He Kunshan
Ho Koon-shan (1838 – 1901), also known as Ho Amei, was a late 19th‑century mining merchant active in Hong Kong and Guangdong.
Early life
Ho Koon-shan was born in Nanhai, Guangdong, in 1838. He graduated from Ying Wa College in Hong Kong, then traveled to the Australian goldfields (often called New Gold Mountain), where his older brother and many Cantonese laborers were working. There he gained practical experience in mining.
Career
In 1868 Ho returned to Hong Kong and took posts in the Guangdong Customs Service, the Hong Kong Chinese Secretary’s office, and the Guangdong Tax Bureau. In the 1880s he surveyed Guangdong’s geology and identified significant mineral deposits. In 1886 he persuaded the Viceroy of Liangguang, Zhang Zhidong, to establish the Guangdong Mining Bureau.[1] Ho invested 200,000 taels to found two mining companies: one at Tan Chow (Xiangshan County) for silver mining, and another securing rights around Silver Mine Bay on Lantau Island near what is now Mui Wo. He hired British experts to manage operations.
In 1881 he founded the Chinese Union Telegraph Company in Hong Kong, planning to lay a telegraph cable from Guangzhou to Hong Kong; government refusal to permit landing south of Boundary Street limited his network to Sham Shui Po. In 1882 he partnered with a British water engineer to survey Guangzhou and advocate constructing a modern waterworks, but those plans were also blocked.[2]
Public service and philanthropy
Ho served as chairman of Tung Wah Hospital and Po Leung Kuk from 1882 to 1884, and organized flood relief fundraising for the 1885 Guangdong floods.
Family
He had three children. His elder son and daughter were born to his German wife; his younger son was the cartoonist and dramatist Ho Kim-sze.
References
External links
- Chinese University of Hong Kong History Forum: “In South China’s prosperity: the 1884 Tianhua Mining Company founded by Ho Koon-shan”
- Pauline Rule, “Ho Amei, 1838–1901, a fighter for Chinese rights in two colonies: his Australian experience,” Proceedings of the 2nd Australasian Conference on Overseas Chinese History & Heritage, 2011.
- Industrial History Hong Kong: “Mui Wo Silver Mine – Part One – The Owner”