Chang Apana

Apana Chang
Apana Chang born Ah Ping Chang
Born	(1871-12-26)December 26, 1871 Waipio, Oahu, Hawaii
Died	December 8, 1933(1933-12-08) (aged 61) Hawaii
Other names	Charlie Chan
Police career
Department	Honolulu Police Department
Years of service	34
Rank	Detective

Apana Chang (December 26, 1871 – December 8, 1933; traditional Chinese: 鄭阿平; simplified Chinese: 郑阿平; pinyin: Zhèng Āpíng; Jyutping: Zen6 Aa3ping4) was a Chinese-Hawaiian member of the Honolulu Police Department, first as an officer, then as a detective. He was acknowledged by Earl Derr Biggers as the inspiration for his fictional Asian detective character, Charlie Chan.

Ah Ping Chang (鄭阿平) was born December 26, 1871 in Waipio, Oahu, Hawaii. (Apana is the Hawaiianized version of the Chinese name Ah Ping.) His family moved back to China when he was 3, but Chang returned at the age of 10 to live with his uncle in Waipio. As an adult, Chang was fluent in Hawaiian, and knew Hawaiian Pidgin (Creole English) and Chinese as well. He never learned to read, relying on his family to read newspapers and documents for him. In his youth, he worked as a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy), starting in 1891, and it was as part of this job that he first began carrying a bullwhip on a regular basis. Three years later, Chang started working for the Hawaii Humane Society, which at the time was part of the police department on the island. The Humane Society was founded by Helen Kinau Wilder, the owner of the horses that Chang had handled as a paniolo. Wilder was the daughter of shipping magnate Samuel Garner Wilder.