In Search of Yeh Wen-lan (Yap)叶文澜: Amoy Electric, Foochow Arsenal, Amoy Foodstuffs, etc.)

Ahoy from Amoy! (historic Xiamen, China).

I just received a fascinating email asking for sources on Yeh Wen-lan [叶文澜, or 叶清渠]. He died in Taiwan in 1887 or 1888). If you have any documents, photos, etc. about the him or Yap family (also spelled Ye, Yap, Iap), please share them! He said Yeh made a fortune in the 1849 California gold rush, returned to make another fortune in Amoy's tea and baking, at the request of General Zuo Zongtang 左宗棠 supplied arms and food supplies to fight against the Taiping rebels. General Zuo was so impressed he recommended Yeh as Chief Supervisor of Asia's largest shipyard (Foochow Arsenal, in Mawei, east of Fuzhou, 2,200 years ago was the site of China's first maritime shipbuilding). When Yeh went to work for the Fujian government, his family became the HSBC's comprador until the 1950s (HSBC knew him as Ye Deshui  叶德水).

The Yeh family founded Amoy Electric Lights, Amoy Water Supply, etc. Amazing! Mr, Ye's younger brother, Ye Qingrui [叶清瑞], moved to Kaohsiung, Taiwan [高雄台湾】 in 1887, prospered in business, and his family was very influential until 1945.

Mr. Yeh's had many celebrated descendants in both Xiamen andTaiwan, including Li Yongjin 李永进 who started Taiwan's Daewoo Information Company 大宇资讯公司, among many others.

The man who emailed me is now searching for more info about the Yap family. He's already written a book "The Legendary Yap Family in Amoy" but is trying to search out more information and asks for sources.

He also said the Yap [in the 19th century, spelled Iap) family started Amoy Foodstuffs, which began as Tao Fa 淘化大同 on Gulangyu Islet in 1908 and made soymilk and soy sauce），That was a surprise to me. I understood it was started by Mr, Huang Tingyuan (黄廷元), whose former home is now a Gulangyu hotel near the piano museum (#23-25 Xin Lu 鼓浪屿鼓新路23-25号. But many of these families were related, often through marriage. Today, Amoy Foodstuffs is based in Hong Kong (Tai Po, New Territories) and makes the famous Amoy Soy Sauce and others.

The question that he (and so many others) have is where to find more information. Too often people ask this and don't even know the Chinese name of their ancestor (which makes it almost impossible to research, as many have Anglicized names that have no relation to the original Chinese name). Even without the Chinese name, it is sometimes possible. I had one family from the Philippines send me a 1940s family photo, which Xiamen Daily published--and members of the family in Xiamen recognized the photo! That was quite a family reunion when they returned from Amoy to meet relatives none had seen in over 70 years.

Generally, it is difficult to find old records in Xiamen because many were destroyed by the Japanese invasion and occupation in 1938, and those that survived were consigned to bonfires on Gulangyu during the Cultural Revolution. Now that Gulangyu is applying for UNESCO World Heritage Site status (should get it in 2017), they deeply regret it. Almost all of my materials have come from abroad--books, old photos, maps, journals, diaries, magazines, etc. bought from dealers in dozens of countries, or else given to me by the descendants of Chinese and foreigners who lived in Amoy from the 1840s to 1940s (some gave them to me; some allowed me to scan the materials).

Many people searching their roots have visited me in Xiamen and I've shown them around Xiamen and Quanzhou just to the north, which was the ancient start of the Maritime Silk Road / Route. Most overseas Chinese from South Fujian are from South Quanzhou's Jinjiang. 1000 years ago, Quanzhou was called Zayton by the Arabs. Marco Polo, when sailing from there, said that for every 1 ship in Christendom carrying peppers (spices), Zayton had 100 ships. We get our English word "satin" from Zayton, and even Sinbad the sailor was said to have visited Zayton, which famed Arab explorer Ibn Battuta said was the greatest port in the world and produced the world's best porcelain (their Dehua produced the famous White Porcelain-- blanc 'de Chine).

