Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Cheong Fatt Tze ( His Cantonese Name) was born in Guangdong, China. His birth name was Chang Chin Hsun. He was born in a very poor family, at the age of 17 he left his native and did some jobs. In the end , he ended up in Batavia and worked at a provision shop. Soon he married his employer's daughter. He was given financial support through marriage to have his own business.

In 1859, he gotten his first contract in supply food and daily provisions to the Dutchs army and navy forces in Batavia. Then when he was 35 years old , he secured another contract in supplying food and daily provisions to the Dutch army and navy forces in Aceh. With his articulate social life with the Dutch elites, he successful obtained the Opium, Liquor and Pawnbroker Farm in Aceh . By May 1893, he became the Honorary Vice-Consul of China in Penang.

In 1904, he led a group of prominenrt Chinese leaders in Penang to establish the Chung Hwa Confucian School, and was claimed as the first modern Chinese school in Southeast Asia. Soon, Cheong Fatt Tze's name had gained it recognition in the Imperial Chines Palace. In 1905, he became a member of a commission to study the commercial affairs in Southeast Asia on behalf of the Chinese Board of Commerce. Upon his return to China, he had few audiences by the Emperor and Empress Dowager of China. A few knew that, Cheong Fatt Tze had also established business affairs in his homeland, manufacturing bricks, textile, glass and salt. In 1892, he founded the Chang Yu Winery in Shangtung, China, producing mainly the Western wines with some traditional Chinese herbal wines. ( It was said that he drank these herbal wines and that's why he still could has his last son at the age of 70s ). In 1896, he founded various Chinese commercial banks and was a well-known banker in China and Dutch east Indies and was on the Board of Directors of the Canton Railway and the Bank of China. He was a shareholder in the Sze Hai Tong Banking & Insurance Company Limited in Singapore.

Cheong Fatt Tze had at least eight wives and was the father of eight sons and six daughters. He also had uncountable number of fine houses all over China, Dutch and British Colonies in Southeast Asia, and was known by building the finest Chinese mansion in Southeast Asia which was known as Le' Bleu Mansion. The double-story mansion built in between 1897 to 1904 was eniugh to accommodate his huge families with 34 rooms. He expected this mansion shall carry on for nines generation after him. In his will, he mentioned that ordinary repairs of the mansion shall be paid for a monthly sum not exceeding $250 ( it was considered a huge amount of money during that time ). The house was given to his seventh wife Tan Tay Po and his last son, and the house must not be sold until the death of his last son, Cheong Kam Long.

Cheong Fatt Tze died in 1916 and as a mark of respect, the Dutch and British decreed to fly their flags at half mast. Today many of Cheong Fatt Tze's descendants lived in Australia.