His, ancestral home is Meizhou, China, Malaysia merchant leader, and is also a special figure of the Malaysian Chinese community. He was born in poverty and studied hard in Taiwan to complete his university studies. After returning to Malaysia, he worked in the gold and drilling industry. He started from scratch and eventually became the "jewelry king".
He is the respected leader of the Malaysian Chinese community, committed to inheriting and promoting Chinese culture and Hakka culture. He always believes that education is the root, culture is the soul, and culture is the soul of the nation.
The road that Wu Defang walked: Although he ran slowly, he was very down-to-earth
Malaysia Hakka Federation permanent honorary president, Tan Sri Datuk Wu Defang
Compared with the Chinese business groups such as Zhejiang businessmen, Fujian businessmen, and Chaozhou businessmen, the merchants in Hakka people are called "businessmen", but this is another mysterious business gang, because it is a business gang named after the civil service.
Hakka people are spread throughout China in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi and other places, and there are more than 100 million Hakka people around the world, but it is also a Han ethnic group with distinctive characteristics. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, merchants were one of the four major merchant gangs in Guangdong. Especially in the past century, Hakkas have traveled across the ocean from Meizhou, Guangdong, Jieyang, , Fujian Longyan and other places to make a living. They are distributed in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and a number of successful business giants have emerged.
mentions this special business group of merchants. Many people will list the famous " Eight Kings " at home and abroad. They are all outstanding representatives of merchants.
The "Eight Kings" of the merchants are Zhang Bishi of the "Wine King" Zhangyu Group, and the "Tiger and Leopard Brothers" (Hu Wenhu and Hu Wenbao) of the "Wine King" Hu Wenhu . They are representatives of early successful merchants. In addition, there are "Hong Kong Artificial Leather King" Tian Jiabing , "Tie King" Zeng Xianzi , "Southeast Asia Steel King" He Qiaosheng , "Sweater King" Wu Huiquan, "Chinese King" Yu Guochun, "Hong Kong Pants King" Yang Zhao, and "Jewelry King" Wu Defang, etc.
Of course, there are many more famous merchants. For example, the chairman of Guangzhou Oppein Enterprise and the "Chinese Cabinet King" Yao Liangsong is a native of Pingyuan, Guangdong and one of the representatives of merchants today.
Today, I will focus on the extraordinary path that Wu Defang, a leader of Malaysian merchants from Meizhou and the "jewel king" of Malaysia.
2004, Wu Defang (middle) and his son Wu Yiping (1st from left) took a photo with the Supreme Head of State (2nd from left) in the palace
Wu Defang, born in 1937, he is a second generation of Malaysian Hakka immigrants, born in Malacca , and was originally from Dahe Village, Chengjiang Town, Meixian District, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province.
Wu Defang, who has served as the leader of the three most representative Chinese associations in Malaysia, is the president of the Malaysian China Hall General Association, currently the permanent honorary president of the association; the president of the Malaysian Hakka Federation General Association, currently the permanent honorary president of the association; and the chairman of the seven major township league coordination committees.
The Chinese community led by Wu Defang is known for inheriting and promoting Chinese culture and Hakka culture. He is currently the initiator and chairman of the Malaysian Chinese Museum, Malaysian Chinese Library and Southeast Asian Chinese Research Center. As an outstanding overseas Chinese leader of the Malaysian Chinese community, Wu Defang also holds important positions in the community, including the President of the Malaysian Federation for Residents in Taiwan and the President of the Selangor Chinese Hall.
In addition, Datuk Wu Defang, Malaysia, is also the honorary chairman of the Meizhou Overseas Chinese Federation. In 1994, Wu Defang was awarded the title of "National Fourth-level Meritorious Tale" (K.M.N) by the Supreme Head of State, and was awarded "Datuk" by the Malaysian government in 1997.
Wu Defang (right) donated 89 overseas Chinese approvals to his hometown Meizhou
Wu Defang, who was born in poverty, graduated from Taiwan Chenggong University by relying on his half-work and half-study. After returning to Malaysia, he started from scratch and founded the Duome Group, which mainly engaged in gold diamond business. He is the first gold merchant in Malaysia to open a gold diamond business in a shopping mall. Due to the convenience of local modern people, it has brought fundamental changes to the business model of this industry.
