Chin Gee Hee

Chin Gee Hee
Traditional Chinese	陈宜禧
Simplified Chinese	陳宜禧
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Yíxǐ

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Chén Yíxǐ

Chin Gee Hee (June 22, 1844 – 1929), courtesy name Chàngtíng (暢庭),Cheun Gee Yee, was a Chinese merchant, labor contractor, and railway entrepreneur, who made his fortune in Seattle, Washington before returning to his native village in Guangdong province, where he continued his successes.

Born the son of a maker of soy sauce crocks in a village in what is now the city of Taishan, Chin came to the attention of an old man because of his calm after some other boys smashed crocks that he was carrying to market. The man brought him along on his passage to America, where Chin worked in a placer mine before making his way to Port Gamble, Washington, where he worked in a lumber mill.

While still in North Kitsap, he learned a reasonable amount of English, and made friends with several Suquamish, including the family of Chief Seattle. He also met and befriended Henry Yesler, owner of a mill in the young city of Seattle, who convinced him to move there.

In 1873, he arrived in Seattle, a settlement that was about 20 years old at the time. After meeting Chin Chun Hock (Chinese: 陳程學; pinyin: Chén Chéngxué), who was from the same village in Taishan, he became a junior partner in the Wa Chong company (Chinese: 華昌; pinyin: Huá Chāng, "Chinese Prosperity"), the city's leading Chinese enterprise of the time. The Wa Chong company imported or manufactured goods including sugar, tea, rice, cigars, opium (legal at the time), and fireworks.

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