Chung Thye Phin

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chung.
Kapitan China
Chung Thye Phin
鄭大平 / 鄭太平
Kapitan China of Perak
In office
1921 – 2 April 1935
Preceded byKhaw Boo Aun
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the State Council of Perak
In office
22 October 1900 – 6 January 1927
Preceded byChung Keng Quee
Succeeded byChung Kok Ming
Personal details
Born(1879-09-28)28 September 1879
Taiping, Perak Sultanate.
Died2 April 1935(1935-04-02) (aged 55)
George Town, Prince of Wales Island, Straits Settlements.
Resting placeEstate of Cheang Keng Kwee, Bagan Jermal, George Town.
SpouseMrs. Chung Thye Phin (d. 1924)
RelationsChung Thye Yong (brother)
Chung Kok Ming (nephew)
Parent(s)Chung Keng Quee (father)
Foo Teng Nyong (mother)
Residence(s)58 Northam Road, George Town.
Alma materSt. Xavier's Institution
OccupationBureaucrat, plantation and tin mining business magnate, landed proprietor and philanthropist

Chung Thye Phin MSC, JP (simplified Chinese: 郑大平 / 郑太平; traditional Chinese: 鄭大平 / 鄭太平; pinyin: Zhèng Dàpíng / Zhèng Tàipíng; 28 September 1879 – 2 April 1935) was a Chinese Malayan business magnate, planter, miner, bureaucrat, and philanthropist who served as the last Kapitan Cina of Perak and Malaya.[1][2][3][4] He was reported to be the richest man in Penang.[5]

The son of tin-mining magnate Chung Keng Quee, he was a pioneer in the tin-mining industry through the introduction of modern equipment and tin-mining techniques in Perak under Western assistance.[6] He was also known for pioneering the cultivation of roselle fibre for the production of ropes and twines, with the creation of the Sweet Kamiri Estate at Sungai Siput.[7]

In his later years, he was a member of the Perak Advisory Board, and eventually became the Kapitan China of Perak.[8][9] He has been described by his contemporaries as one of the "best known residents of the Chinese community" in British Malaya.[6]

  1. ^ Chinese Business in Southeast Asia: Contesting Cultural Explanations by Edmund Terence Gomez, Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Page 169
  2. ^ The Straits Times, 10 September 1925, Page 8 – Capitan Chung Thye Phin has sold his large rubber estate, situated in Sungei Siput, for an amount exceeding $700,000, the purchasers being Messrs. Barlow and Co., Kuala Lumpur. The Times of Malaya understands that the sale was put through by a well known Chinese business man of Penang.
  3. ^ He was appointed a member of the Federation Malay States Rubber Restriction Committee in 1922 – The Straits Times, 28 October 1922, Page 8 National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL499
  4. ^ The rise of ersatz capitalism in South-East Asia – Page 203
  5. ^ The Straits Times, 31 March 1935, Page 1, National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL2360
  6. ^ a b Wright, Arnold; Cartwright, H. A. (1908). Written at Surrey and London, England. Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya. British Malaya: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company Ltd. p. 130. OCLC 4305722.
  7. ^ The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 2 September 1922, Page 11 – NEW MALAYAN INDUSTRY. – That success is attending the efforts of planters who several months ago went in for Roselle fibre is evident from a notice appearing in the advertisement columns of our Ipoh contemporary, announcing that at the present time rope made of this fibre can be obtained at 24 cents per lb, F.O.R. Sungei Siput! The advertisement states that not only are "all sizes of rope up to 3 1/2 inch circumference in stock," but that the Manager of Sweet Kamiri Estate, Sungei Siput, is prepared to supply "any larger size" to order. Credit in this connection for most praise-worthy enterprise, for thus setting an excellent example to the general public, is, if we mistake not, due to Mr. Chung Thye Phin, the Captain China, who was among the first, if not the very first, to invest in this kind of product, making his initial effort at Sweet Kamiri Estate, Perak, many months ago. Since then, as was mentioned in our columns recently scores of planters in all parts of the Peninsula have gone in for Roselle fibre, the prospects of this useful commodity figuring regularly among our exports before very long being excellent. For twine and rope-making it is admirably adapted and as the plant flourishes in Malaya and native labour is cheap there is no reason why the manufacture of rope in Malaya should not become just as important an industry in the near future as that of the enterprising China Clay and Pottery Company, of Gopeng, for which Messrs McAlister * Co., Ltd., are, the local agents. (S. Echo.)
  8. ^ The Straits Times, 5 October 1903, Page 5, National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL294
  9. ^ DEATH OF CAPITAN CHUNG THYE PIN. One Of Malaya's Pioneer Motorists, The Straits Times, 1 April 1935, Page 15