Early Life
Loke was born of humble parentage in Dongjiang village, Heshan district, Guangdong province, China, in 1845. He was the only son in a family of four children, and spent his childhood working as a farm hand before he decided to set sail to Malaya to seek his fortune. He was only 13 years old then. The young Wong dropped his surname Wong upon arriving in Singapore, and changed his middle name to 陸(Lù) and adopted it as his surname as he thought the new name sounded more auspicious. His relatives recommended him for his first job at Kwong Man General Store, a provision shop in Market Street and earned $20 a month. The young Loke scrimped and managed to save $99 after 4 years of hard work. With the money, he started his own provision store called Tong Hing Loong. His business gradually grew and Loke left his staff in charge of the store while he traveled to northern Malaya, particularly Perak to explore the tin mining business.
Read more about this topic: Loke Yew
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