Chung Thye Yong

Chung Thye Yong, also known as Chung Ah Yong, was a Malaysian philanthropist, tin miner, rubber planter, rugby player and racehorse owner of the 19th century.

Chung Thye Yong was born in Penang and was the adopted son of Chung Keng Quee, a millionaire philanthropist with interests in mining, farming, logging and other industries. He was educated at Doveton College in Calcutta, India. He joined the Government civil service in Perak for a time right after school and then took over the management of his father's Taiping property and became owner of the Yong Phin Mine at Kota near Taiping after his father died in 1901. His 3,000-acre (12 km2) Hearwood Estate near Sungei Siput, Perak, Malaysia, employed a workforce of 200 Javanese and Tamil workers to cultivate among other crops, rubber, lemongrass and coconuts. The estate was rich with tin and mines there were worked by Chinese who paid taxes for that benefit. He floated his estate into a Limited Liability Company in Singapore in 1906.

In his day he was described as one of the most enthusiastic sportsmen in the Federated States. He was the first person of Chinese descent in the country to play rugby and golf. He was also an avid billiard player and was the first racehorse owner in Taiping, then the capital of Perak. His racing stables cost him over 12,000 Straits Dollars a year and he placed his prize-winning horses under the charge of a European trainer.

He was a generous benefactor to the people of Taiping and in 1909 arranged to have a tennis court attached to the Taiping Recreational Club which immediately became greatly in demand.