Foo Choo Choon

Foo Choo Choon (; 30 July 1860 – 27 March 1921), a Hakka tin miner, revenue farmer and businessman from Penang and Perak was, in his time, said to have been the richest Chinese man in the world.

Foo was called the "Tin King" and "the Carnagie of the Orient".

Early life Foo's ancestral home was in Yongding, Longyan, south west of the Fujian province in China. Foo's grandfather moved to Penang and Foo's father, Foo Yu Chio (; 30 July 1860 – 27 Mar 1921) was born there.

At thirteen years old, Foo accompanied his father to Malaya, where he studied at Penang and worked at his uncle's mines in Perak.

Career Foo later started his own business and moved to Kinta and eventually Lahat. This, one of his first ventures, was the Tronoh Mine and he installed modern machinery for mining. The company was then floated in London and the mines eventually proved profitable. previously owned by Kapitan Cina Yap Kwan Seng. He had a mine in Southern Thailand, known as Tongkah.

Foo sat on the board of directors of the Eastern Shipping Company, Ltd., one of nine joint-stock companies registered in Penang in 1907, whose members also included the Khaw family, Quah Beng Kee (b. 1872), and Cheah Choo Yew.

He once hosted the geologist R.A.F. Penrose, as Penrose notes in his letters.

On 9 September 1906, he was made a president of the Penang Chinese Town Hall. In 1913 he was elected as a president of Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce in and appointed to both the Perak State Council and Perak Chinese Advisory Board. Rev W. E. Horley, founder of the school, said of him, "In 1905, Mr. Foo Choo Choon, one of the most enlightened Chinese towkays in Malaya, built the present Primary Hall and presented it as a gift to the School. I have never met a finer type of a Chinese gentleman than he and it was mainly due to his and Mr. Cheah Chiang Lim's exertions that a monster petition was presented to the Government asking for the suppression of licensed gambling houses."

When due to an increase in student enrolment, Rev. Pykett wanted to expand the Anglo Chinese School, Penang, Foo, together with two other benefactors donated $6,000 for the purchase of a site at Maxwell Road on 16 April 1895 (See History of Methodist Boys' School). To that school also he endowed a well selected library. who was Foo's cousin as well as his attorney.

Personal life Foo is a naturalised British subject, and is a Fellow of the Society of Arts of England.

Through marriage, Foo was connected to Chung Keng Quee and Chung Thye Phin, fellow tin magnates and revenue farmers.

Legacy To honor his legacy, the road Jalan Foo Choo Choon in Ipoh, Perak is named after him.