https://www.hengpangkiat.com

MEDIA ARTICLES of Heng Pang Kiat

Heng Pang Kiat is featured in several books and also in numerous newspaper articles.
This has helped me greatly in forming a picture of his life, achievements and contributions to society and to Singapore in its early years.

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DATABASES

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Wang Bangjie Article - from National University of Singapore (NUS) library portal databank

This is an article in Chinese that used to reside in the NUS library portal that you could download and read as a PDF,
but it appears to have disappeared. There is no author name, and it does not cite any references, however,
it is likely that a lot of the information in this article is derived from Pan Xingnong's The Teochews in Malaya book.

It is a succinct article - here is the full text if you are unable to find the hard copy at the NUS library (happy reading!).

王邦杰 （1856-1930）

王邦杰先生，名远，潮安县庵阜下仙溪乡人，生于 1856 年，卒于 1930 年，
享有 75 年。出身贫寒，幼时乏力攻读，只入塾二三载而已。因急需谋生， 故十六
岁即乘帆船南渡，船行大洋，在海面漂泊二月余，始达新加坡。初庸于十三行万成
号，后转任他处。由其勤勉奋斗结果，至三十余岁时，已有所积蓄，乃自创生怡兴
布店于十三行后街五十三号。及后再自创生怡丰汇信兑局于同址，克勤克俭，年有
进展，嗣再合资创设瑞兴洋杂店，厚丰香汕郊，怡裕号米郊，并创长兴号于马六
甲，亦为新加坡亚洲保险有限公司发起人之一。

先生从商之余，於社会公益教育诸事业，均热烈倡导与参加。侨教方面，彼
为端蒙学校及中华女学校之发起人，并任端蒙学校第五届副总理。慈善方面，尝与
陈树南医师及郑聘庭牧师，共同倡组振武善社，以供同侨戒绝鸦片烟毒。余如对乡
国历次之水灾风灾，均竭力输将，不后于人；社会方面， 彼为新加坡中华商务总
会发起人之一， 并任该会协理兼查帐及历任会董。同济医院董事及陈笃生医院医
院董事各职。由其力为侨众排难解纷，因此声望孚著，爰被当地政府委为太平局
绅，参事局员，保良局董事，棋樟山视察员，及第一次欧战后入息税咨询员等职。
服务社会，数十年如一日， 有声於时。

(ref: NUS Library Portal Databank (2019))

Personal comments

Many thanks to Dr Yeo Kang Shua, Associate Professor of Architectural History, Theory and Criticism,
from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), for pointing me to this article back in 2019.

There some interesting bits of information from this article. I have attempted to translate this article into English...

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"王邦杰先生，名远，"
Mr Heng Pang Kiat (or Wang bangjie in Mandarin), "name far" (i.e. well-known or famous name)

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"潮安县庵阜下仙溪乡人，"

潮安县 = Chao'an county (formerly a county 县 but reclassed as a district 区 of Chao Zhou city 潮州市 from June 2013,
in eastern Guangdong Province (广东省 Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngdōng shěng) (ref: Wikipedia Chao'an 2023)

潮州 Chao Zhou is of course pronounced in the Teochew dialect literally as "Teo Chew" and where Teochews originally came from.
The Teochew language retains a lot of language components from an ancient classical Chinese language of the Southern Min people. (ref: Wikipedia Chaozhou 2023)

Note that Heng Pang Kiat's birthplace is generally stated in other articles as Swatow (汕头市 Shàntóu).
If you look at the Google map, Chao Zhou city 潮州市 and Shan Tou city 汕头市 are literally next to each other.
Chao'an county 潮安县, the stated birthplace in this article, although closer to Swatow was considered a county of Chao Zhou city
(unless there were geographical differences back in 1856).

庵阜下仙溪乡人

This translates in Mandarin as "An Bu Xia Xian Xi" town or village.
An Bu (庵埠镇) is a township-level division situated in Chao'an District (潮安区), Chaozhou(潮州市), Guangdong Province (广东省), China. (ref: Wikipedia Anbu 2023)
I have tried looking for 下仙溪乡人 on Google maps but could not find the location in Chao'An county.
It could be an old village that no longer exists.

Google map of Shantou (汕头市) and Chaozhou (潮州市) cities

Google map of Chao'an District (潮安区) (formerly a county 县)

For those non-Teochew and non-Mandarin speakers reading this article, I apologise in advance for potentially leaving you in a state of discombobulation!
The Chinese characters are written mostly the same way but pronounced differently by the different dialects.
This can result in the Anglicanised spelling coming out in many forms and variation.
Mandarin is also written in Hanyu Pinyin (Hàn yǔ pīn yīn - 汉语拼音) which is a Romanisation system of helping English speakers pronounce the Mandarin words.

For example, 汕头 is pronounced "Swatow" in Teochew, but pronounced "shàn tóu" in Mandarin.
So the official English spelling these days is Shan Tou city 汕头市, however, Teochew speakers may still refer to it as "SwaTow".

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"生于 1856 年，卒于 1930 年，享有 75 年"

Born in 1856, passed away in 1930, lived for 75 years.

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"出身贫寒，"

Born into poverty,

"幼时乏力攻读，只入塾二三载而已。"

This roughly translates as completing only 2 to 3 years of childhood educatio, either due to lack of opportunity or academic ability.

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"因急需谋生， 故十六 岁即乘帆船南渡，船行大洋，在海面漂泊二月余，始达新加坡。"

With an urgent need to make a living, he left home at age 16 and embarked on an arduous 2 month long sea journey to Singapore on a sailboat.

