Decoding Uncle Hoa - Saigon's famous tycoon - Part 3: Uncle Hoa's journey to establish a career in the promised land

Most cautiously, because we have not been able to retrieve the original documents, we understand and place the time when Mr. Hui Bon Hoa, also known as Uncle Hoa, came to establish a career in Cochinchina between 1865-1875, corresponding to his age of 20.

Announcement of Mr. Hui Bon Hoa's admission to the jury of Cochinchina - Photo: Source: Official Gazette of French Cochinchina, December 16, 1895

According to Odette Hui Bon Hoa's great-granddaughter, written in Air Corsia's ARIA newspaper, before her 20th birthday (in 1865), Hui Bon Hoa sailed away from her homeland when famine was raging.

When he arrived in Saigon, the young man had only a mat as luggage.

Crossing the sea to Saigon

The story of "Hui Bon Hoa and his son with a few coins in their pockets" who quietly went to Vietnam, which later generations often wrote, is probably just a literary interpretation. From 1865 to 1875, Hui Bon Hoa did not and could not bring any of his children with him.

Family history records that the eldest son and first child named Trong Mo of Mr. Hui Bon Hoa was adopted by an uncle (in his hometown).

As for the second son - Trong Huan, according to the memorial stele at the cemetery in Di An, Binh Duong, he was born in 1876 in Ha Mon.

The third son - Trong Tan was also born in Ha Mon at the end of 1878 (because his father returned there). Later, the whole family migrated to Tuyen Chau.

On the other hand, the Chinese have always been communal, so Mr. Hui Bon Hoa must have traveled by train with people of his clan or been welcomed and sponsored by his fellow countrymen at the destination as was the immigration rule at that time.

Hui Bon Hoa's fourth son, Trong Binh or Tang Phien Hui Bon Hoa, was born in Saigon in 1893, 15 years after Trong Tan.

If he was the sixth child in the family as Chen Bichun wrote, then between Trong Tan and Trong Binh there were two sisters, because Mr. Hui Bon Hoa had four sons in total. The next child (Khien Ha Hui Bon Hoa) was born in 1894 also in Saigon, so he was the seventh child and naturally became a "Westerner" like Tang Phien because his father had become a French citizen.

Chen Bichun records that Hui Bon Hoa had 11 daughters. If so, since he died in 1901, it does not make sense that they had eight more children (girls) in the last seven years of his life. Unless Zhong Tan and Zhong Ping had more sisters and Zhong Ping was not the sixth child but was one below. We only know about Hui Bon Hoa's seven children.

Mr. Hui Bon Hoa had to travel frequently between Saigon and Xiamen and then Quanzhou until his wife (Mrs. Trinh, born in 1855) and their children came to Saigon with him. If he had been in Cochinchina since 1865, after a decade, Mr. Hui Bon Hoa would have stabilized his work and life.

So when he got married, why didn't he bring his wife and children with him, instead of letting her give birth in Xiamen and then migrate to Quanzhou? Is it true that Hui Bon Hoa arrived in Saigon later than 1865, unlike what was said?

Regardless, the story of separation and reunion of Hui Bon Hoa's family or the story of Hui Bon Hoa struggling to make a living as a single man reflects the typical situation of Chinese people living abroad.

Before the year Mr. Hui Bon Hoa "entered the Western village", the population of Saigon City (excluding Cho Lon) as of December 31, 1886 (according to the French Cochinchina Yearbook 1887) was 18,009 people (8,846 men, 4,091 women, 5,072 children), of which the Chinese who had naturalized in France were only 3 men, 3 women and 19 children.

The Vietnamese population is 8,986, consisting of 2,517 males, 2,767 females, and 3,702 children. This ratio reflects the normal population balance of the native Vietnamese population.

There are 6,649 Chinese people (equivalent to 74% of the Vietnamese) but most of them are male - 4,856 people (nearly double the number, 193% compared to Vietnamese men in Saigon) and only 817 women (Chinese women are less than 17% compared to Chinese men) and 976 children.

This serious gender imbalance partly reflects the political and economic context of Saigon at that time, a place that was a promised land of hard work and entrepreneurship for Chinese men, not a place to settle down for their whole families, and certainly posed many cultural and social problems for the authorities at that time.

