Dear Maycham members and friends,

The Nasi Lemak Dinner Talk – Story of Yeap Chor Ee by Daryl Yeap will be rescheduled to 21 October 2019 (Monday) at New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel, TST East. You are welcomed to join the talk by registering online.



For members and guests who have registered, we will contact you to confirm if you will be joining. For members that already made the payment, we will arrange for a full refund accordingly if you decided not to join. For members that haven't made payment, we could help you to arrange refund.

The great granddaughter Daryl Yeap, the author of the recently launched book 'The King's Chinese' will be in Hong Kong to spend an evening with us over dinner to speak about her new book. After a career in banking and finance, Daryl returned to Malaysia to work for the family business and helped established the House of Yeap Chor Ee, a gallery of social history on the Malayan's Overseas Chinese. It was during this time that she began to research into the life and times of her great grandfather which formed the material for 'The King's Chinese'.

Mr Yeap Chor Ee was one of Penang's richest tycoons in his time and one of the State's greatest philanthropists. By early 1900s, his business interests span across commodities, property development, banks and extended from Penang to Singapore. Mr Yeap Chor Ee single-handedly funded the establishment of Ban Hin Lee Bank, which in late 1990s was merged into today's CIMB Group. With the fortune he made, Mr Yeap turned to philanthropy with particular interest in education. One of his elegant mansions in Penang, Homestead, was donated to the Wawasan Education Foundation in 2006.

Daryl will share her personal insights and learnings from writing this book about the early history that touches on a multitude of people, events and businesses along the Straits of Melaka. She will introduce us to this prominent Penang family, to their family practices, cultural hybridity, festivals and food, and will place these in the wider context of the social changes and political events affecting both Penang island and the region in the first half of 20th century. Together these present an enthralling opportunity to better understand the history of pre-war Malaysia and Singapore.

Below is one of the endorsements of the book:

"The King's Chinese is an important book that fills in much of the tapestry and colour of early history of family and business in Penang, Malaya and Indonesia. Daryl Yeap writes with a keen eye for detail to weave the rise of a penniless immigrant barber who rose through sheer wits and ability to become one of the most successful tycoons in Asia. The stories of the tumultuous age of boom, bust, war and independence are brought alive through the intertwined careers of Yeap Chor Ee and his Javanese business partner and in-law Oei Tiong Ham. A great contribution to Malaysiana and Penang history."

- Tan Sri Andrew Sheng

Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong

Seats are limited and it is on first come first serve basis.

The ticket price details is as follows:

Member (per pax) - HKD 400

Non-member (per pax) - HKD 550

1 table (for 10 pax) - HKD 4,000

1 table (for 11 pax) - HKD 4,400

1 table (for 12 pax) - HKD 4,800