Our Story
Continuing a Legacy
"He is my idol. I have heard my grandmother and the villagers tell the story of Lam Tee Chew. He is our pride."
- Tangbianli villager descendant
Lam Tee Chew
Lam Tee Chew (1880 - 1944) was renowned as much for his moral standing and generosity as for his golden touch with business enterprises, earning him the moniker of "Millionaire Lam". This reputation extended beyond his Jiangmen hometown village of Tangbianli, resonating throughout Guangdong Province, Singapore, and present-day Malaysia.
In Jiangmen he remains revered. The ancestral halls, school, medical clinic, watchtowers, houses, and roads he constructed stand as testaments to his enduring legacy. His benevolence during times of hardship is deeply ingrained in local memory. As one village elder recounts, “My mother always told us to remember Lam Tee Chew, because he saved our family from starvation.”
His personal history, written on mulberry paper in 1924, reveals his commitment to his home village. He established the Qian Yuan Brother Company from the business profits and salaries of his and his younger brother, Lam Song Kee. All profits were dedicated to his home village for education, raising children, ritual ceremonies, ancestor veneration, charity, and retirement. This foresight resulted in the buildings that we cherish today as the Blue Tile Heritage Center.
Like many Guangdong villagers seeking better opportunities amidst the turmoil of the Boxer Rebellion and the Sino-Japanese war, Lam Tee Chew and his father, Lam Tak Choon (Lin Dexun) ventured overseas in the 1890’s landing in Singapore. Initially forming a company with others from their home village, they went on to set up Kwong Lee mortgage and remittance company that helped people send money back to their hometowns. After his father's death, Lam Tee Chew soon expanded his pursuits to Kuching, capital of Sarawak in present-day Malaysia. There he developed a diverse portfolio that encompassed rubber and pepper plantations, an icehouse, pawn shops, gold mines, a coal mine, and a sago palm processing plant. His entrepreneurial spirit also flourished in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
While residing overseas, he diligently taught himself English and served as a Justice of the Peace for the Chinese community under British rule for ten years. He appreciated and collected a splendid array of Ming Dynasty paintings, porcelain and antiques, some of which he gifted to the family of the White Raj or King of Sarawak in the 1920's. His villas and gardens in Kuching and Singapore were splendid and elegant--the living room in the famous Dai Fong Yuen mansion a place where more than 100 couples could dance.
Lam Tee Chew's crowning business achievement was the founding of Kwong Lee Bank. This pioneering institution, the oldest local financial institution in Malaysia, is credited with laying the foundation for the modern banking industry in Singapore and Malaysia. Initially the bank focused on facilitating remittances from overseas Chinese to their families in Guangdong Province. Its conservative operational policies and strong cash reserves proved instrumental in its resilience, enabling it to navigate the challenges of two World Wars, the Great Depression, and economic recessions.
Lam Tee Chew was forced to sign over the bank to the Japanese when the Allied forces in Singapore capitulated to Japan in 1942. Tragically, he passed away as a result of a bombing raid in 1944. The bank was returned to the family after Japan’s surrender in 1945. The war and its aftermath led to dispersal of the large extended family of both Lam Tee Chew and his younger brother, Lam Song Kee, to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
In later years, descendants sold their shares. Today the bank is known as Hong Leong Group, a conglomerate and one of the Asia’s largest financial institutions, with a presence in Southeast Asia, Greater China, Europe and Oceania, still claiming its beginning in 1905 with Kwong Lee Bank.
"I see the vast cultural exchange that has taken place between the U.S. and China and strongly believe in the importance of continuing the people-to-people exchange that has so profoundly contributed to both countries."
- Irene Lam
Irene Lam
As a first-generation Chinese American, Irene grew up at a time when Asian representation in media was virtually non-existent. Chinese American children often struggled to fit in, lacking any formal education about their Chinese heritage and history. Like many, she had little awareness of her roots, including of her grandfather, Lam Tee Chew, who passed away in 1944.
Decades later in 2014, Irene learned of her grandfather’s properties in China. Her knowledge of her family history was fragmented, and she had never heard of Kongmoon (Jiangmen), a crucial departure point for countless overseas Chinese.
Upon seeing the properties for the first time, she recalls, “They appeared a ruin. I had no understanding of Chinese architecture, but I could recognize the glimmer of something very special there. I felt the soul of my grandfather and the life of the villagers in those buildings and did not have the heart to abandon them”.
Her large extended family eventually appointed her to represent them in dealing with the properties. The ensuing decade was a challenging journey. Irene navigated complex Chinese social, legal, and governmental systems, spending thousands of hours gathering documentation from family members scattered across the globe, all while facing the significant obstacle of limited Chinese language proficiency. The COVID-19 pandemic further stalled progress when the Chinese consulate in the U.S. closed for over two years.
In 2020, a stroke of luck led her to an internet article about Professor Selia Tan’s restoration of the ancient village of Cangdong. Excited to find someone who shared her vision, Irene reached out to Professor Tan. To her astonishment, the professor simply replied “yes”, she would help. “In this day and age,” Irene recalls, “it’s so rare to encounter that kind of trust and generosity.” This unexpected encounter ignited a passionate collaboration.
Professor Selia Jinhua Tan
Leaders in the Chinese-American community recall a time when Selia Tan, then a college student, embarked on a pioneering journey. She traveled from Jiangmen to Los Angeles, seeking out descendants of Kaiping villagers who had immigrated to the U.S. generations before. This audacious undertaking, unprecedented at the time, forged invaluable connections that would profoundly impact many lives.
A daughter of Hoiping (Kaiping) herself, her grandfather was a renowned practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine in the region. Her deep love for Cantonese culture and its preservation inspired her to spearhead the application that ultimately led to the designation of Kaiping Diaolou and Villages as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These iconic diaolou, or fortified watchtowers, stand as dramatic testaments to the interchange between East and West. Their architecture, a unique blend of local traditions with styles brought back by returning Chinese immigrants, reflects the striking impact of overseas connections.
In 2009, spurred by the World Heritage Site designation, Selia rallied a diverse group of supporters--cultural heritage enthusiasts, villagers, overseas friends, and descendants of villagers--to begin restoration and conservation of Cangdong, a 700 year-old village nestled near the World Heritage site. Over the past 15 years, the Cangdong Project has emerged as a leading model for rural revitalization in China.
Selia has extended her work to restoration of the remarkable buildings that comprise the Blue Tile Heritage Center, where a vibrant array of cultural activities are already underway, even as the restoration unfolds.
The Heart of the Matter
At the heart of Selia’s philosophy lies the belief that heritage must be deeply embedded within the authentic lives of the people and that the public should actively participate and share in these lived experiences.
This guiding principle informs every aspect of the project. It signifies a shift from seeing heritage at a distance, to listening and touching heritage at close range, to finally feeling heritage with the heart.
Touch the soil where our ancestors once walked
Hear the echoes of their stories
Feel the beating heart of our homeland 🤎
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