新規更新December 04, 2019 at 01:42AM
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Be Biauw Tjoan
Clara dari Semarang: dates for photos
Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)
'''Be Biauw Tjoan, Majoor-titulair der Chinezen''' (1826–1904; also spelt '''Bhe Biauw Tjoan''') was one of the most important [[Chinese-Indonesian]] magnates in the second half of the nineteenth century.<ref name="Rush (2007)">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> A bureaucrat, [[Revenue farming|revenue farmer]] and businessman, he headed the influential [[Be family of Bagelen]], part of the '[[Cabang Atas]]' gentry of the Indies.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /><ref name="Post (2010)">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
==Life and career==
Born in [[Central Java]], [[Dutch East Indies]] (now [[Indonesia]]), Be was the eldest son of a '[[totok]]' or first-generation Chinese migrant, the self-made tycoon and, later, bureaucrat [[Be Ing Tjoe|Be Ing Tjoe, Majoor-titulair der Chinezen]] (1803–1857) by his '[[Peranakan]]' wife, Tjoa Tjoe Nio.<ref name="Haryono (2017)">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Be Biauw Tjoan had two younger brothers, Be Ik Sam and Be Soe Ie.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> The Be family of Bagelen rose up economically and socially through its intimate association with the more established [[Tan family of Semarang]], one of Java's most powerful Cabang Atas families.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /><ref name="Post (2010)" />
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Woonhuis van de Chinees Be Biauw Tjoan Semarang TMnr 60005218.jpg|left|thumb|Kebon Dalem, the [[Semarang]] residence of Majoor Be Biauw Tjoan, 1870]]
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Javaanse kinderen met gamelanorkest voor het huis van de Majoor der Chinezen Be Biauw Tjoan gereed voor een dansvoorstelling TMnr 60043650.jpg|thumb|left|The private [[Gamelan|Javanese orchestra]] of Majoor Be Biauw Tjoan, 1857-1872]]
As part of this strategic alliance, Be Biauw Tjoan and his brother, Be Ik Sam, were betrothed and married off to the daughters of [[List of Kapitan Cina|Tan Hong Yan, the 2nd Majoor der Chinezen of Semarang]]: Tan Ndjiang Nio and Tan Bien Nio respectively.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" />
Be Biauw Tjoan, aged only 21, was raised to the bureaucratic post of ''Luitenant der Chinezen'' in Semarang in 1846, serving under his father-in-law.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> He was raised to the honorary rank of ''Kapitein-titulair der Chinezen'' in 1854, and that of ''Majoor-titulair'' in 1862.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> The [[Kapitan Cina|Chinese officership]], consisting of the ranks of Majoor, Kapitein and Luitenant der Chinezen, was an arm of the colonial civil bureaucracy through which the Dutch governed their Chinese subjects in the Indies.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> This system was known as '[[indirect rule]]'.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /><ref name="Haryono (2017)" />
Be's involvement in Semarang's Chinese bureaucracy was, probably, minimal – at least, later on – given his active career as a revenue farmer and businessman.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> According to the historian [[James R. Rush]], Be stood at the heart of the Tan-Be Kongsi, or business partnership, that dominated [[Java|Java's]] opium farm leases, the colony's most lucrative revenue farms, from the 1860s until the 1880s.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> The Majoor-titulair also had interests in other revenue farms, rice, sugar, plantations, shipping, warehousing and property all the way to [[Singapore]], where he allegedly maintained a secret stake in the British colony's opium farm.<ref name="Rush (2007)" />
In the 1860s, Christian Castens, the [[Resident (title)|Resident]] of Bagelen gathered evidence of Be's involvement in large-scale opium smuggling and distribution, not only to supplement the Kongsi's official allotment, but also to undermine neighboring opium farms.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> In 1863 – in a massive blow to the Be-Tan partnership – [[Ludolph Anne Jan Wilt Sloet van de Beele|Ludolph Anne Jan Witt, Baron Sloet van de Beele]], the [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies]], stripped Be of his titular Chinese mayoralty, and imposed a hefty fine on him and his partners for their illegal opium dealings.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> They were also forbidden thenceforth from participating in any of the opium farms.<ref name="Rush (2007)" />
Through a lengthy appeal to the colonial supreme court, Be was cleared of all charges in 1872, and was restored to his former position.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> In 1876, though his competitor submitted a formal complaint to the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|lower house]] of the [[Dutch parliament]] against Be's supposed undermining of his opium farm, nothing was ever conclusively proven against him.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> The Majoor-titulair remained legally beyond reach, and retained his pre-eminence in the bureaucratic hierarchy and in business until the end of his life.<ref name="Rush (2007)" />
In March 1895, Be hosted [[King Chulalongkorn|King Chulalongkorn of Siam]] at his family residence, ''Kebon Dalem'', in [[Semarang]].<ref name="Post (2010)" /> The Thai monarch made his host a [[Order of the White Elephant|Knight of the Order of the While Elephant]], which enhanced Be's prominence in Java.<ref name="Post (2010)" /> The Be family's friendship with the Thai monarchy would continue into the mid-twentieth century.<ref name="Post (2010)" />
==Personal life==
Majoor-titulair Be Biauw Tjoan and his wife, Tan Djiang Nio, only had one daughter, Be Tiong Khing.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /><ref name="Haryono (2017)" /> Their son-in-law, Liem Liong Hien, would later serve in a substantive capacity as [[List of Kapitan Cina|Majoor der Chinezen of Semarang]].<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> The Majoor-titulair and his wife also adopted four of their nephews.<ref name="Post (2010)" /> Through a concubine, Be also had a son, Kapitein Be Kwat Kong.<ref name="Haryono (2017)" />
Majoor-titulair Be Biauw Tjoan died in 1904.<ref name="Rush (2007)" /> In 1914, his family founded Be Biauw Tjoan Bank, named after the deceased paterfamilias, which became one of the most important commercial banks in the colony for the next decade until its liquidation in 1927 due to the sugar crisis.<ref name="Post (2010)" /> Nonetheless, the Be family of Bagelen would remain one of the premier families of the Cabang Atas until the [[Indonesian revolution]] of 1945.
==References==
[[Category:1826 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:Kapitan Cina]]
[[Category:Cabang Atas]]
[[Category:People from Semarang]]
[[Category:Indonesian people of Chinese descent]]
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