101 years ago today, July 6, 1924 (June 5, 1924, the 1924 lunar calendar), Huang Zhonghan, the "Indonesian sugar king", passed away. Huang Zhonghan Huang Zhonghan (November 1866-July 6, 1924), also known as Taiyuan, had his ancestral home in Tong 'an, Fujian Province. He was born in November 1866 in Samarang City, the capital of Central Java Province, Indonesia. He is a famous Indonesian overseas Chinese entrepreneur. Huang Zhonghan's father, Huang Zhixin, once participated in a small sword club and later fled to Indonesia to work as a shop assistant. In March 1863, he founded his own "Jianyuan Warehouse" business. Huang Zhonghan began to assist his father in running a business when he was a teenager. In 1890, he began to take over his father to run the "Jianyuan Warehouse". In the early 20th century, his father passed away, and Huang Zhonghan inherited his father's industry and became the well-known "Indonesian Sugar King". Relying on the key to "integrated development", Huang Zhonghan's "sugar empire" not only withstood the competitive pressure from powerful Dutch, Japan and other peers, but also developed rapidly. The highest annual output of its nine sugar mills reached more than 100,000 tons, accounting for about half of Indonesia's domestic consumer market and a certain share in the international market. The sugarcane planting, shipping, and financial industries are of considerable scale. His private assets are estimated to be more than 100 billion guilders. He was another top Chinese businessman after the "Chinese businessman pioneer" Zhang Bishi and earlier than the "overseas Chinese flag" Chen Jiageng. He was the most influential Chinese businessman in the early 20th century. Huang Zhonghan went to a private school when he was a child and received Chinese and Dutch education. His father, Huang Zhixin, participated in the Xiaodaohui Uprising in southern Fujian. After the uprising failed, he crossed south to Semarang, Indonesia. Ten years later, he became a rich man in Semarang. After Huang Zhonghan became an adult, he assisted his father in business and was proficient in business. In the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), he began to take over his father to run Jianyuan Company. In the same year, he was appointed by the Dutch colonial authorities as "Majoor"(Army Major), specializing in overseas Chinese affairs. In the 19th year of Guangxu (1893), Huang Zhonghan reorganized Jianyuan Company into Jianyuan Trading Co., Ltd. In addition to continuing to operate the rice industry, he also operated rubber, coffee, copra, kapok, potato flour, tea, pepper, corn, peanuts, vegetable oil and other export trade. Since the following year, he used his unique vision and invested 10 million Dutch guilders to establish 5 large-scale sugar factories with 1 million acres of sugarcane gardens. Select talented young people to study advanced technology and scientific knowledge in various countries, spare no effort to hire foreign experts and purchase the latest equipment, and adopt scientific methods of growing sugarcane and making sugar. In 1923, Jianyuan Company's sugar output accounted for 57% of the total output of Huaqiao Sugar Factory and 17.1% of Indonesia's total sugar production. Huang Zhonghan is therefore known as the "Indonesian Sugar King". In the 7th year of the Republic of China, he established a cassava flour factory in Krebet and also produced alcohol, with an annual output of 270,000 tons, making it the largest cassava flour factory in Southeast Asia. In order to expand business operations, Huang Zhonghan has successively established branches or offices of Jianyuan Trading Co., Ltd. in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Solo and other places in Indonesia, Singapore, Ipoh and Penang in Malaya, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and London in the United Kingdom., with Singapore and London as trade centers. After the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the business expanded to include banking, insurance and navigation. He has run Jianyuan Trading Co., Ltd. for 34 years, making the company the largest enterprise among Indonesian overseas Chinese importers, exporters and wholesalers. The Huang family has become the number one millionaire among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. In 13 years of the Republic of China, the total assets of Jianyuan Trading Co., Ltd. reached approximately D200 million, and Huang Zhonghan was listed as the 14th richest man in the world. The development of Jianyuan Trading Co., Ltd. attracted the covet of the Dutch colonists. In the 10th year of the Republic of China, the Dutch and Indian governments demanded Huang Zhonghan to pay a tax of 35 million D. on the grounds of collecting "war taxes" and "double income taxes", and at the same time attempted to acquire his company at a price of 70 million D. Huang Zhonghan did not want to be blackmailed, so he refused and moved to Singapore angrily. Huang Zhonghan also made great contributions to public welfare undertakings. He is the guarantor and main sponsor of the first overseas Chinese middle school in Semarang, Hua Ying Middle School (established in 1995). He donated 100,000 lak to build the auditorium of Singapore Overseas Chinese Middle School, donated a three-story building at Daonan School in Singapore, and donated 80 acres of land to build Indonesian Overseas Chinese Middle School. Huang Zhonghan loves the motherland and cares about the destiny of the motherland. In the name of "descendants of Xuanyuan", he donated 50,000 guilders to the Revolution of 1911 and 25,000 guilders to the Cai E Guard Army in Yunnan, and was awarded the first-class Patriotic Medal and the second-class Medal by the National Government. On July 6, the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924), Huang Zhonghan died of illness in Singapore at the age of 59. The tomb is in Semarang City, Indonesia.