Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Leong Fee and Akademi Seni Equator, Leith Street - Penang

Guest Blogger: L
Camera: Canon G10
Location: Penang

This was previously the Leong Fee Mansion.


Wikipedia...
Leong Fee is the Hakka name for Liang P'i Joo (1857-1911), a Kar Yin Hakka from Guangdong Province in China came to Malaya in 1876. He arrived in Penang and half a year later moved to Perak where he began to make his fortune in tin. He was a tin miner, businessman, a visiting Justice for Kinta (1892), the first Chinese Member of the Federal Legislative Council (1909) a Penang state senator, a member of the Perak State Council, a Chinese Vice-Consul to Penang (1902 to 1908) and a philanthropist.
He married the daughter of millionaire-philantrophist Hsieh Yung-kuan, the Chinese Vice-Consul to Penang before him. He was a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
In 1902 he opened a mine in Tambun. One year later Tambun held the world record for the largest production of any time.

Leong Fee Mansion
Built on Leith Street around the 1900s as a personal residence, it now belongs to the Christian Brothers and has been leased to an art school, Akademi Seni Equator.

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