Hong Taechawanit, born Zheng Yifeng (18515 March 1937) and also known as Zheng Zhiyong or Er Ger Feng (lit. 'Second Brother Feng', rendered in Thai from Teochew as ), was a Chinese businessman, philanthropist, and

secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...

member who was active in early twentieth-century

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Early life

Zheng Yifeng was born in 1851 in Qiyuan Village,

Chaozhou Chaozhou ( zh, t=潮州), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. His father, Zheng Shisheng (), was a peasant who fled China during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

but died en route to Thailand. His mother subsequently remarried and Zheng Yifeng himself moved to Thailand, settling down in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Career

While working for gambling magnate Liu Jibin (), Zheng became a member of the clandestine Chinatown-based 'Tian Di Hui' () or 'Heaven and Earth Society'. Zheng would become commonly referred to as 'Er Ge Feng' () or 'Second Brother Feng', because of his becoming the secret society's second-highest authority; he eventually became its leader after the death of his predecessor. Zheng successfully petitioned for King

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

to grant him tax farming rights over gambling houses. In 1909, he dissented from the popular Chinese sentiment against the king's most recent tax reforms and refused to partake in a three-day-long strike action. In June 1918, Zheng was granted the surname Taechawanit (Tejavanija) and conferred the title of Phra Anuwatratchaniyom () by King

Vajiravudh Vajiravudh (1 January 188126 November 1925) was the sixth Monarchy of Thailand, king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama VI. He reigned from 1910 until his death in 1925. King Vajiravudh is best known for his efforts to create and pro ...

. Hong Taechawanit began to build a conglomerate in Thailand, which comprised pawnshops, a printing press, a shipping line, a theatre, and the biggest gambling house in the country. His mansion in Phlapphla Chai also served as his company headquarters. In addition to being a founder of schools in both Thailand and China, Hong Taechawanit bankrolled newspapers and charities. He made significant donations to his hometown in Guangdong, such as in 1918 when he gave 380,000 silver dollars to flood relief efforts.

Final years and legacy

Hong sympathised with the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

led by

Sun Yat Sen The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei ...

; following the collapse of the imperial government in 1911, he gifted Sun with an unspecified amount of

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

. Following a series of financial setbacks, most notably the loss of his tax farming license, Hong died on 5 March 1937, aged 84. Taechawanit Road, whose construction he financed, is now named after him. His mansion was donated to the state and became the present-day Phlapphachai Police Station. Because of his stature as a 'gambling lord', Hong was deified as a 'luck-bringer' after his death and is popularly worshipped by Thai gamblers.

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* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taechawanit, Hong 1851 births Hong Taechawanit 1937 deaths 20th-century Chinese businesspeople Businesspeople from Guangdong Hong Taechawanit Chinese philanthropists People from Chaozhou Hong Taechawanit Hong Taechawanit Hong Taechawanit