One family was descendants of Pastor Yap (Iap), the first Chinese pastor of Amoy (so the first in China, since Xiamen had China's first church). And one of the most memorable foreigners was Mary Thompson from England--daughter of the last British Consul of Amoy. I helped many of these family find information primarily through Amoy mission archives (Holland, Michigan and New Jersey) and archives at universities such as Stanford, Yale, etc.

 The family of Yeh Wen-lan is in luck because they know so many particulars about him and can visit Mawei's Fuzhou Arsenal, contact the Amoy foodstuffs company, or visit Gulangyu Islet and talk with historians who are helping with the UNESCO World Heritage project (they'd be delighted, I'm sure, as this would also provide them more material as well for the museums we're hoping to set up).

As far as immigration records--those are hard to find as most were destroyed (and the U.S. lost most of its records when the first Amoy Consulate burned down in November, 1904).

As to his question (below) about coolies--Amoy, in 1947, had first shipment of coolies. In that first year, 8,000 coolies were shipped to Cuba alone to work the sugar fields. In 1849, 75 were sent to labor in Peru's guano pits, and in 1850, several thousand were sent to the railroad work in Panama. Many even paid for their passage, thinking they'd be laborers, not knowing they'd be stripped, have their destination painted on their back, and be packed tighter than African slaves, 1/3 or more dying enroute. No wonder the profitable opium and coolie trade (opium into China, coolies out) was called "Pigs and Poison Trade." While many Westerns sighed sadly over such atrocities, nothing was done until 400 Chinese who paid to work in San Franciso learned they were being shipped on the Robert Bowne' as slaves to Peru's deadly Chincha islands, where few survived one year working the guano pits. Sickness broke out on the packed ship, ten sick coolies were thrown overboard and the rest scrubbed down like pigs. They mutinied, killing the officers. Then the Westerners united to find them and bring these "terrorists" to "justice."

Ahhh... no wonder in school they never taught us anything about the U.S.' and Europe's history in China during the 19th century and first half of the 20th.

Back to the point at hand: if anyone has any information about Yeh Wen-lan--texts, photos, etc.--please feel free to share it. And please read the letter of explanation below....

Enjoy Amoy!

Dr. Bill
Academic Director, SMXMU OneMBA
School of Management, Xiamen University

Dear Dr. Bill,

I am writing to you to seek help in my research on a famous family in the late 19th century and early 20th century in Amoy.

My wife was born in Gulansu in late 1960s. My father-in-law’s great grand father was Yeh Wen-lan, who was said to have gone to San Francisco during the 1849 Gold Rush, made a fortune, coming home and started his own business in tea and banking. He even owned boat fleet travelling to south east Asia, Taiwan etc.

At the request of General Zuo Zong-tang, he managed to buy arms and prepare food supplies for the government troops to fight the rebels in the 1860s taking advantage of his connections with foreigners. General Zuo was so impressed that Yeh Wen-lan was sent as Chief Supervisor to build the largest shipyard in Asia at the time – Foochow Arsenal where he worked for 10 years. He was a successful business man and later became a high ranking government official. His position was slightly below the provincial governor.

While he worked for the government in Fuzhou, his family business was run by his sons. The Yeh family was HSBC’s comprador until 1950s. The Yeh family were also founders of many of Amoy’s early and modern utilities companies, such as Amoy Electric Lights, Water Supply and Amoy Foodstuff etc.

However, many documents, photographs were destroyed during the cultural revolution. After Yeh Wen-lan’s grand parents died, few people knew about their family’s glory past. My father-in-law did not even know the name of his great grand father, not to mention the stories.

I spent two years digging into the family history and completed a book called The Legendary Yap Family in Amoy.

I believe I will find more information from the west in sources like:

US/Britain consul reports in Amoy and Foochow
Missionary reports/accounts in Amoy and Foochow
Britain and US library archives/books

I attempted to locate Yeh Wen-lan’s immigration records around the 1850s but failed

I worked in Xiamen from 2013 to 2015 but I didn’t know you until I came across your website recently, otherwise I’d definitely go visit you for advice.

I was wondering if you could let me know how I could further my study by leveraging online British or American resources. I am also interested in the history societies and organizations/historians who specialize in 19th century Chinese American Coolly trade, Chinese laborers During Gold etc.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Name redacted]

Enjoy Amoy!
 Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"


Bill Brown    Xiamen University
 www.amoymagic.com