As one of the six ethnic groups, the Chinese community has contributed to an integral part of Guyana’s history. The Chinese who arrived as indentured immigrants to Guyana in 1853 have since made their mark in the medical field, commerce, mining, politics, music and education. For the entire period of 1853 to 1879, a total of 13,541 Chinese landed in Guyana.
Engrained neatly in the fabric of the Guyanese Society are contributions by Chinese that include the tasty cuisine that continues to be popular in Guyana, folklore and the language which continues to be spoken , and is even taught at the Confucius Institute.
Arthur Chung- President of Guyana
When Guyana became a republic under the leadership of Forbes Burnham in 1970, the National Assembly elected Chung as the country’s first President; he took office on March 17, 1970.
Arthur Chung was born at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, Guyana. He was educated at Windsor Forest, Blankenburg and Modern High School. Before civic service Chung was an apprentice surveyor and sworn land surveyor. In the early 1940s Chung entered the Middle Temple of London, England and qualified as a barrister in 1947.
He returned to Guyana and was later appointed an acting magistrate. In 1954, he became a magistrate and in 1960 a senior magistrate. He also served as Registrar of Deeds and of the Supreme Court. He then became a puisne judge and finally an Appeal Court Judge in 1963.
Hon. Arthur Chung was married in 1954 to Ms. Doreen Pamela Ng-See-Quan, with whom he had one daughter and one son.
Jonathan Foo- Cricketer
Jonathan Foo is among a rare breed of West Indies cricketers with Chinese descent, who was on September 11, 1990, in Port Mourant, Berbice. The young Guyanese all-rounder hails from a region which has produced household names such as Alvin Kallicharran and Rohan Kanhai. He was one of the stars to emerge from the inaugural Caribbean T2, and helped Guyana snatch victory in the nail-biting final against Barbados, hitting a 17-ball 42 under immense pressure.
Robert Victor Evan Wong- politician, civil engineer, businessman, rancher
Robert Victor Evan Wong (July 4, 1895 – October 19, 1952) was a politician, civil engineer, rancher and businessman, elected to the British Guiana legislature in 1926 and 1934, and appointed to its Executive Council in 1928. He is notable for being the first Chinese-Guianese member of both the British Guiana Legislative and Executive Councils.
Wong was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, and was the eldest son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. He studied engineering and economics at the University of Bristol, receiving a B.Sc. degree in 1917 in England.
In 1926, at age 31, Wong won election to the British Guiana Court of Policy from the Essequibo Islands. Wong had been identified as the first person of East Asian descent elected to a national legislature in the Americas. His subsequent appointment to the Executive Council was also a first for a West Indian Chinese. As a legislator, Wong was a principal proponent of the introduction of personal income taxation. He won election to a subsequent term on the Legislative Council in 1934 under a slogan reflecting his initials: Right Vanquishes Every Wrong.
Wong was co-founder and President of the Durban Race ; he died on October 19, 1952.
Trev Sue-A-Quan – Research Engineer, Author
Trevelyan A. Sue-A-Quan was born in November 1943 in Georgetown, Guyana. He is the great-grandson of an indentured labourer who had embarked with his wife and son aboard the ship Corona at Canton. They arrived at Georgetown in FEBRUARY 2574 after 78 days at sea. The family was allotted to La Grange sugar cane plantation on the West Bank of the Demerara River. Many of the Chinese immigrants and their second generation descendants became shopkeepers, including Soo Sam-kuan the author’s grandfather. In the process of cultural assimilation his name became transformed into Henry Sue-A-Quan thus initiating the distinctive family surname.
Trev attended Queen’s College in Georgetown and attained B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, England. He immigrated to Canada in 1969 but then pursued a career opportunity with a major oil company in Chicago where he was engaged in research in petroleum processing and fossil fuel utilization.
The interest in Trev’s family history came from a curiosity about the circumstances that caused his great-grandfather to leave his native land. Almost 20 years after obtaining a copy of his ancestor’s contract of indenture Trev has applied his training in analytical research to compile this comprehensive account of the experiences of the first Chinese immigrants in Guyana. Trev Sue-A-Quan is the Author of Cane Reapers and Cane Ripples
Marjorie Kirkpatrick- Author, Historian
Born in Guyana and of Chinese descent, Mrs. Kirkpatrick nee’ Ting-A-Kee, was, for a number of years, Deputy President of the Chinese Association of Guyana, a task she performed with distinction until her retirement in 2014.
Proud of her heritage, Mrs. Kirkpatrick served the Sino-Guyanese community with pride and in 2012, authored her second book, “The Way We Were – Memories of a Childhood in British Guiana”. In her publication, she chronicles the Chinese experience in then colonial British Guiana, recounting and capturing vividly the intrigues of her life as a third- generation Chinese girl growing up in the plural society of British Guiana in the 1940s.
Marjorie was the wife of Mr. Dougal Kirkpatrick, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Guard Service, a premier security service in Guyana. She is also survived by three offspring: Melanie Mc Turk; Dougal I. Keith Kirkpatrick and Sean Maurice Kirkpatrick; daughter-in-law, Leana Kirkpatrick and two grandchildren: Dougal Michael and Stephanie Mc Turk.
Dr. Walter Chin- Pediatrician , Physician
Dr Walter Augustus Chin, CCH, 12th December 1932 – 4th July 2004, an eminent pediatrician and physician and an accomplished administrator, was Chief Medical Officer and President of the Guyana Cancer Society and became the best-known name in medicine and public health in the country. He was also the head of former Guyana Agency for Health, Education & Food Sciences (GAHEF) and was also columnist
Charles John Ethelwood Fung-A-Fatt, CCH, 24th June 1920 – 29th December 2001
An attorney-at-law, built a strong reputation in New Amsterdam, Berbice, becoming a Town Councillor and Mayor there and later served as a Judge of the High Court, Justice of Appeal and Police Complaints Authority.
