Chang Yun Chung
Chang Yun Chung | |
Born | 1918 |
Alma mater | Pu Xian Cheng Kinmen High School, Xiamen Datung College |
Known for | World's Oldest Billionaire (Current), Pacific International Lines Founder |
Chang Yun Chung (born 1918) - also known as Teo Woon Tiong (张允中) - is the founder of Pacific International Lines (PIL), a shipping company based in Singapore which he incorporated in 1967.[1] As of February 2020, the Singaporean Permanent Resident[2] is the oldest billionaire in the world. He also holds Malaysian citizenship and honorary citizenship in three Chinese port cities - Shanghai, Dalian and Penglai, Shandong.[3]
Early life
Chang Yun Chung is a shipping magnate based in Singapore who is the oldest living billionaire in the world. Photo from YouTube.
Family
Yun Chung was born in Shawei Town on Quemoy (also known as Kinmen), a small island in the Fujian province, China. Yun Chung was the eldest son of Chang Wenxia - a Chinese sinseh - and Huang Yuyan.[4][5][6] He grew up in a family with three boys and three girls. His family owned large plots of agricultural land and numerous shophouses and also ran furniture and Traditional Chinese Medicine businesses.[7]
Education
Yun Chung enrolled in the Pu Xian Cheng Kinmen High School in Quemoy at 10 years old.[8] As his school was two hours away from his hometown, Yun Chung took the mule cart whenever his grandfather could hire one for him. Otherwise, he walked home.[9]
When the Fujian Rebellion struck, Yun Chung’s school had to close and arrangements were made for him to transfer to Xiamen Da Tong College.[10][11][12] Yun Chung’s father came to Singapore in 1935 while his mother, siblings and himself remained in Quemoy.[13]
World War II - Escape to Singapore & arrest in Malacca
When Japan invaded China in 1937, Quemoy was the first island they occupied. Yun Chung was the first in his family to flee to Singapore. His mother and siblings followed suit about two months later.[14]
In 1940, Yun Chung moved to Malacca to do business with his maternal uncle.[15] His uncle would bring produce from Sumatra while Yun Chung ran the business in Malacca. When the Japanese occupied Malacca in 1941, Yun Chung fled to a rubber estate seven miles away from Malacca.[16] However, he was caught twice by the Japanese - once in 1942 and once in 1944 - for supplying food and medicine to the Anti-Japanese Army.[17] When Yun Chung was arrested in 1944, he was kept in jail for a year until the Japanese surrender, when he was released.[18] He was supposed to be hung or shot then but was kept alive as his mother gave away her possessions to the head of the Kempeitai.[19]
When the war ended, Yun Chung returned to Singapore to find his father. It was then he realised that his father had been killed by the Japanese. His mother accompanied him back to Malacca where he continued to run the business with his uncle and learnt “a bit of shipping from there”.[20]
Personal life
Chang Yun Chung (seated) pictured with 3 of his children. Photo from Forbes.
Wife & children
Yun Chung married his first wife, Madam Yap Hong, in 1941, the same year that he met her.[21] She passed away on 4 April 1990.[22] He is said to have at least three wives and fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters.[23] Most of his children work in PIL, although all of them had to start from the bottom and work their way up.[24] His son, Teo Siong Seng, is the current Executive Chairman of Pacific International Lines (PIL).
Health
When he was younger, Yun Chung woke up at 6 AM every morning and jogged daily at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.[25] He had undergone spinal operations between the 1980s and the 1990s, yet he remained active in the day-to-day operations of PIL as the executive chairman at the time.[26] At his advanced age, he keeps active by playing golf twice a week. Yun Chung has never smoked, hardly drinks and does not go out at night.[27] His favourite food is a bowl of sweet potato porridge.[28]
Career
(Pictured) A younger Chang Yun Chung. Photo from Nairametrics.
Early career (1945)
In 1945, Yun Chung left Malacca and returned to Singapore where he started up his first import-export business.[29] With his initial capital, he bought ships and dabbled in trade with Sumatra and Java. However, his business failed, causing him to lose all his money.[30]
Kie Hock Shipping Company (1948 - 1967)
Yun Chung joined Kie Hock in 1948. At the time, the company was known as Thye Hin Guan Brothers - a produce firm run by three brothers.[31] Yun Chung was appointed the General Manager and after a year, he had helped the brothers to form Kie Hock Shipping Company, having also secured the first vessel of the company for S$100,000.[32] Yun Chung helped to build up the company’s fleet from just one landing vessel in 1949 to 32 shipping vessels in 1967.[33]
During this period, Yun Chung also served in the capacity of a Director in several other Asian shipping companies, including Hong Kong’s Tranpac Shipping Enterprises Limited.[34] In 1956, Yun Chung was part of a business delegation visiting China that was led by then-Chief Minister David Marshall.[35]
Pacific International Lines (PIL) (1967 - present)
Chang Yun Chung handed over his Chairmanship to his fifth son, Teo Siong Seng in 2018 - the year of his 100th birthday. Photo from CNBC.
Yun Chung set up Pacific International Lines (PIL) in March 1967 after leaving Kie Hock Shipping.[36] He was 49 years old at the time. PIL started with two second-hand Dutch freighters named Kota Singa ex Siberot and Kota Naga ex Sinabang.[37][38] The first PIL office was in a shophouse at Market Street.[39] Within the same year of their incorporation, PIL opened their first overseas office in Jakarta.[40]
PIL was the first few companies to break into the Chinese market.[41] They established trade links with China and launched three new routes: one to East Africa, one to the Persian Gulf and one to the Red Sea.[42] As PIL was one of the first local shipping companies in Singapore at the time, Yun Chung was able to get then-Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee to award PIL with the “Pioneer Status”.[43] This status granted the company tax exemptions on profits, provided that half of the staff were Singaporeans and half of all the ship repairs were done in Singapore.[44]
By the 1990s, PIL had expanded to serve 83 countries and ports.[45] In 2018, Yun Chung officially handed over the chairmanship of PIL to his son, Siong Seng, while he went on to serve as Chairman Emeritus.[46]
Charity work
Yun Chung has taken a proactive role in charity events. He gives greater attention to educational causes.[47]
Educational development in Kinmen, China
Yun Chung and his late brothers Yun Chong and Yean Fock had donated NT$10 million to set up an educational fund in their hometown, Kinmen. The fund was meant to help children who were living in poverty as well as to reward and nurture exceptional students on the island.[48]
In September 2011, Yun Chung donated NT$10 million to set up the National Kinmen University Development Fund. The university renamed its design school to Chang Yun Chung Design School as a gesture of appreciation.[49]
Disaster relief
He has contributed to various disaster relief efforts such as the snow disaster in China, the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, the 921 earthquake in Taiwan (1999) and other natural calamities in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa.[50]
Awards & accolades
In 2011, Yun Chung was awarded the Excellence Award at the Business China Awards for pioneering cargo services between China and the rest of the world.[51][52]
He also served as the Chairman for the Singapore Shipping Association from 1979 to 1981.[53][54]