Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/190

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TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC.

practices in Hongkong. Amongst the first of these gentlemen is Dr. Coxion To, or, as he is described in his diploma, To Ying Fan, house surgeon to the Alice Memorial Hospital. He graduated in the year 1899, and was immediately appointed house surgeon to the Nethersole Hospital, and afterwards to his present post, which requires a man of ability and experience. He is, at the same time, proprietor of the pharmacy in Queen's Road, and carries on an extensive private practice in the Colony.

MR. SHE POSHAM, who, in spite of many business responsibilities, has still found time to take a prominent part in the public affairs of the Colony, was born in Hongkong in 1870, and was educated at the Old Central School, now known as Queen's College. On finishing his studies, he joined the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Ltd., in whose service he remained for several years. In 1895 he accepted the position of compradore and caterer to the Hongkong Hotel, and had complete charge of the Chinese department, including some three hundred servants. Mr. She Posham was in 1906 a director of the Tung Wah Hospital, and devoted a considerable amount of time and money to relieving sufferers by the disastrous typhoon of that year, and towards establishing the San Francisco Earthquake Fund. He has taken part in many other public movements of one form and another. He was a member of the reception committees on the occasions of the visits of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and of Prince Arthur of Connaught. and on both occasions was responsible, with one or two other Chinese gentlemen, for the splendid decorations at the Ko Shing Theatre in honour of Their Royal Highnesses. In his spare moments Mr. She Posham is an enthusiastic and successful amateur photographer. His series of views of the landing of Prince Arthur of Connaught were the best in the Colony. A nicely bound set of them was forwarded to His Royal Highness, who returned his thanks for the gift.

MR. KUNG KWANG-TO, who is also known as Mr. Kung Sui Tong, has devoted himself very largely to the study of Chinese literature, and possesses a library of something like 400,000 volumes. He is a native of the Namhoi district, his forefathers having from very early days resided in the province of Kwangtung, and he is the seventieth descendant of Confucius. He was born in the twelfth year of the Emperor To Kwong (1832). His father, Mr. Kung Kai Fang, was a scholar of the highest order, being in the degree of Hanlin, and in his day accumulated a large collection of literary treasures, some of them dating back two thousand years. This collection Mr. Kwang-To has considerably augmented. It is of interest to note that the largest work ever written in the Chinese language was composed in the time of the Emperor Wing Lock, and comprised 22,000 volumes. This book is now non-existent, even in the imperial library, but of the second largest work, the Tai Shi Chap Sing (Chinese Encyclopædia), consisting of 10,000 volumes, compiled in the present dynasty, Mr. Kwang-To is the proud possessor of a complete copy. Mr. Kung is himself a scholar of wide attainments, and has compiled a work relating to the Tong dynasty—a book which, it is acknowledged, could never have been written without far-reaching research into the library at his command. It is a Chinese saying that only a man who has walked 10,000 miles and read 10,000 books can be called a hero. Mr. Kung has fully entitled himself to this distinction, for he has climbed to the summits of four of the five highest mountains in China, and his six-volume account of the ascent of the Taiwa is fit to rank with tales of the most daring adventurers.

MR. LAU PUN CHIN.—A most important post, and one which can only be filled by a financier of ripe experience, is that of compradore to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at their head office in Hongkong. Indeed, so great are the responsibilities of the position, and so large is the guarantee required, that when the office became vacant two years ago some difficulty was encountered in finding a suitable man to fill it. The choice fell upon Mr. Lau Pun Chin, who, during twenty years' residence in the Colony—for the greater part of which he conducted the Chinese business of Messrs. Chater and Mody—had shown himself a singularly able financier. Mr. Lau Pun Chin, who is 38 years of age, is a native of Chin San, near the neighbouring port of Macao. He was educated in English at a private school, and then went through a course of study at Queen's College, Hongkong. His interests are not confined to his financial duties, for he is a member of the committee of the Tung Wah Hospital, and of the committee of the Horticultural Society, in the promotion of which he has borne a considerable part, whilst as a member of the Chinese Club he keeps in close touch with the social life of his fellow countrymen. He has erected in his native village two schools—the Chin San Lans School in 1902, and the Kung Too College in 1904—many of the scholars from which have been taken, after examination, to the Imperial Military College at Wang Po by the Viceroy of Canton. Several of them have continued their studies in Europe, whilst others have proceeded to Japan. Mr. Lau Pun Chin is a director of the Fook Sin Tong Hospital at Chin San, and for several years has paid two Chinese for vaccinating applicants free of charge. In this way more than two thousand poor Chinese have been vaccinated annually.