Wu Defang, currently the chairman of the board of directors of Malaysia Duomei Diamond Jewelry Institution Co., Ltd., runs the "jewelry kingdom" covering the entire industrial chain of gold refining, producing gold jewelry, factory processing, gold jewelry design, and even wholesale and retail.
During the five years from 1985 to 1990, he served as the president of the Malaysian Gold Diamond Jewelry Association Federation, and established the private but highly credible Gold Jewelry Standards Bureau and Inspection Bureau, laying the foundation for the internationalization of Malaysian gold jewelry and was called the "jewelry king" by the local industry.
In 2006, "Dou US Gold Diamond Jewelry" founded by Wu Defang was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
1994, Wu Defang was awarded the title of "National Fourth-level Meritorious Deity" by His Majesty Duan Guya Hua.
Wu Defang is the youngest child in the family, with 4 brothers and 5 sisters on it. When he was 4 years old, his father passed away, and the burden of the family fell on his mother alone. Since he was a child, he helped his family raise chickens and grow vegetables, and also sold tofu and vegetables.
Plant pine and cypress in the land, poor children study, and talents emerge from adversity!
When he was in elementary school, he walked barefoot 2 miles to Peifeng Primary School to attend classes and junior high school. Before going to school, he often carried a large basket of vegetables to the market with a bicycle, and only went to class after selling it. When Wu Defang was in his first year of high school, his 58-year-old mother also passed away. Although her mother has never read any books, she knows the important impact of knowledge on a person's life and often teaches her descendants to read and make a name for themselves.
The mother suddenly left in her sleep, which was a big blow to Wu Defang. She wanted to give up her studies and come out to work hard early. With his mother's teachings during his lifetime, the encouragement of the third brother and fourth brother, especially the funding of the third brother, he insisted on completing his high school studies.
At first, Wu Defang's dream was to be admitted to Singapore Nanyang University , a university founded by Chen Jiageng relative Chen Liu Eng. It was later incorporated into National University of Singapore . At that time, Chen Liuzun, who had only primary school education and was originally from Jimei, Xiamen, founded the university of Nanyang University with Chinese, businessmen, and even barbers and karaoke hall dancers from all over Southeast Asia.
Wu Defang (right) and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rabadawi
Mother passed away. In addition to his poor family, Wu Defang finally gave up the idea of applying for Nanyang University and chose to go to Taiwan, China, where the conditions were poor at that time. "A thousand miles of marriage is a thread." When he was studying at the Chenggong University in Taiwan, he met Yan Suhua, who would become his wife in the future. At that time, his wife Yan Suhua was a student of the Department of Fine Arts of Taipei Normal University, and was second younger than him.
When he was in college in a successful university, he could be described as "study hard". Usually, he was half-working and half-study, saving as much as possible in daily living expenses, and also developed the habit of frugality.
In 1964, Wu Defang, who returned to Malaysia after completing his studies, worked as executive secretary at the Malaysian Builders Association, and at night he also relied on part-time tutoring to make money to supplement his family income. Originally, Wu Defang had the opportunity to be a technician at Singapore Volkswagen Steel Plant, which was also matched with his university major, but he was unable to take up his job in the end. At that time, the third brother was engaged in gold OEM production in Kuala Lumpur . Due to the shortage of manpower, Wu Defang became the third brother's helper and career partner, and since then he changed his life and got along with Jinzhuanye.
The third brother is good at the gold-making industry, but to Wu Defang, he is an outsider. At that time, the two brothers divided the work, and the third brother was responsible for the business, while he was responsible for the administration and finance. After working with the third brother for 4 years, Wu Defang felt that the third brother's career had a certain foundation, so he also came out to make a single trip. In 1968, he and three friends jointly invested RM5,000 and jointly established the Dome Contracting Gold Jewelry Factory. Later, he partnered with his friends and entered the field of gold jewelry wholesale.
Three years later, Wu Defang successfully started his business and became a famous gold casting merchant in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Selangor is the main port to enter Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is located in the Sepang District of the state, and Port Klang is also here. At this time, Wu Defang had three children, and by the time his fourth child was born, his business field had expanded to the retail industry.
