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Wikipedia / Foo Choo Choon

Foo Choo Choon (; 30 July 1860 – 27 March 1921), a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak was, in his time, said to have been the richest Chinese man in the world.

Foo was called the "Tin King" and "the Carnagie of the Orient".

Early life

Foo's ancestral home was in Yongding, Longyan, south west of the Fujian province in China. Foo's grandfather moved to Penang and Foo's father, Foo Yu Chio (; 30 July 1860 – 27 Mar 1921) was born there. However, Foo was born in Yongding on 30 July 1860.

At thirteen years old, Foo accompanied his father to Malaya, where he studied at Penang and worked at his uncle's mines in Perak.

Career

Foo later started his own business and moved to Kinta and eventually Lahat.

In the late 1880s, Foo returned to China for medical attention. On returning to the Malay Federated States, Foo sublet land originally granted to Chung Keng Quee, father of Chung Thye Phin. This, one of his first ventures, was the Tronoh Mine and he installed modern machinery for mining. The company was then floated in London and the mines eventually proved profitable.

In 1904, Foo opened one of the largest opencast mines in the country, worked by Sungei Besi Mines Ltd, previously owned by Kapitan Cina Yap Kwan Seng. He had a mine in Southern Thailand, known as Tongkah.

Foo 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.

Foo was also 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.

In 1935, with Choo Kia Peng as partner, Foo established Tong Hin Company.

He once hosted the geologist R.A.F. Penrose, as Penrose notes in his letters.

On 9 September 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.

Foo 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.

He was well connected through his business networks, his seats on social, commercial and political councils and bodies.

Civil career

Foo was 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.

Political career

Foo was also a member of the State Council of Perak and of the Chinese Advisory Board for that State.

Philanthropy

On returning to China, Foo encounter a famine and built and supplied several public granaries. He established schools in his native district and donated the revenue of his property in China to poor scholars preparing for the Imperial examinations.

Foo and partner Loke Yew defrayed the total cost of the Anglo-Chinese School, Ipoh, in 1904. Rev W. E. Horley, founder of the school, said of him, "In 1905, Mr. Foo Choo Choon, one of the most enlightened Chinese towkayss 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."

When due to an increase in student enrolment, Rev. Pykett wanted to expand the Anglo Chinese School, Penang, Foo, together with two other benefactors donated $6,000 for the purchase of a site at Maxwell Road on 16 April 1895 (See History of Methodist Boys' 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.

Foo had also contributed largely by instituting and maintaining many Chinese and English schools in the Federated Malay States.

Honours

Foo received the honorary title of magistrate, with the additional privilege of wearing peacock feathers, from the Chinese Government for his generosity during the Shantung famine. He was promoted to the rank of Taotai and then to the Commissioner of the Salt Revenue.

Foo was also recognised as one of the most advanced Chinese in educational reform in the Federated Malay States.

In 1906, Guangxu Emperor, by special command, ordered the former Viceroy of Liangguang Cen Chunxuan to confer on Foo the Order of Merit for his services to his country. The decoration, together with a gold medal, was sent from China and presented by a special envoy, Cheah Cheang Lim, who was Foo's cousin as well as his attorney.

Personal life

Foo is a naturalised British subject, and is a Fellow of the Society of Arts of England.

Through marriage, Foo was connected to Chung Keng Quee and Chung Thye Phin, fellow tin magnates and revenue farmers.

Legacy

To honor his legacy, the road Jalan Foo Choo Choon in Ipoh, Perak is named after him.