Chun Afong | |||||||||||||
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.jpg) Chun Afong, c. 1882 | |||||||||||||
| Member of the Hawaiian Kingdom Privy Council of State | |||||||||||||
| In office June 5, 1879 – c. November 1879 | |||||||||||||
| Monarch | Kalākaua | ||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||
| Born | c. 1825 Meixi Village, Qianshan Town, Xiangshan County, Guangdong | ||||||||||||
| Died | September 25, 1906 (aged 80–81) Meixi Village | ||||||||||||
| Resting place | Meixi Village | ||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Lee Hong Julia Fayerweather Afong Lam May Chin (concubine) | ||||||||||||
| Children | 20 | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | Businessman | ||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 陳芳 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈芳 | ||||||||||||
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Chun Afong (Chinese: 陳芳; pinyin: Chén Fāng; c. 1825 – September 25, 1906) was a Chinese businessman and philanthropist who settled in the Hawaiian Kingdom during the 19th century and built a business empire in Hawaii, Macau and Hong Kong. He immigrated to Hawaii from Guangdong in 1849 and adopted the surname Afong after the diminutive form of his Cantonese given name, Ah Fong.
Afong started off working for his uncle's retail store in Honolulu and later became the co-owner of a chain of stores selling Oriental novelties. In due time, he made a fortune investing in retail, shipping, opium, sugar and coffee plantations, eventually becoming the first Chinese millionaire on Hawaii. In 1856, Afong helped organize a ball in honor of the wedding of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma that helped to solidify the Chinese community's position in Honolulu. He briefly served as the commercial agent and diplomatic consul to the Hawaiian Kingdom and was a member of King Kalākaua's Privy Council.
While retaining a separate family in China, Afong married Hawaiian-British noblewoman Julia Fayerweather Afong, a marriage which brought with it closer ties to the Hawaiian nobility and ruling class. They raised a large mixed-race family which included many daughters and two sons: Chun Chik-yu and Chun Lung (his eldest son from his Chinese wife), who assisted him with his business empires. After four decades in Hawaii, Afong retired to his home village in 1890 leaving Julia and most of her children behind. He relocated his business empire to Macau and Hong Kong. In his last years, his charitable deeds were recognize at his hometown where the Meixi Memorial Archways was erected. He died in his home village in 1906. His life has been caricatured in 1912 short-story Chun Ah Chun, by American novelist Jack London and 13 Daughters, a short-lived 1961 Broadway musical written by his great-grandson. In 1997, Bob Dye, who married one of Afong's descendants, wrote a book chronicling his life titled Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains: Afong and the Chinese in Hawaiʻi.