Wu Defang and his wife Yan Suhua (center in front row, second in front row left) were at the Beijing Hakka Overseas Friendship Association
In the mid-1980s, computers around the world emerged. When it was not yet popular in Malaysia, Wu Defang's companies had already computerized offices.
started a business alone in 1986. After more than 30 years of hard work, the business and scale of Duomei Diamond Jewelry Institution are getting bigger and bigger. Although Wu Defang is still the chairman of the board of directors of "Domei Diamond Jewelry", he has gradually retreated behind the scenes, and his business and daily management have been entrusted to the second generation of children.
Now, charity has become the second cause of this outstanding overseas merchant.
Recalling his entrepreneurial journey, Wu Defang said: " My life philosophy is loyalty and trustworthiness as the main axis. The reason why I made money back then was that I didn't want to compete with my brother. We Hakka people are not as crowded as trendy merchants. They sell rice alone, but they sell rice in the same street. "
This Malaysian "jewel king" also expressed his success philosophy: "It is easy to get cold when it is heated, that is, the hot ones are cold as fast. We Hakka people do business, and although they run slowly, they are very down-to-earth. I am the same as how beautiful I do, it is like building a house. The foundation must be done well. Once the foundation is done, the house will be very fast."
Nation without roots is easily washed away by the torrent of time
Wu Defang (center in front row) In Kota Kinabalu Sabah China General Assembly (Shahua Hall)
Speaking of Hakka culture, Wu Defang said: "Nation without roots is easily washed away by the torrent of time. Hakka people scattered around the world are stubbornly scattered in their residence because they do not forget their roots and do not forget their roots. "
htmlFor more than 0 years, the biggest feature of Wu Defang's leadership community is that he spares no effort to promote Chinese cultural activities, including inheriting and carrying forward the traditional Hakka culture. In 2019, Wu Defang established the "Malaysian Chinese Museum" and won the "2019 Best Chinese Museum Gold Award" and the "Best Chinese Museum" (Chinese Museum) awarded by the Malaysian Tourism Association.
As a Hakka, why did he want to start a Chinese museum?
The cause was that after 2000, he returned to his hometown and visited the Meizhou Overseas Chinese Museum ; he saw that each Hakka people had an exhibition hall, such as the United States Hall, Singapore Hall, Thailand Hall, etc., and even the Seychelles and Mauritius, but there was no Malaysia Hall. Wu Defang said: "This makes me very angry!" After returning to Malaysia, he spent a year traveling all over Malaysia and collecting information everywhere. By 2001, he finally had the "Malaysian Hakka Cultural Relics Exhibition Hall". Later, he built the "Malaysian Hakka Cultural Relics Museum" in Penang, and in 2013, he opened the "Wu Defang Jewelry Museum". This museum displays many centuries-old gold-making tools. Wu Defang said: "I want young people to know the life of their ancestors. Oral transmission is not very effective, and physical objects and photos can only be convinced."
2001 "East to Tangyuan Club", Wu Defang (2nd left) and Mahathir Doctor
Later, he founded the "Malaysian Chinese Museum". In order to seek museum collections and information, he spent three years traveling to China and Singapore Malaysia and Thailand and other places.
Wu Defang always believed that education is the root and culture is the soul. He said: "We must show the contributions made by the Chinese sages in Malaysia." He said: "The younger generation has almost no impression of history, and I have experienced it all.”
In March 2019, Wu Defang led a Malaysian Hakka Culture Visiting Group and a group of 17 people to visit Meizhou, Heyuan , Huizhou , Shenzhen and other places in the Hakka settlement area in Guangdong, Guangdong, and collected information and materials related to Hakka history and culture along the way to enrich the collection and display connotation of the Malaysian Chinese Museum.
Wu Defang said: Chinese culture and Chinese education is the most important cornerstone of the Chinese society in Malaysia and the soul and bloodline of the Chinese nation. It needs to be passed on from generation to generation. For the past, the past and future generations of people should be continuously enhanced to continuously enhance the understanding and understanding of Chinese culture and national history of the new generation of young Chinese, and plant the seeds of loving their ancestors and hometowns in their hearts, so that the precious history and culture of the Chinese nation can be passed on overseas.
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