20/09/2026
Rubber King, Metal King, Fruit and Vegetable King: Three Generations of Jinan Alumni and a 120-Year Story of Chinese Diaspora Education
2026 marks the 120th anniversary of Jinan University, China’s first higher education institution founded specifically for the global Chinese diaspora. From its establishment in Nanjing in 1906 to its current home in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the university has produced over 600,000 graduates hailing from more than 170 countries and regions. As the old adage goes, “Where there is seawater, there you will find a Jinan alumnus.” Lee Kong Chian, Vichit Lorlueler and Pan Dongjie — three alumni separated by a century — are living proof of that saying.
In the early spring of 1909, 16-year-old Singaporean Chinese student Lee Kong Chian walked through the gates of Jinan School in Nanjing. Throughout his childhood, he only studied Chinese on weekends. After the entrance exam, he was placed in the top-tier Middle A class; old classmates recall that he consistently ranked second on score postings, with an average exceeding 100. After graduating in 1911, he traveled north for further study before returning to Southeast Asia. Recruited by philanthropist Tan Kah Kee as a secretary, he was soon promoted to manager and later became Tan’s son-in-law. In 1927, he founded the Nanyi To***co Factory, then expanded into rubber trading, pineapple plantations and canneries, eventually earning the titles “Rubber King” and “Pineapple King” across Singapore and Malaya. After building his business empire, he chaired the board of Singapore Chinese High School for 22 years, donated generously to education initiatives, and championed Chinese language and cultural exchange. When the University of Singapore (predecessor of the National University of Singapore) was founded in 1962, he became its first Chancellor.
In 1955, 20-year-old Thai Chinese student Vichit Lorluelerclutched the savings he had scraped together over six years for a boat ticket, and walked into the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Students Preparatory School — today’s College of Chinese Language and Culture at Jinan University. Having been out of school for years, he only realized his dream of returning to China to study thanks to financial support from his uncle. In his later years, he often said, “Without my foundational education at Jinan, I would not be where I am today.” At Jinan, he studied classical poetry and historical allusions systematically for the first time, gaining a deep, firsthand connection to the roots of Chinese culture. He later enrolled at Beijing Iron and Steel Institute, and after graduation joined a state geological survey team in Inner Mongolia, where he honed his mineral identification skills working in the wind-scoured, sand-blown terrain. Stranded in Thailand in 1971 and nearly penniless, he launched his business with just 20 tons of antimony ore. Relying on a proprietary technique of visual ore grading and cash-on-delivery settlement that he developed, he could gauge ore purity with a margin of error of just 1 to 2 percent. At its peak, his company controlled an estimated 99% of Thailand’s antimony market, with annual trading volume reaching 4,000 tons. In 1984, he established Thailand’s first antimony smelter, and annual sales surpassed 8 billion baht. The titles “Metal King” and “Antimony King” resounded across Southeast Asia. He also devoted half his life to Chinese-language teaching, setting up an education fund to support the cause. In 2021, at age 86, he stepped down as chairman of the Chinese Teachers (Thailand) Association; his daughter Wanna Lorlueler took over the role, continuing to promote what the association calls “cloud-based” online Chinese-language instruction.
After China’s reform and opening-up, a new generation of Jinan alumni set out to build lives across the world. For Pan Dongjie, a New Zealand Chinese alumnus, ties to Jinan are woven into his family’s DNA: his father taught history at the university, Pan grew up in its kindergarten, and after Jinan reopened in 1978, he enrolled in its Department of Electronic Engineering. After graduating in 1988, he moved to New Zealand. During the country’s economic slump in the 1990s, he reasoned that more households would cook at home, driving up demand for fresh produce, so he opened a fruit-and-vegetable store. Over 16 years, he expanded to 26 outlets. But local supermarkets only stocked green peppers, cucumbers and carrots. Having grown up in Guangdong, Pan always felt that “leafy greens are the real vegetables.” Driven by homesickness, he plunged into the unfamiliar agricultural sector, drawing on the experimental methodologies he studied in Jinan’s electronic engineering program. He paid three years of “tuition” — a playful nod to the trial and error he endured — to master cilantro cultivation; tested eight spinach varieties before finding a type suited to hydroponic farming; figured out the optimal density and humidity levels for growing napa cabbage; and retrofitted a conventional farm into a state-of-the-art hydroponic facility. Today, his company controls roughly 70-80% of New Zealand’s fresh Asian vegetable market. In 2025, it won five professional awards and the highest regional honor at New Zealand’s prestigious Ballance Farm Environment Awards. As president of the Jinan University New Zealand Alumni Association, he also works to help more Jinan alumni build careers overseas while serving as a bridge between China and the world, giving back to both his adopted home country and his shared Chinese heritage.
From Lee Kong Chian to Vichit Lorlueler to Pan Dongjie, their life paths could not have been more different, but they are united by a shared ethos: a steadfast work ethic, pragmatic resilience, fearless pioneering spirit, and an unwavering dedication to Chinese language, culture and cross-cultural people-to-people ties. Lorlueler once said, “I had nothing before and could not even attend middle school. Giving back to Thai-Chinese friendship is simply the right thing to do.” Those simple words echo the sentiments of countless Jinan alumni. For 120 years, the university’s alma mater song has echoed across campuses, and its graduates have flourished in every corner of the world. The Jinan story is far from over — it continues to unfold.
