Cheong Kung-hai's grandson, Derek Cheung (鍾培生), is the founder of HKEsport, the first professional esports team of Hong Kong.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Straits Times 1984b.
  2. ^ a b Lo 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Wu, Ni & Lin 2012.
  4. ^ Lim 2006, p. 113.
  5. ^ a b Business Times 1984a.
  6. ^ "Cheong Sim Lam buys Ascott Raffles Place Singapore for S$353.3 million". The Business Times. 9 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Elementary". South China Morning Post. 3 October 2004. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  8. ^ Mingxuan High School.
  9. ^ a b Straits Times 1984a.
  10. ^ Straits Times 1984c.

Sources

  • "钟铭选家族：做公益，不只是修桥铺路建学校" (in Chinese). The Senior Middle School of Mingxuan. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  • Lim, Jason (2006). Nationalism, tea leaves and a common voice: The Fujian–Singapore tea trade and the political and trading concerns of the Singapore Chinese tea merchants, 1920–1960 (PhD thesis). The University of Western Australia.
  • Lo, York (11 December 2017). "The Kings of Industrial Buildings – the Chung brothers of E.Wah Aik San". The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  • "Hong Fok wants more time for project". The Business Times. 28 August 1984. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  • "Mr. Cheong Eak Chong". The Straits Times. 15 February 1984. p. 41. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  • "Know your company: Hong Fok". The Straits Times. 18 February 1984. p. 21. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  • "Hong Fok's chairman". The Straits Times. 6 June 1984. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  • Wu, Qingyuan; Ni, Xiaodong; Lin, Yongchuan (22 July 2012). "侨乡安溪：祖孙三代一门侨贤 一脉相承故园情" (in Chinese). China News Service. Retrieved 16 July 2019.

External links

  • 钟铭选-创办泉州地区最早的侨办医院之一"官桥依新医院" at 畲族门户网 (in Chinese) She Nationality Network