Dee Ching Chuan () (August 13, 1888 – October 27, 1940) was a prominent Chinese Filipino businessman, philanthropist, and activist known as the Philippine "Lumber King" during the American colonial rule. He was the youngest president of the Philippine Chinese General Chamber of Commerce from 1919 to 1924 (later renamed as the Filipino Chinese General Chamber of Commerce Inc. or FCGCCI) and founded China Banking Corporation (China Bank) in 1920. He also founded Chinese language newspapers Chinese Commercial News and The Fookien Times.
Family and early life
Dee Ching Chuan was born on August 13, 1888, in Shizhen Village, Jinjiang in the Chinese province of Fujian. His name literally meant "Plum-Pure-Spring." He was the eldest son of Dee Chao Yi (baptized Calixto Dyyco when he converted to Catholicism) and Chen Shuangniang. The young Dee went to a primary school in Shizhen village from 1896 to 1899. Then in 1900 to 1901, he attended the Tongwen College on Kó͘-lōng-sū, an island near Amoy, which was run by British consulate officials, to learn English. In 1901, at the age of thirteen, Dee C. Chuan traveled to Manila to live with his father, helping in the family business, Chengmei Lumber (founded in the 1870s at Calle Arranque, Santa Cruz, Manila), and going to a local public school.
In 1903, his father sent him to St. Joseph's College in Hong Kong, the oldest Catholic boys' secondary school in the crown colony. There, he became friends with his schoolmates: Central Bank governor-to-be Miguel Cuaderno Sr.; the future president of the Philippines, Manuel A. Roxas of Capiz; and Manuel Go Tianuy of Cebu, son of tycoon Pedro Gotiaoco and uncle of tycoon John Gokongwei Jr. Dee and Miguel Cuaderno Sr. became particularly close. They promised each other that when they got back to Manila, they would each found a bank. And in time they did: Dee would build China Bank while Cuaderno built the Philippine Bank of Commerce (BankCom), and later becoming the first governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP).
Becoming the "Lumber King" In 1906, at the age of eighteen, Dee C. Chuan returned to the Philippines to work for his father and uncle Dy Pac in Chengmei Lumber. He quickly gained the trust of his father and uncle and got their go-ahead to expand the business. Dee bought several acres of land on Juan Luna Street in Tondo to create room for expansion, and spent 120,000 pesos for a new sawmill for this land. In 1908, Calixto Dyyco retired back to the family village in China, and Dee C. Chuan took over the family business. In 1910, Dee married a Fujianese girl, Gan Tiak, and they had eight children.
Within a dozen years after starting his career, Dee C. Chuan had grown so big and so prominent. He owned and ran Negros Philippines Lumber Company, Singbe Transportation Company, Dee C. Chuan and Sons, and Philippine Lumber Manufacturing Company, among other companies. By the time he turned thirty, the Chinese-Filipino community called upon him to take on a role in an arena bigger than lumber.
Founding of China Bank
Following Dee C. Chuan's election as 14th President of the Filipino Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in 1919, at age 31, he began discussions with the other top businessmen in Chinatown about organizing a bank for Chinese businessmen. To form a Chinese bank in Manila, Dee faced two problems: mobilizing the necessary capital, which he estimated to be around P5 million, and acquiring banking expertise. During a previous trip to Fujian, Dee had met a Chinese Indonesian businessman named Huang Yizhu (Oei Ik-Tjoe in Indonesian Dutch orthography). Huang became the equivalent of an "angel investor" for China Bank. He put in P1 million, bought 20 percent of the shares, took a board seat, and did not interfere with operations. Dee assembled a group of ten Chinese from Manila to provide the rest of the capital and form the board, along with himself and Guillermo A. CuUnjieng, Benito Siy Cong Bieng, Carlos Palanca Sr. (Tan Guin Lay), Albino SyCip, Go Jocco, Uy Yet, Antonio MH Limgenco, Yu Biao Sontua, Vicente L. Gotamco, and Guillermo Dy Buncio.
China Banking Corporation opened on August 16, 1920, in Binondo, Manila. Its Chinese name in Mandarin and Hokkien respectively is as follows, .