Leong Fee

Leong Fee (simplified Chinese: 梁辉; traditional Chinese: 梁輝; pinyin: Liáng Huī; Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Liòng Fî) is the Hakka name for Liang Pi Joo (1857–1912), a worker from Guangdong in China who emigrated to Malaya in 1876.

Leong Fee
Leong Fee
Born
Liang Pi Joo

1857
Guangdong in China
Died1912
OccupationTin miner, businessman, politician
Known for
  • Held the world record for tin production
  • First Chinese Member of the Federal Legislative Council

Career

He arrived in Penang and, half a year later, moved to Perak where he began to make his fortune in tin. He was a tin miner, businessman, a visiting Justice for Kinta (1892), the first Chinese Member of the Federal Legislative Council (1909)[1] a Penang state senator, a member of the Perak State Council, a Chinese Vice-Consul to Penang (1902 to 1908) and a philanthropist.[2] He was a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.[3]

In 1902 he opened a mine in Tambun. Renowned Malaysian businessman Leong Sin Nam once worked in his tin mine.[4] One year later Tambun held the world record for tin production.[5]

Leong Fee Mansion

Built on Leith Street around the 1900s as a personal residence, it now belongs to the Christian Brothers and has been leased to an art school, Akademi Seni Equator.[6]

Hakka Chinese Tin Miners Club

Leong Fee founded the club in Ipoh in 1893. His son, Leong Yin Khean alias Liang En-Chuen, continued to sponsor the lodge after his father's death in 1912 and eventually sold the house cheaply to the club.[7] He was a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.[3]

Personal life

He married the daughter of millionaire-philanthropist Hsieh Yung-kuan, the Chinese Vice-Consul to Penang before him.[7]

References
  1. Generations: The Story of Batu Gajah By Tak Ming Ho, Perak Academy Published by HO TAK MING, 2005; ISBN 983-40556-5-X, ISBN 978-983-40556-5-3; pp. 105, 113, 117, 119, 120, 132
  2. Days Gone By: Growing Up in Penang By Christine Wu Ramsay, South Yarra: Macmillan, 2004
  3. Virtual Malaysia, The official ePortal of Tourism Malaysia Archived 19 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Everitt, W.E. History of Mining in Perak. 1952. Vols. 14, Page 60
  5. Ipoh Echo, July 2007
  6. John Glines
  7. The Official Website of Tourism Penang by The Penang Tourism Action Council
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