Choa Chong Long (; 1788-1838) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

prominent magnate, revenue farmer and pioneering colonist who served as the first Kapitan Cina of Singapore under the British colonial government. He was the son of Choa Su Cheong, who was the ''Kapitein der Chinezen'' of

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

in the Dutch colonial period. The younger Choa ventured out to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

when the British took over the island, but unlike most Chinese and Malay immigrants, Choa Chong Long was already a rich man. He was appointed Kapitan Cina of Singapore by

Sir Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is b ...

, who took control of the island for the British. He held the

revenue farm Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contract ...

for the import and sale of opium. He was also thought to be one of the first Chinese to manage a plantation in Singapore. Choa celebrated his forty-fourth birthday by giving a grand dinner to which all influential residents of the island, including many Europeans, were invited. Choa's daughter married

Kiong Kong Tuan Kiong Kong Tuan (; 1790–1854) was a Chinese merchant from Penang. He was a merchant in Penang before establishing himself in Singapore. Kiong Kong Tuan held the revenue farms for opium in the 1830s, and also for spirits. He had a spirit factory ...

, who was also a revenue farmer and businessman Choa died in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in 1838, leaving a will containing "a devise for ever of certain properties for sinchew (

ancestral worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of ...

) purposes which was eventually declared void.A cycle of Chinese festivities by WONG Choon San, published by Malaysia Pub. House, 1967

References

*Holding the Fort: Melaka Under Two Flags, 1795-1845 by Brian Harrison - Malacca (Malacca) - 1985 - Page 145 #Chinese leadership and power in colonial Singapore by Ching Fatt Yong; Published by Times Academic Press, 1992, , #Physical adjustments in a changing landscape: the Singapore story By Avijit Gupta, John Pitts published by Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore, 1992 , #Stories of early Singapore By Harold Frank Pearson, University of London Press, 1954 #Singapore civil society and British power By E. Kay Gillis , #Entrepreneurs and institutions in Europe and Asia, 1500-2000 By Ferry de Goey, Jan Willem Veluwenkamp , #新社學報, Volumes 1-3 published by 新社, 1967 {{DEFAULTSORT:Choa, Chong Long 1788 births Year of death missing Singaporean people of Chinese descent Malaysian people of Chinese descent Kapitan Cina

References

See also