MR. HO WING TSUN.—The compradore and manager of the Chinese business of the Banque de l'Indo Chine at Hongkong is Mr. Ho Wing Tsun, who comes of an old-established Cantonese family. Born in Hongkong, he was educated at Queen's College, and speaks and writes English fluently. On leaving school he entered the service of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and when he left ten years later he held the post of assistant compradore. He received his present appointment on the retirement of Mr. Kwok Sin Lau, an old and tried servant of the institution, who, after devoting twenty years of his life to the service of the French banks at Hongkong, is now enjoying the well-earned fruits of his labours. Mr. Ho Wing Tsun is married, and the members of his family are receiving a first-class English education.

MR. CHAU NGAN TING, compradore to the Netherlands-India Commercial Bank, is a native of the Hungshan district of China. He came to Hongkong in 1885 and was admitted to the Government Central School (now Queen's College) two years later. In June, 1892, after having been for two years in the first class, he left that institution, and became a count shroff in the employment of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for seven years. Then for a short time he was engaged as compradore to the Stockton Milling Company. Later he became compradore to the Pacific Oriental Trading Company, now Messrs. A. B. Moulder & Co., a position which he held for five years, until in November, 1906, the Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank opened a branch here and appointed him to take charge of their Chinese business and staff.

MR. IU KU UN has occupied the position of compradore to the International Banking Corporation ever since the bank opened a branch in the Colony in 1903. The post is a responsible one, involving the control of the whole of the Chinese staff and the guarantee of all the Chinese business, but the preliminary training of Mr. Iu Ku Un was such as to fit him admirably for the duties. The son of Mr. Iu Yuek Chi, a merchant of the Colony, he received his education at Queen's College. Afterwards he joined the Chartered Bank for seven years, eventually becoming second compradore. It was this post which lie vacated in order to take up his present position.

MR. NG HON TSZ, who is a son of a merchant formerly carrying on business for many years in the Colony, received an excellent education at Queen's College, and now has a variety of interests in the commercial and industrial life of the community. He is the assistant manager, and does the English business, of the Yuen Fat Hong, the oldest and one of the most important Chinese houses in the Colony. In addition, he owns two silk piece-goods shops at Canton. For the last two years he has held the post of compradore of the National Bank of China, in which he is assisted by his brother, Mr. Ng Long Chow. Mr. Ng. Hon Tsz takes great interest in public affairs and is a member of the committee of the Tung Wah Hospital.

MR. MOK TSO CHUN.—One of the largest firms in the whole of the East is that of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, and the position of chief compradore at the Hongkong branch is one of great responsibility. It is held by Mr. Mok Tso Chun, a native of the Hungshan district, who came to the Colony at an early date, and has been with the firm for about thirty-three years. His father, Mok Se On, was surety for the former compradore of the firm, Ng u Hip. Mr. Mok Tso Chun is very well known amongst the Chinese business community, and takes a great interest in local affairs. He was formerly one of the directors of the Tung Wah Hospital, and has served on the committee of the Po Leung Kuk.

MR. WONG CHEW TONG.—When the Standard Oil Company first started business in the Colony, some fourteen years ago, Mr. Wong Chew Tong came to Hongkong from the Company's branch at Yokohama, and