to a business career, he amassed a large fortune, establishing the widespread business in general merchandise to which his son has succeeded. During the Taeping Rebellion he served in the Chinese Army, and
YEN SHIU FONG.
YEN TZE KING.
received recognition at the hands of His Excellency Li Hung Chang, who conferred upon him the rank of Expectant Taoutai, the privilege of wearing the Peacock's Feather, and the brevet rank of Prefect. For a time he was Salt Commissioner at Honan, and in 1885 he was appointed Acting Sub Salt Commissioner at Tientsin. Work in connection with the famine relief brought him to Shanghai in 1888. He was instrumental in promoting the Tientsin-Taku Railway in 1883, and afterwards established several spinning and weaving companies in Shanghai and Ningpo, being among the first to introduce machine mills in China. Not long before his death Mr. Yen was granted an imperial audience, and later received the rank of Expectant Taoutai, in the province of Chihii, and was registered by the Grand Council as a competent official. Since his demise, tablets in commemoration of his many good works have been granted by Their Majesties the Empress Dowager and the Emperor of China, and a monument has been erected to him by imperial decree. Mr. Yen Tze King, who, in accordance with his father's instructions, has devoted a portion of his inheritance to charitable purposes, is also a man of considerable ability, and occupies a seat on the Second-class Committee of the Imperial Board of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.
MR. YANG SHIN TSZE is a brother of Mr. Yang Zong King, formerly Chinese Minister in Belgium. A native of Chinkiang district, he came to Shanghai forty-two years ago, and is now one of the oldest silk merchants in the Settlement. He established the silk hong known as Tab Kong Chang in 1878, and the Hung Kee Silk Filature in 1890. At the Milan Exhibition of 1906 he was awarded a silver medal for a brand of silk bearing his "gold tiger" chop. He is on the committees of the Shanghai Silk Guild, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, and the Wusieh Cocoon Guild. He owns a considerable amount of real estate in Shanghai. Mr. Yang is the third son of the late Mr. Yang Nee Yien, who was a highly respected resident of Chinkiang district. He has two children.
MR. WOO TING SENG, Chinese representative of the British-American Tobacco Company's business in Northern China, is a native of Ningpo. His father, Mr. Woo Tsai Dzing. has for the past thirty-two years been a pastor of the Baptist Mission in Northern and Southern China. Mr. Woo Ting Seng was born in 1876, and received his education first at the Ningpo Mission School and afterwards at the Anglo-Chinese College, Shanghai. When twenty-two years of age he joined the American (now the British-American) Tobacco Company as an interpreter, and in 1904 he was appointed to his present position. Obtaining leave in 1907 he made a tour of the world, going by way of Siberia to Europe, and thence, after visiting most of the cities of interest, to the United States of America, in the capital of which he spent three months. He was most hospitably entertained by his American friends. After visiting Reidsville, North Carolina, he returned to New York and proceeded to San Francisco, where he sailed on the steamship Doric to Shanghai via Japan. He retained his national costume throughout the whole journey. Mr. Woo holds the title of an Expectant Taoutai, and has a seat on the committee of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce as a representative of tobacco interests. He is president of a small chapel at Hongkew, and his brother, Mr. Woo Hing Seng, is the secretary.
MR. CHING YUE is one of the best known men in the piece-goods trade in Shanghai. He is a native of Ningpo, and was born in 1876. At the age of sixteen he came to Shanghai and joined the old Ching Yue Hong, then in Nanking Road, but now removed to 322, Tientsin Road. Seven years later he became a partner, and he is now the principal piece-goods dealer for the firms of Messrs. Barlow & Co., Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Messrs. Dodwell & Co., Messrs. Shewan, Tomes & Co., Messrs. Rohde & Co., and Messrs. G. Reiss & Co. He is on the committee of the Piece-Goods Guild, and is also a member of the Ningpo Guild and of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai. His native place is indebted to him for an excellent school, which he founded and endowed. Mr. Ching Yue is married and has four sons and three daughters.
MR. KIN GEN SANG, or Mr. King Tsing-piao, to use the official name given him by reason of his rank as an Expectant Taoutai, comes from a good old stock. He is the son of Mr. King Shou-Chien, formerly one of the leading merchants in Shanghai, and many of his ancestors have been litterateurs of the Hanling College and substantial officials. He was born at Shanghai, and upon his father's death succeeded to the shipping business carried on in Honan Road, Shanghai, under the style of Yung Kee,
