3 Chew Boon Juan, A Sole Proprietor Expands His Business In Kampong Kepayang, Brings Brother To Help

Chew Boon Juan brought his brother Boon Seong to help his expanded business

Chew Boon Juan was now the sole proprietor of his business. He decided to expand its operations.

He included setting up a tin ore shop to buy tin ore from the miners to sell to the smelters, a sundry shop, a liquor shop, a mahjong house and a pawn shop.

The rationale being that workers from the numerous tin mines in the vicinity relied on the sundry shop for their provisions and the mahjong and liquor shop for their entertainment. When they were broke they patronized the pawn shop.

After some time Boon Juan wrote to his brother Boon Seong in China to come over and help him in his business.

In 1900 Boon Juan married Goh Lean Kee a Hokkien girl from Taiping.

Chew Boon Juan married Goh Lean Kee in 1900

In 1901 he returned to China to see his mother taking with him a large sum of money for the family leaving the business in charge of his foreman.

While in China he received a letter from a friend informing him that the foreman unaware that Boon Juan had taken home a large part of working capital was overspending and buying horses and gharries on credit sparking the rumor in Kg Kepayang that the business was at risk of insolvency.

He quickly returned to Malaya stopping at Penang. He dared not return to Kg Kepayang as he would be hounded by creditors.  He first borrowed several thousand dollars in Penang and returned to Kg Kepayang where he deposited the money in his safe.

 Then he invited the creditors and chettiars to his home, opened the safe in their presence and reassured them he had sufficient funds to continue his business.

Chew Boon Juan had saved his business, The strategy that he adopted to save it gave him the confidence to take bigger risks for better returns and that was tin mining. 

End

Next: Chew Boon Juan Meets Surveyor Charles Alma Baker

Chapter 2: A Chew Clansman Comes To Kampong Kepayang, Malaya

A tin mine in Sungai Raia district where Kampong Kepayang is located. 

 The Kinta Valley was the place to go to in the 19^th century where migrants could earn a living, make a small fortune and possibly return wealthy to one’s home country.

The tin industry was concentrated in the Kinta Valley, the largest producer of tin in the world. It required an inexhaustible supply of able bodied men to mine for the mineral. Several mining townships dotted the landscape of the valley at that point in time such as Papan and Gopeng.  

One such migrant was a Hokkien Chinaman named Chew Si Pian. He came to Malaya towards the later part of the 19th century to work in the mining settlement of Kampong Kepayang.

Like all migrant workers he worked hard scrimped and saved. After some years he succeeded. He opened a tin mine and started a tin business called Ban Chin Hoe Tin Ore Shop.

Chew Si Pian started Ban Chin Hoe Tin Ore Shop in this corner shop in Kg Kepayang

For the many migrants that succeeded they employed relatives or persons from their native village to manage the money matters eg food, mining tools and the such.

When his business had expanded he made a decision to send for a clansman from the old village to come and help him. The person was Chew Boon Juan. 

From China to Kampong Kepayang.

Chew Boon Juan was born in 1875 in Heng’nga village in the district of Tongan, Fujian province, China. He was the second son of a business man cum Taoist priest who offered prayers for the dead at funerals.

His father died when he was 16 years old and he had to earn a living together with his brothers helping the farmers and fisherman in the fishing village.

From Tongan, China to Kg Kepayang Malaya

In 1892 when he was 17 he received an invitation from his paternal uncle Chew Si Pian to come over to Malaya to assist him. Boon Juan accepted and came to Kg Kepayang.

Being a "sinke" or a new migrant from China, he worked as a cook and later held the responsibility of purchasing goods.

 When Boon Juan had settled into his work Chew Si Pian decided returned to China for a visit.

 While in China as he was travelling from his village to Amoy the boat that he was in capsized. Shaken by the incident he changed his mind about returning to Malaya as he had to travel several weeks by boat.

As Si Pian was advanced in age he offered to sell half his business to Boon Juan with the condition that he look after not just his business but also his son who owned the other half of the business.

However the son was a spendthrift frequently pestering Boon Juan for money. He soon got into serious debt and had to sell his shares to Boon Juan thus making him the sole proprietor.

End

Next..Boon Juan as sole proprietor expands  

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