The Chinese naturalized in France, with property and connections with the government, were an effective bridge in managing political-economic and socio-cultural activities related to the Chinese community in Saigon.

View of Cho Lon Market around 1890 - Photo: Source: Digital Library, University of Côte d'Azur, Nice

Uncle Hoa - a worker on the jury of Cochinchina

In the years 1870-1875, Hui Bon Hoa was not yet a notable Chinese name. People often mentioned the Wang Tai family (Hoang Thai, also known as Mr. Chiong Lam or Truong Bai Lam, from Hong Kong) who had a brick and tile factory in Saigon and also did rice business;

The A Pan family did business in drinks and food and also had a brick and tile factory; the Tan Keng Sing brothers (Tran Khanh Tinh, from Singapore), in which Mr. Tan Keng Ho (Tran Khanh Hoa) used to be a member of the Saigon City Council; the Ban Hap family (Mr. Nhan Van Hop) did business in rice, opium, and also contracted to run a Cho Lon pawn shop...

In 1881, A Pan joined the Saigon City Council. He also took over the Saigon pawn shop, in which the Ogliastro family invested, and Mr. Lamache was the sworn agent. The Ogliastro family was in partnership with Blutstein, and Blutstein was the director of the pawn shop.

At this time, it is highly likely that Mr. Hui Bon Hoa is working for the A Pan family. He and a cousin from the same hometown named Hui Toan (aka Huynh Truyen) applied for French citizenship but have not been approved.

In 1884, announcements in many issues of the French Southern Gazette said that A Pan returned to China for health reasons, delegated authority (to manage A Pan et Cie) to Mr. Hui Toan and Mr. Hui Bon Hoa, and then transferred the director position and management of the Saigon pawn shop to Mr. Hui Bon Hoa.

In 1885, it can be said that the Huynh (Hui) family completely took over the A Pan Company, changed its name to Hui Toan et Cie with Mr. Hui Toan as representative and Mr. Hui Tchoau participating (Official Gazette of French Cochinchina, July 6, 1885).

In 1887, Hui Bon Hoa was naturalized as a French citizen. Mr. A. Ogliastro joined the Saigon Chamber of Commerce, among its members were Ban Hap and Wang Tai. Oscar du Crouzet joined the Cho Lon City Council (with Ban Hap).

In the same year, an article published in the French Cochinchina Gazette on June 30, 1887 stated that Mr. Hui Toan was selected to be on the Cochinchina jury of 20 people with social prestige. Hui Toan also participated in the term in 1889.

From 1887, the Huynh family from Boun Tchao Sia in general and Mr. Hui Bon Hoa began to gradually expand their business and gradually became famous, along with the Wang Tai or Ban Hap families and other prominent overseas Chinese.

In addition to the previous business activities of A Pan's family and the pawnshop contract, they began to pay attention to land accumulation and building rental houses (for business combined with residential purposes), meeting the essential needs of the new Chinese immigrants to Saigon or possibly for other residents.

But this activity was just beginning, it was not until Mr. Hui Bon Hoa's children, Trong Huan and Trong Tan, went to Saigon to help their father that it became popular.

On December 16, 1895, the French Cochinchina Gazette reported that Mr. Hui Bon Hoa was selected to the jury list of Cochinchina.

In this list, there is a name familiar to Hui Bon Hoa, O. du Crouzet, a Vietnamese name that would become very famous, Le Phat Dat, or Huyen Si ("first Si"), or also the name of a Chinese, Tan En Bock (son of Tan Keng Ho). Mr. Hui Bon Hoa was also elected to the jury for the term of 1901, but he died that same year.

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On July 11, 1896, all three lots were transferred to Hui Bon Hoa. The transfer value at this time, only three months after the land was assigned, had already become a market transaction, jumping to 1,300 piastres.

>> Next: Hui Bon Hoa and Uncle Hoa accumulate land in Saigon

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-ma-lai-chu-hoa-dai-gia-lung-lay-sai-gon-ky-3-hanh-trinh-chu-hoa-lap-nghiep-mien-dat-hua-20250322101344976.htm