1 Chew Boon Juan – A Charmed Life of Success and Harmony

Kampong Kepayang and Gunong Lanno the place where Chew Boon Juan made his fortune 

Malaya at the end of 19th century was a place of opportunity. If one were willing to work hard and long hours and take a chance one were able to find wealth possibly beyond their wildest imagination.

That was the dream for most of the migrants that arrived from China into the Kinta Valley the richest tin producing region in the world.

Chew Boon Juan 

  But for some like Chew Boon Juan, his destiny was somehow    charmed. From the time he received an invitation from his clansmen    uncle in Malaya to come Kg Kepayang, Perak in 1892 to work for       him his life was about to change.

  Within a decade after his arrival he had taken over his uncle’s    business, brought over his two brothers to help him in his business,    got married and was able to return to his village in Fujian taking with    him his new found wealth.

 The series of events that had been falling in place for him to succeed   was nothing compared to what was about to take place.

In 1903 a surveyor named Charles Alma Baker managed to persuade Chew Boon Juan to work his tin mine.

The tin mine was located in a limestone hill called Gunong Lanno, a not too prospective venture as it would involve additional cost for equipment compared to mining on flat ground.

It was immediately successful and made its owners fabulously rich. Chew Boon Juan had met his destiny with Gunong Lanno.

It enabled him to take an early retirement at his bungalow at 4 North Bridge Road Penang later renamed Gurney Drive the millionaires row and take a 13 month round-the-world Grand Tour with his good friend Captain China Chung Thye Phin.

Chew Boon Juan (5th from left) at his 4 North Bridge Road, Penang home 

In business it would enable him to expand into rubber estates, buying properties and trading. He established Ban Hoe Seng first trading in rice and rubber before venturing into motor cycles and later automobiles.

Chew Boon Juan had four wives and sixteen children, six sons and ten daughters.

A century and four generations later Ban Hoe Seng remains in the family showcasing the legacy of Chew Boon Juan’s charmed life.

End

Next: A Chew clansman comes to Kampong Kepayang, Malaya