A Local Merchant’s Grand Tour of China
Gee Hee, a prominent local Chinese capitalist, returns to Seattle after three years abroad, bringing tales of Chinese industrialization and failed railway schemes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Gee Hee, the well-known Chinese capitalist and merchant of this city, together with his wife and family, returned from China last week after an absence of about three and a half years. He was formerly a partner of Quong Chong and is now a member of the firm of Quong Cheng Co. He owns the brick block on Washington street in the rear of the Phoenix hotel, besides other valuable real estate. He went over to China for the purpose of engaging in railroad building, in which subject he became interested through Engineer James H. Hay. He spent most of the time during his absence in the native province of Kwang Tung, of which the capital is Canton. He proposed to build a line of railway from Canton westward to form part of an elaborate system planned by the governor of that province, who, Gee Hee says, is a very smart man. But Li Hung Chang, the great Chinese minister, wanted the railway systems of the empire to start from Peking, and he put a stop to the Canton system by removing the governor of that province to another and more remote province. Gee Hee expressed himself as very much astonished at Seattle's growth since he went away, and says that America is a much better country to make money in than China.
“Gee Hee expressed himself as very much astonished at Seattle's growth since he went away, and says that America is a much better country to make money in than China.”
Gee Hee was a significant figure in Seattle’s early international business community, bridging local real estate ownership with global industrial ambitions. His story highlights the forgotten interconnectedness of 19th-century Seattle with the rapid modernization efforts occurring in Canton, illustrating that early Seattle elites were often global players.
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