[10] His survival in the chaotic era owes much to his standing as leader of the Hai San, a Chinese secret society in British Malaya during the time of the Larut Wars (1862–73),[11] a position he is said to have held until early 1884,[12] although in all probability he continued to remain a leading member.

In the published accounts of British rule in Malaya, sufficient prominence has not always been given to the efforts of these early pioneers; the reaper, intent on his own work, is apt to forget the man who sowed.

"[16] Third among his father's five sons, Chung Keng Quee was born into a peasant Hakka family in Xin Cun (新村) village, Cheng Sheng (Zengcheng 增城) county of Guangdong province, China.

VIII Taiping Saturday 14 December 1901 reports: "Precise information as to the date of his arrival in Perak is difficult to obtain but it is apparently certain that he has passed over forty-five years in the State before he retired to Penang.

The Governor of Straits Settlement, Colonel William Orfeur Cavenagh intervened and the Mentri of Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, was made to compensate the Ghee Hin with $17,447 on behalf of the Sultan of Perak.

A week later two things happened - a similar attempt was made on Chung Keng Quee's house and Abdullah and his Ghee Hin cohorts were arrested at sea and brought back to Penang where they were eventually released but forbidden to return to Perak.

Putnam's Sons) Victorian traveller and adventuress Isabella Lucy Bird (1831–1904) describes how Raja Muda Abdullah as he then was turned to the head of the Ghee Hin in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching.

Clarke's main objective was to mediate peace between the two Chinese factions and settle their differences so that tin production could resume and threats to the internal security of British-held Penang would cease.

Clarke decided that both the Hai San and Ghee Hin should have access to Larut with neither side being excluded, a complete reversal of the policy of his predecessor, Sir Henry Ord.

Following the surrender of the Ghee Hin to Pickering and the outcome of a meeting with Chung Keng Quee whom Pickering also met, Sir Andrew Clarke then gathered the main Chinese leaders (principally Chung Keng Quee and Chin Ah Yam and some Malays – including Abdullah – at Pulau Pangkor where the 'Pangkor Engagement' was formulated and signed, recognising Abdullah as Sultan, and getting the Chinese to agree to settle their differences in Larut under British arbitration.

[29][30][44][46] The need to restore law and order in Perak gave cause for a new British policy concerning intervention in the affairs of the Malay States which resulted in the Treaty of Pangkor.

[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] Tate in The Making of Modern South-East Asia says of these that "the first one, which had been ready for over a week prior to the signing, concerned Larut and provided for a settlement between the Hai San and Ghee Ghin which both sides respected and carried out satisfactorily.

He also acknowledged that long after that time when Chung, Keng Quee visited China he was accused of piracy by his rivals in the tin mining business and while he was initially arrested and brought before the mandarins in Canton he was triumphantly acquitted of the charge.

On 15 May 1877 in a casual meeting between the two, Chung Keng Quee advocated the granting of land leases for the mines for periods of 21 years arguing that this would make it easier for miners to raise money.

[89] In 1889, after the Pangkor settlement of 1874, Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, gave over most of the Larut and Kurau opium, gambling, spirits, pawnbroking and tobacco farms to Chung, Keng Quee and his business partner, Khoo, Thean Teik.

Sir Hugh Low in his own notes describing negotiations over the leasing out of the Perak revenue farms compares Chung Keng Quee and Khoo Thian Teik.

From 1880 to 1897, in partnership with the Tan, Yeoh, Lim, Cheah, and Khoo families, Chung Keng Quee invested over $2.8 million to dominate all the revenue farms from upper to lower Perak.

Together with Cheong Fatt Tze, Chang Yu Nan, Cheah Choon Seng and Tye Kee Yoon, he was part of a group referred to as The Five Great Sponsors.

[103][104][105][106] According to Lau-Fong Mak, who says he "is indisputably the century's biggest patron of all," Chung Keng Quee alone accounted for about 92% of the charitable contributions made by the sole three members of the Cantonese-Hakka economic elite between the years 1850 and 1910.

In commemoration of the birthday of his mother, Madam Lai, Chung, Keng Quee founded and endowed a big scholarship fund for poor Chinese scholars preparing themselves for the time-honoured civil service examinations.

[112][113][114][115] In March 1901, just months before he died, Chung, Keng Quee and several other members of the Hakka Associations in Penang established an Educational Institution called Chong Wen She (崇文社).

Penang millionaire and Deli Bank director Hsieh Yung-kuan, then Chinese vice-consul, contributed $200 and Chung, Keng Kwee gave $300 more, completely dwarfing the Governor who managed only $100.

Upon the staircase was a beautiful stained-glass window presented by Chung, Keng Quee, and bearing the inscription, "Erected by Captain Cheng Kheng Kwi, Perak and Pinang, 1901".

Chung, Keng Quee converted the former Ghee Hin headquarters into his townhouse and office and named this, Hye Kee Chan (海记栈), or Sea Remembrance Store.

The Perak Pioneer & Native States Advertiser Vol VII Taiping Saturday 14 December 1901: "By the death of Capitan Chang Keng Kwi, which occurred at his residence in Penang on Thursday night, one of the most picturesque figures in the history of Malaysia has been removed."

He made his fortune early in his life in the tin mines and revenue farms of Perak, and while lost it all during the Larut Wars, he rebuilt his empire and died a rich man.

At the time of his death: According to the Ipoh Echo he was the richest man in the Federated Malay States and, when he died, the whole of his estate in Penang alone was worth seven million Straits dollars.

"[168] His headstone bears the inscription: "Kapitan of Perak, Chung Keng Quee from Tseng-ch'eng, appointed by Imperial patent of the Ch'ing Emperor as Tzu-cheng ta-fu,[169] rewarded with the Peacock Feather, and Expectant Intendant of a Circuit of the fourth rank,[170] and of his wife Lady Cheng, nee Ch'en, with the personal name Yii-yin and the posthumous name Chao-i appointed by Imperial patent as Third Rank Shu-jen,[171] set up by nine sons, six daughters, twelve grandsons, and six granddaughters of the deceased.

On Sunday 11 May 1902 (almost five months after he left this world), his remains were removed from Hye Kee Chan (29 Church Street) and placed in a temporary vault awaiting his final interment.

The funeral procession from home to the family graveyard made up of people on foot and on rickshaws was reported to have been over a mile long and included several hundred Europeans catered to by Messrs Sarkies Brothers.