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"初庸于十三行万成号，后转任他处"

This sentence initially made no sense to me, as 十三行 literally mean 13 lines.
Was this referring to some kind of latitude coordinates in Singapore?
After some digging, I found an interesting article by Jason Heng, which identified 十三行 as Canton Street.

Canton Street - named after the port Canton (Guangzhou) and not the Cantonese people.
This part of Boat Quay was called also known as chap sa hang (十三行 tsap san hang, “13 merchant houses”).
It was also known as Khoi-kin huen-koi-a (溪墘?街?) (this is reported to be in Hokkien, but sounds Teochew), meaning “small cross street by Boat Quay. (ref: Jason Heng 2013)

Canton Street is located near Boat Quay, in District 1 City Central of Singapore.

So this is where Heng Pang Kiat lived when he first arrived in Singapore.

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"由其勤勉奋斗结果，至三十余岁时，已有所积蓄，乃自创生怡兴布店于十三行后街五十三号。"

At the age of 30, as a result of his hard work and determination, he had saved enough money to start his own textile shop, at No 53 Canton Street (at the back street).

"及后再自创生怡丰汇信兑局于同址"

Later, he founded Yee Fung Credit and Exchange Bureau at the same address.

"克勤克俭，年有进展"

He worked diligently and thriftily, and achieved success year by year.

"嗣再合资创设瑞兴洋杂店，"

He also jointly established Ruixing ("瑞兴") Grocery Store

"厚丰香汕郊，怡裕号米郊，并创长兴号于马六 甲，"

Houfeng Store in Xiangshanjiao, Yiyu Store in Mijiao, and Changxing Store in Malacca (马六 甲)
NOTE: I think I am going to come back to this one, when I get more information about these stores
- I this sentence refers to a lot of street names or locations that I am unfamiliar with as they may be in Malacca

"亦为新加坡亚洲保险有限公司发起人之一。"

He is also one of the founders of Singapore Asia Insurance Company Limited.

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More translation of this article to come when I get more time, so please watch this space.....

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NEWSPAPERS

All of the following newspaper articles have been thankfully preserved on microfilm reel
held at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library, Singapore.

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Malaya Tribune - Untitled announcement regarding naturalisation 12 July 1920

H E (His Excellency) the Governor has granted a certificate of naturalisation,
according to the Gazette, to Heng Pang Kiat, otherwise known as Heng Kwe Ho,
who has resided in the Straits Settlements for 48 years.

(ref: Malaya Tribune 12 July 1920)

The Governor of Singapore in July 1920 was Sir Laurence Guillemard (1862–1951) who served as governor between 17 Feb 1920 to 3 June 1927.

The governor before him was Sir Arthur Henderson Young (1854–1938) who served as governor of Singapore between 2 Sep 1911 to 17 Feb 1920.

(ref: Wikipedia d 2023)

Personal comments

This article places the year of his arrival as 1872 (i.e. when he was 16 years old).

It is almost certain that Heng Pang Kiat would have known Sir Arthur Henderson Young as well,
as he served on the Chinese Advisory Board around this period of his life. (personal conjecture)

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Straits Times - Obituary 15 July 1930

Mr Heng Pang Kiat

There was a large attendance at the funeral on Sunday of Mr. Heng Pang Kiat, J.P., who retired from business a few years ago owing to ill-health.
Many beautiful wreaths were received.

Mr. Heng Pang Kiat came to Singapore from China 60 years ago.
During his lifetime he was a great benefactor of the public and gave generously to charities both here and in China.

He was formerly a president of the Singapore Anti-Opium Society and had been on the committees of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce,
Tuan Mong School, Chun Hua School and Tong Chay Hospital. He had been a member of the board of visitors to the quarantine station,
St. John's Island ; a member of the Poh Leung Kuk committee ; an assessor under the War Tax ordinance, (1917) to assist the collector war tax ;
a member of the Chinese Advisory Board ; a Justice of the Peace for the Settlement of Singapore ;
and a member of the committee of management of Tan Tock Seng's Hospital, Singapore.

(ref: The Straits Times 15 July 1930)

Personal comments

This article places the year of his arrival as 1870 instead of 1872 (i.e. when he was 14 years old).
It is more plausible that he travelled via junk on a precarious sea journey from China as a 16 year old rather than a 14 year old. (personal conjecture)

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References

Malaya Tribune (12 July 1920) Untitled Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library, Singapore. Microfilm reel NL3887 p 5

NUS Library Portal Databank (2019) Wang Bangjie article https://libportal.nus.edu.sg/media/lib_ch/databank-wangbangjie.pdf [note this link no longer works] [accessed Jan 2019]

Jason Heng (2013) Teochew Street Names in Tua Poh (part 1) https://teochewsinsingapore.wordpress.com/category/pre-1860-2/ [article written 6 Oct 2013, accessed 20 Aug 2023]

The Straits Times (15 July 1930) Heng Pang Kiat obituary Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, National Library, Singapore. Microfilm reel NL637, p19

Wikipedia Anbu (2023) Anbu, Guangdong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anbu,_Guangdong [accessed 21 Aug 2023]

Wikipedia Chao'an (2023) Chao'an District https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao'an_District [accessed 21 Aug 2023]

Wikipedia Chaozhou (2023) Chaozhou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaozhou [accessed 21 Aug 2023]

Wikipedia d (2023) List of governors of Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_governors_of_Singapore [accessed 16 Aug 2023]

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