Dr Ray Luck, distinguished
international Pianist
Guyanese Dr. Ray Luck CCH, has distinguished himself in the field of piano for decades in all parts of the world. He studied music with Millicent Joseph and Ruby MacGregor while attending Queen’s College. He received the LRSM and FTCL diplomas before going to study at the Royal College of Music in London, then subsequently won First Prizes in Piano and Chamber Music from Paris’s Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, and later graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington, USA with the D. Mus Degree. He performed in recitals in several music capitals, such as New York’s Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Concert tours have taken him to Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean, including a unique visit to Masakanyari, the village of the Wai-Wai in Guyana’s rainforest.
After a distinguished teaching career at Randolph College in Virginia, he was appointed the Charles A. Dana professor emeritus of music in 2002. Professional teaching awards include the Master Teacher Certificate from the American Music Teachers National Association and three Fulbright Senior fellowships to the Caribbean, Greece, and Canada.
In 1992, Ray Luck was awarded the Government of Guyana’s Cacique Crown of Honour in recognition of outstanding music accomplishment.
Godfrey Chin, social historian, writer
In addition to being an avid historian, Godfrey Chin was also a photographer, author of the book Nostalgia and interior decorator in Guyana and the United States. Several extracts of his works were also published in a local Newspaper.
He re-migrated to Guyana after living in New York and Florida for 27 years. Godfrey’s last major project was decorating Georgetown Club for Old Year’s Night 2011; he passed away in 2012.
In recent years, through various exhibitions, he presented classic photos of Guyana’s history, from cinemas, Old Georgetown, to sporting events; he also produced a book of those pictures, chronicling Guyana’s history from 1940-1980.
Vivian Lee
Vivian Lee was a well-known Guyanese entrepreneur in the world of entertainment, advertising, and broadcasting, who passed away on August 16th, 2012 in Richmond, B.C. He was the son of Lee Yew, an immigrant from Canton, China and the former Adelaide DeFreitas. As a creative entrepreneur Lee was involved in television, promoting stage shows, advertisement, songwriting and radio as early as the late 1940’s. He owned a record shop and ran the Ace Records label based in the capital of Georgetown. Lee was also a master on the soccer field and played for the Guyanese National Team.
Even though Lee, born in 1919, wasn’t the first Guyanese in the record business he left his mark on many parts of national culture. Singer Johnny Braff, who also had some success away from home, was the main artist on Ace Records. In 1966, Guyana obtained independence from Britain and as any experienced producer would do, Vivian Lee released a Johnny Braff album with the celebratory songs. Ace Records released around 50 titles spread out between 78’s, 45’s and albums. Lee was also behind one of the first Guyanese movies entitled “If Wishes Were Horses” featuring comedian Habeeb Khan. Both GEMS and Ace Records managed to record original material by legendary calypso artists Lord Melody and Mighty Sparrow(Excerpts from an interview with Vivian Lee published on othersounds.com)
Martha nee Fung Kee Fung was one of the earliest female business owners in Guyana (1800s). She became a landed proprietor who owned many businesses including a rice mill. She bought two abandonedww sugar estates Waller’s Delight and Ruimzight at Windsor Forest which she rented to tenants to plant rice. Martha Street in Windsor Forrest is named for her.
Sarah Lam-a-Poo born in 1870, was the grandmother of Errol “Ping” Gillette, Guyana’s first Ombudsman after independence. She went into business as a young woman making Chinese cakes and Minshee, a seasoning produced from beans in her home.
Asin Ho a Shoo has the distinction of being one of Guyana’s first medical doctors in the first decade of the 20th century. She entered the University of Edinburgh, 1906 to study in the field of Medicine. In 1912 she was a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons at University of Dublin. She went on to obtain a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Dublin and become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Asin’s daughter Gem
Ho a Hing became a Junior Champion at Wimbledon, the only Guyanese to play there. Born in 1921, Gem was by far the shortestworld class tennis player of her generation, and perhaps of all time, standing well under five feet. Her height was 4 feet 9 1/2 inches (1.46 metres). Crowds inevitably cheered for the tiny Chinese girl with British citizenship. Gem never won a major or reached the world’s top ten. What she did capture was many hearts. Gem’s last performance at Wimbledon came in 1957, when she bowed out to eventual champion Althea Gibson.
Cheu Leen Ho a Shoo, another first generation Guyanese Chinese, who married Robert Evan Wong, in 1941 was appointed by the then Government as a Member of the Board of Governors for Bishops’ High School, her old alma mater.
Rosalind Fung/Lee was Miss Guyana in 1956 and also won the contest among the three Guianas. This earned her the right to represent the three countries at the Miss Universe contest in Hollywood.
Doreen Chow Wah/Lee became the West Indies Table Tennis champion in 1970 and with Denise Osman won the ladies Doubles Championship 1967-1972.
An even more amazing achievement went to Ada Akai who became Deputy Head Mistress of the then all boys Queen’s College in 1974, an “almost unheard of feat at that time in the country’s history”,
Debbie Fung was not only a lecturer at the University of Guyana but was the Ladies Singles Lawn Tennis Champion in 1984 and with her sister Caryll won the Ladies Doubles Championship in 1974, 1975, 1980 and 1983-1985 while another, Diane Lee was Sportswoman of the year 1986. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
