Page 208 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

Chong Woo first appears in the Hong Kong Directory of 1853, listed as “Chinese Fancy Goods”, but we know
from records of 1851 of the San Francisco Custom House that the “Chinaman Chungwoo” is listed as exporting
from Hong Kong to San Francisco silks, tea and assorted merchandise to the value of $426 to three Chinese
merchants in San Francisco. Later shipments included furniture, lacquerware, shawls, bed covers and even
women’s shoes.
The value of Chung Woo shipments rose dramatically during the 1850s and began to include opium. Gradually a
network of liànhǎo - a uniquely Chinese phenomenon that was based upon a complicated equation of
overlapping ownership, family ties, native town ties etc - in effect, it was a Chinese version of a cooperative
where each individual member kept their own accounts with the host or main shareholder earning a premium, in
this case it was Chiu Yu Tin.

Chiu Yu Tin at the age of 95

It was in the 1850’s that Chiu Yu Tin opened his own retail operation in San Francisco. It is unclear, though,
whether he owned it outright or had a managing shareholding since from records it is clear that the names
Chong Woo and Wing Wo Sang interconnect. We do know, however, that a trading network developed under
Chiu Yu Tin’s ownership that included Chile, Peru, Panama and much of South East Asia through his Nam Pak
Hong company that traded as Kwong Mou Tai. His Chinese empire stretched to include Shanghai, Shantou,
Jiazhou, Dalian and Yingkou.

Other Nam Pak Hong [literally: South-North Trading Association] merchants formed a guild in 1868 and in 1873,
Chiu was nominated and elected as Chairman [shou zhongli] to the Gold Mountain Traders’ Guild [see above -
Chiu wearing his medal of office].

The Hong Kong Chong Woo retail operation continued well into the 20th century