Simon Soon
In 1893, Chung, Keng Quee acquired two adjacent properties along Church Street on Penang Island. The first was the former headquarters of the Ghee Hin - the Hai San had ousted them in the 1870s. The second was a Chinese school, the Ng Fook Thong (五福堂) meaning Five Luck Villa. This was the base of the United Association of Cantonese Districts.
He offered the school an alternative site in Chulia Street, where a new building was completed in 1898. Craftsmen from Fook San were brought over to build both his ancestral temple and the Ng Fook Thong. Chung Keng Quee provided a loan of 20,000 yuan for the construction of the new building which was completed in 1898. The Ng Fook Thong operated a school 五福書院, for all Chinese children irrespective of their dialect affiliations.
The opening of the school at the end of the 19th century marked the rise of the Confucian revival movement, following from reforms in China. This gave rise to a new nationalist orientation amongst the Chinese community, that would reorientate solidarity along the lines of ethnic affiliation.
