シャム国王のシンガポール・エージェント

陳金鐘 (Tan Kim Ching) のライス・ビジネスをめぐって

抄録

Tan Kim Ching was a Straits Hokkien merchant in Singapore who was called “my faithful agent” by Siamese King Mongkut in the middle of 19th century. This article examines Tan Kim Ching's political and economic activities in relation to Siam during the reigns of Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn, which have not been verified by Nathawut's work in Thailand focussing on Tan Kim Ching as the Siamese consul general in Singapore. Such research in Singapore as Song Ong Siang's work also shed light on Tan Kim Ching's political, social and economic activities in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, but there is little reference to Tan's relationship to Thailand.
Two points are discussed here. First, Tan Kim Ching's political roles related to Siamese Kings and their governments can be grasped not only in the official sense of a consul general and a governor of a southern Siamese province, but also in a private of King Chulalongkorn calling himself “Your sincere friend” of Tan Kim Ching in his correspondence. Secondly, Tan Kim Ching's exporting enterprise and rice mill in Bangkok played vital roles in the development of the Bangkok rice business. The former was a well-known exporter of the best quality rice in Bangkok, Siam No. 1 white rice, to the Singapore market, as well as a forerunner to milling white rice. His rice mill was well managed, producing high quality rice under the guidance of a Chinese rice milling expert and a trained European engineer.
Certainly Tan's success in the Bangkok rice business was partly due to his connection to Siamese Kings, but a more crucial factor was his strategy for exporting and milling high quality Thai rice, which was very suitable to the tastes of Chinese and European resident of Singapore, enabling him to sell at much higher prices than either Saigon or Rangoon rice.
Tan Kim Ching, as a Straits merchant, has often been ignored as a Chinese capitalist in the context of Thai capitalist development, although he played an important role in the development of the Bangkok rice business. In order to further the research on the development of the Thai economy and intra-Asian trade during the late 19th century, it is necessary to study vital political and business activities like those of Tan Kim Ching transcending present national borders.