Chung Keng Quee

Zhèng Jǐngguì Jia

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhèng Jǐngguì Jia

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhèng Jǐngguì Jia

Capitan China Chung Keng Quee (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhèng Jǐngguì Jia, 1821 – 13 December 1901) was the founder and administrator of modern Taiping in Perak, Malaysia. Appointed "Capitan China" by the British in 1877, he was a millionaire philanthropist and known as an innovator in the mining of tin. He was involved in many other industries including farming, pawnbroking and logging. He was respected by both Chinese and European communities in the early colonial settlement. His survival in the chaotic era owes much to his standing as leader of the Hai San, a Chinese secret society in British Malaya during the time of the Larut Wars (1862–73). a position he is said to have held till early 1884 although in all probability he continued to remain a leading member. The old fort at Teluk Batu was built by him to safeguard the mine that he opened there. He was a member of the Commission for the Pacification of Larut and sat as one of six members of the Advisory Perak State Council appointed by the British. Commenting on the role of the Perak Council, Richard James Wilkinson wrote,

"It is for the reader, in the light of subsequent events, to judge how far the Councillors were right or wrong, and to see for himself who really did the pioneer work of building up the prosperity of Perak. In the published accounts of British rule in Malaya, sufficient prominence has not always been given to the efforts of these early pioneers; the reaper, intent on his own work, is apt to forget the man who sowed. These Council Minutes are the record of the work of the sowers. A study of that record will show how much the State owes to Sir Hugh Low and to his fellow-Councillors, especially Raja Dris (the present Sultan), Sir William Maxwell, and the Chinese , Ah Kwi [Chung Keng Quee] and Ah Yam."

Third among his father's five sons, Chung Keng Quee was born into a peasant Hakka family in Xin Cun (新村) village, Cheng Sheng (Zengcheng 增城) county of Guangdong province, China.
At the time of his death the Perak Pioneer & Native States Advertiser VOL VIII Taiping Saturday 14 December 1901 reports:

...
Wikipedia