Chan Mah Phee (; born in Amoy,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

) was a

Hoklo The Hoklo people or Hokkien people () are a Han Chinese (also Han Taiwanese) subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to Southeastern Fujian, China and known by various endonyms or other related terms such a ...

Chinese businessman, land-owner, investor and philanthropist who founded numerous successful ventures in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

(now Yangon), Burma in 1800s and 1900s.

Early life

Chan was born in Amoy, Fujian, China in the nineteenth century to his father Chan Ee Shin. In 1870, Chan migrated to Singapore before ultimately moving to Rangoon in 1872.

Rangoon

Chan Mah Phee founded his most successful business Taik Leong Co. in Rangoon in 1883. The company dealt primarily in oil, rice and tobacco. Chan Mah Phee was also a director of The Chinese Steamship Co., Limited. Chan was the largest Chinese land owner and most important Chinese rice-dealer in Burma. In a Rangoon where communities remained voluntarily segregated down ethnic lines, he managed to be a prominent figure in Rangoon with many connections which extended far beyond the municipality's

Chinese community The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

Philanthropic work

Chan Mah Phee and Daw Aye Mya built a Tazaung at the Shwedagon Pagoda. They also offered Satu-ditha at the Tabaung Festival. They also donated to build Hwa Kyone High School (later known as No 3 Regional College / Kyimyindine Campus, Rangoon University). They built Chan Mah Phee hospital in Ahlon where a street was named in his honor.

Legacy

The Chan Ma Phee hall of Shwedagon Pagoda was named in his honor in recognition of his patronage and financial contributions to the temple. Chan Mah Phee's second son,

Chan Chor Khine Chan Chor Khine (; born in Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar un ...

inherited and expanded his father's businesses.

was educated at St. Paul's High School, Rangoon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, Mah Phee Hokkien businesspeople 20th-century Burmese businesspeople Burmese people of Chinese descent People from Xiamen Businesspeople from Xiamen