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Foo Choo Choon 胡子春 (b. 30 July 1860; d. 27 Mar 1921), a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak was, in his time, said to have been the richest Chinaman in the world.〔Chinese Business Enterprise By Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown Published by Taylor & Francis, 1996 ISBN 0-415-14293-8, ISBN 978-0-415-14293-9; pp. 58〕〔Pinang Gazette, 7 September 1907〕 He was called the "Tin King" and 'the Carnagie of the Orient'. Although his own father was born in Penang, Foo Choo Choon was born in Yongding, in the Fujian province. At thirteen years of age he accompanied his father, Foo Yu Chio, to Malaya where he studied at Penang and worked his uncle's mines in Perak.〔Asian Merchants and Businessmen in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea By Denys Lombard, Jean Aubin Contributor Denys Lombard Published by Oxford University Press, 2000; p. 345, 351〕〔Re-examination of the "Chinese nationalism" and Categorization of the Chinese in Malaya: The Case of the Chinese in Penang, 1890s-1910s by SHINOZAKI Kaori, Ph.D. student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences University of Tokyo Email: kaoris@pd.jaring.my at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002, 18–21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia, Organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications〕 A 1908 profile reads: 〔Twentieth century impressions of British Malaya: its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources, Arnold Wright, 1908〕 He sat on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Shipping Company, Ltd. - one of nine joint-stock companies registered in Penang in 1907 - whose members also included the Khaw family, Quah Beng Kee (b. 1872), and Cheah Choo Yew.〔 In the late 1880s, he sublet land originally granted to Chung Keng Quee, father of Chung Thye Phin.〔''The Mining Magazine: For Minerals Industry Management Worldwide'' Published by Mining Publications, 1909; p. 123〕 This, one of his first ventures, was the Tronoh Mine,〔The Far East Revisited: Essays on Political, Commercial, Social, and General Conditions in Malaya, China, Korea and Japan By A. Gorton Angier Published by Witherby & co., 1908; pp. 32, 360〕 which he then floated.〔Mines and Minerals of the British Empire: Being a Description of the Historical, Physical, & Industrial Features of the Principal Centres of Mineral Production in the British Dominions Beyond the Seas By Ralph S. G. Stokes Published by E. Arnold, 1908; p. 71〕 〔''THE MALAY MAIL'' THURSDAY DEC 12, 1901 PAGE 3〕 In 1904 he opened one of the largest opencast mines in the country, worked by Sungei Besi Mines Ltd,〔The Geology of Malayan Ore-deposits By John Brooke Scrivenor Published by Macmillan and co., 1928; p. 108, 209〕 previously owned by Kapitan China Yap Kwan Seng.〔 He had a mine in Southern Thailand, known as Tongkah. In 1935 with Choo Kia Peng as partner Foo established Tong Hin Company.〔Historical Personalities of Penang By Historical Personalities of Penang Committee, Published by Historical Personalities of Penang Committee, 1986; p. 54〕 He once hosted the geologist Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Jr., better known as R.A.F. Penrose as Penrose notes in his letters.〔"I was treated finely at the house of a rich Chinaman named Foo Choo Choon, at a place called Lahat. He owns a big tin mine. When I left he gave me his photograph." (Life and letters of R.A.F. Penrose, Jr: Y Helen R. Fairbanks and Charles P. Berkey By Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Helen R. Fairbanks, Charles P. Berkey Published by Geological Society of America, 1952; p. 273)〕 Foo Choo Choon and partner Loke Yew defrayed the total cost of the Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh, in 1904.〔Methodist Schools in Malaysia: Their Record and History By Seng Ong Ho Published by Board of Education, Malaya Annual Conference, 1965〕 Rev W. E. Horley, founder of the Anglo Chinese School Ipoh, said of him, "In 1905, Mr. Foo Choo Choon, one of the most enlightened Chinese towkays in Malaya, built the present Primary Hall and presented it as a gift to the School. I have never met a finer type of a Chinese gentleman than he and it was mainly due to his and Mr. Cheah Chiang Lim's exertions that a monster petition was presented to the Government asking for the suppression of licensed gambling houses."〔Extract from Rev. Horley's letter to Dr. L. Proebstel, published in the 1928 Voyager〕 When due to an increase in student enrolment, Rev. Pykett wanted to expand the Anglo Chinese School, Penang, Foo Choo Choon, together with two other benefactors donated $6,000 for the purchase of a site at Maxwell Road on April 16, 1895 (See History of Methodist Boy's School). To that school also he endowed a well selected library.〔 Together with Cheong Fatt Tze and Leong Fee, he founded the Chung Hua School, Penang.〔 On 9 September 1906, he was made a president of the Penang Chinese Town Hall. In 1913 he was elected as a president of Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce in and appointed to both the Perak State Council and Perak Chinese Advisory Board.〔〔 He was very well connected through his business networks, his seats on social, commercial and political councils and bodies. Through marriage he was connected to Chung Keng Quee and Chung Thye Phin, fellow tin magnates and revenue farmers. ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Foo Choo Choon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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