Chung Thye Phin (; 28 September 1879 – 29 March 1935) was a Chinese Malayan business magnate, planter, miner, bureaucrat, and philanthropist who served as the last Kapitan Cina of Perak and Malaya.Chinese Business in Southeast Asia: Contesting Cultural Explanations by Edmund Terence Gomez, Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Page 169The Straits Times, 10 September 1925, Page 8 – Capitan Chung Thye Phin has sold his large rubber estate, situated in Sungei Siput, for an amount exceeding $700,000, the purchasers being Messrs. Barlow and Co., Kuala Lumpur. The Times of Malaya understands that the sale was put through by a well known Chinese business man of Penang.He was appointed a member of the Federation Malay States Rubber Restriction Committee in 1922 – The Straits Times, 28 October 1922, Page 8 National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL499The rise of ersatz capitalism in South-East Asia – Page 203 He was reported to be the richest man in Penang.The Straits Times, 31 March 1935, Page 1, National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL2360
The son of tin-mining magnate Chung Keng Quee, he was a pioneer in the tin-mining industry through the introduction of modern equipment and tin-mining techniques in Perak under Western assistance. He was also known for pioneering the cultivation of roselle fibre for the production of ropes and twines, with the creation of the Sweet Kamiri Estate at Sungai Siput.The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), 2 September 1922, Page 11 – NEW MALAYAN INDUSTRY. – That success is attending the efforts of planters who several months ago went in for Roselle fibre is evident from a notice appearing in the advertisement columns of our Ipoh contemporary, announcing that at the present time rope made of this fibre can be obtained at 24 cents per lb, F.O.R. Sungei Siput! The advertisement states that not only are "all sizes of rope up to 3 1/2 inch circumference in stock," but that the Manager of Sweet Kamiri Estate, Sungei Siput, is prepared to supply "any larger size" to order. Credit in this connection for most praise-worthy enterprise, for thus setting an excellent example to the general public, is, if we mistake not, due to Mr. Chung Thye Phin, the Captain China, who was among the first, if not the very first, to invest in this kind of product, making his initial effort at Sweet Kamiri Estate, Perak, many months ago. Since then, as was mentioned in our columns recently scores of planters in all parts of the Peninsula have gone in for Roselle fibre, the prospects of this useful commodity figuring regularly among our exports before very long being excellent. For twine and rope-making it is admirably adapted and as the plant flourishes in Malaya and native labour is cheap there is no reason why the manufacture of rope in Malaya should not become just as important an industry in the near future as that of the enterprising China Clay and Pottery Company, of Gopeng, for which Messrs McAlister * Co., Ltd., are, the local agents. (S. Echo.)
In his later years, he was a member of the Perak Advisory Board, and eventually became the Kapitan China of Perak.The Straits Times, 5 October 1903, Page 5, National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL294DEATH OF CAPITAN CHUNG THYE PIN. One Of Malaya's Pioneer Motorists, The Straits Times, 1 April 1935, Page 15 He has been described by his contemporaries as one of the "best known residents of the Chinese community" in British Malaya.
Early years
Early life
Chung Thye Phin was born in the village of Kota,Taiping, at the Perak Sultanate on 28 September 1879.The principal village in Taiping at the time of the Larut wars was Kota which was about four kilometers from Klian Pauh: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 64 By Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Malaysian Branch, 1991, page 4 He was the fourth son of Chinese tin-mining business magnate and philanthropist Chung Keng Quee (18271901) and Foo Teng Nyong (18491883), Chung's third wife. His name, Thye Phin (Chinese: 太平), was named after the town of Taiping. Chung had 9 brothers and 6 sisters, including Thye Yong, Thye Ngit, Thye Cheong and Thye Siong, and was an uncle of Chung Kok Ming. His godfather was Chin Seng Yam (d.1898), the leader of the Ghee Hin, a secret society opposed to the Hai San, another secret society led by his father due to tin-mining disputes. The rivalry eventually escalated into the Larut Wars (18651874), which ended in a Ghee Hin victory with the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. However, they were conferred the honorific titles of "Kapitan China".
Chung received his education at St. Xavier's College (St. Xavier's Institution) in George Town. In August 1897, he was subjected to international media attention when reports of him being robbed by armed bandits at Canton River surfaced. The robbery was carried out on a boat hired by Chung while in a trip to their "native lands". Armed with revolvers, Chung and several of his relatives were held hostage for 12 hours, and lost "$70,000 worth of jewellery and cash" in the process. In 1902, he was granted a certificate of naturalization by the government of the Straits Settlements, making him a British citizen.The Straits Times, 24 May 1902, Page 4, National Library of Singapore microfilm reel NL288
The tin man An enterprising youth with a flair for progress, he later started a number of tin mines of his own, including a deep-shaft mine at Tronoh or Teronoh, adjoining the famous mine of the same name, and the hydraulic mine at Batu Tugoh. Tronoh was the centre of the mining field containing the mine of Chung Thye Phin's Tronoh Mines Company Ltd.Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources By Arnold Wright, H. A. Cartwright Published by Lloyd's Greater Britain publishing company, limited, 1908
His open-cast mines were operated on the most modern system in his time. He had the distinction of being the first Chinese miner to have introduced the latest appliances on the mines, under the supervision of a European engineer.
In 1914 he was elected to the council of the F.M.S. Chamber of Mines.The Straits Times, 3 March 1914, Page 3 – F.M.S. Chamber of Mines.