Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, George Town, Penang

Cheong Fatt Tze was a fascinating person who spanned old and modern China, east and west, politics and business.

He was born in 1840 in Guangdong Province in South China. He came from a poor Hakka family and was dyslexic, he started working at an early age as a cowherd in his village. In 1856, civil war hit much of China, and the Second Opium War between Britain and China broke out. Cheong Fatt Tze decided to migrate to South-East Asia to seek his fortune.

He started as a water-carrier and then became a shopkeeper in Batavia (now Jakarta), in the then Dutch east Indies . After his marriage, he established a trading company with the help of his father-in-law and began to accumulate his wealth through hard work. In 1877, he expanded his business from Batavia to Medan. His business started with rubber, coffee and tea but he then moved into the financial sector by acquiring a bank. This move made him a wealthy man.

In 1886, he expanded to Penang, then part of the British Straits Settlments. As his business grew, he owned three ships which traded between Penang and Sumatra. He kept his 7th wife in Penang and occasionally resided there in the mansion on Leith Street, which is seen here,

In 1890, in recognition of his hard work and contribution, he was appointed the Chinese Consul in Penang. This office was then moved to Singapore. As the Chinese Consul, he worked tirelessly for the interests of overseas Chinese residents through diplomatic channels with the British authorities in Penang and Singapore.

In 1899, he was summoned to China twice by the Emperor of China and instructed to present a national development plan, which was well received by the Qing Government. He was promoted to be the Minister for Agriculture, Industries, Roads and Mines for the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. He was also instructed to conduct a study of trade and education in Penang and Singapore.

In 1904, he established the first Chinese school in Southeast Asia, the Chung Hwa Confucian School in Penang.

In 1912, when the Kuomintang overthrew the Qing and established a republican government. Cheong was appointed as a member of the Legislative Assembly so that he could be actively involved with politics. He was also appointed as the Chairman of the Chinese national Chamber of Commerce.

In 1915, he was sent to the United States to study all aspects of industrialization of that nation. During his journey, he stopped over in Hong Kong, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Law.

Cheong Fatt Tze died in the Dutch East Indies in 1916. His body was sent back to China to be buried through Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong. Both the British and the Dutch authorities ordered flags to be flown at half mast to honour the man who was known as "the Rockefeller of the East". He had eight wives and owned many residences throughout his trading empire, but made Penang his base, where he raised his six sons.

His mansion in George Town, Penang seen here was built c 1880. The architecture originates from the Su Chow Dynasty Period in China. Other features of the house include Gothic windows, Chinese cut and paste porcelain work, Stoke-on-Trent floor tiles made of encaustic clay in geometric pieces all shaped to fit to a perfect square, Glasgow cast iron works by MacFarlane's & Co. and Art Nouveau stained glass in the windows.

The mansion was built with careful attention to the principles of Feng Shui. It has water running through a meandering network of pipes that begin from the eaves of the roof, channeled through the upper ceiling, down the walls collecting in the central courtyard before being channeled away from the property via a similar network of pipes.