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In the year 1810, Khaw Soo Cheang, a young native of
Changchow-fu (about thirty-five miles north-west of
Amoy) in Fukien Province, China, arrived in Penang by
junk. Penang was then the new, twenty-four year old,
trading outpost of the British East India Company.
 He was a tall, well built
young man of twenty-five years, with a high broad
forehead, bushy eyebrows above a pair of piercing
eyes; a prominent nose and a firm mouth.
Like the great majority of Chinese immigrants who
came to Nanyang (the Southern Region) to start a new
life, he was a poor peasant who came with nothing,
except the blue clothes he wore, a carrying pole on
his shoulders, plus a lot of courage and determination
to succeed.
Life in the old country under the corrupt and
oppressive Manchu regime was very hard, and, like
thousands before him, Khaw Soo Cheang had come south
to escape from the Manchu government and to seek a
better life in a new land. He had no capital so he had
to start by working as a labourer for some well
established Chinese, and life, for him at that time,
was no easier than it was in old Changchow-fu.
Penang island at that time was largely undeveloped,
and virgin land for agriculture was easily obtainable
from the then government. Khaw Soo Cheang applied for
and obtained and eight acres plot of land at Sungei
Tiram, near the present Bayan Lepas airport which is
used for vegetable gardening.
In those early days there were no good roads
outside of little George Town, and transport for
Asians in the countryside was mainly by bullock cart.
However, he was too poor to own a bullock cart. So,
once a week he had to carry the produce of his little
farm in two large baskets, slung across his shoulders
by means of the carrying pole he had brought from
China, and he walked all the way to and from the town
and his little farm, a round trip of some eighteen
miles, to sell his wares.
Yet, despite his hard work and his frugality he
could not prosper. So, after six hard years in Penang,
he decided to try his luck elsewhere.
 He travelled by junk, following the
coastline, to Takuapa in south-west Siam. Here he
invested what little money he had made in Penang in a
small sundry goods shop, which he name Koe Guan ("High
Source"). Later he entered the coastal trade in which
cloth, muskets, etc., were barter for tin, areca nut
(pinang), birds' nests, copra and pepper. He received
financial aid from a wealthy lady, Thawathep Suntorn,
in his business dealings and he prospered. In time he
found that Phang-nga had much more business potential
than Takuapa and he moved his business concern, Koe
Guan, there. His business activities increased in
Pang-nga and he purchased a large sailing boat to
convey hia goods between Penang and the small village
ports of south-west Siam.
Khaw Soo Cheang traded from Penang to as far north
as Ranong, a little coastal village in south-west
Siam, opposite Victoria Point (the southernmost tip of
Burma). The Ranong region is very hilly and, at that
time, it was thinly populated because it was not
suitable for agriculture. He found that Ranong was
rich in tin deposits and he went into tin mining.
In 1844 (B.E. 2387) he applied for and was
appointed Royal Collector of tin royalties for the
Siamese government in the Ranong area, and he was
given the title Luang Ratanasethi. He was also given
the sole right to operate the tin mines in Ranong.
During the fourth year of the reign of Rama IV
(King Mongkut) 1854 (B.E. 2397) he was appointed
Governor of Ranong, with the title Phra Ratanasethi.
As Governor, he was among other things, responsible
for the defence of Ranong Province, and, at that time,
he was also responsible to the Governor of Chumphorn.
The King was so pleased with the manner in which he
performed his duties that he elevated Khaw Soo Cheang
to Phraya Ratanasethi in the year 1864 (B.E. 2405) and
upgraded Ranong Province by making the Governor
directly responsible to the central Government in
Bangkok.
His private business continued to expanded, but he
had difficulty in obtaining the necessary labour to
work his mines. To solve his labour problem, he
imported indentured Chinese labourers from Penang to
work his mines, and he extended his tin mining
operations to Langsuan Province, helping to increase
its prosperity. Like all self-made men, he was hard
and ruthless and he ruled the community he founded and
Ranong Province with a firm patriarchal hand. There
was a couplet in Hokkien about Khaw Soo Cheang's
Ranong. In substance it says, "The Ranong pit is easy
to get into, but it is not possible to get out of it."
The pirates from south Burma, too, gave him trouble.
They raided Ranong and robbed him of his tin ore. In
retaliation, he organised his men and fought the
Burmese pirates. He drove them out of the Ranong area.
To prevent the further raids by the Burmese he built a
brick wall around the area where he lived and where he
stored his tin ore; and he erected lookout posts at
salient point to prevent any further attempted raids.
After that the Burmese pirates did not trouble Ranong.
In 1875 (B.E. 2418) the King granted Khaw Soo
Cheang long leave to return to China to pay his
respects to his ancestors according to Chinese
tradition.
Shortly after his return to Ranong in 1876 (B.E.
2419) the Chinese labouers in Ranong and Phuket staged
an uprising. The uprising was due, largely, to the
discontent of the labourers over their pay and working
conditions.
About two thousand Chinese labourers revolted in
the Ranong area. It was so serious that the Siamese
Government nearly lost control of the province.
However, Khaw Soo Cheang, despite his old age, showed
that he could handle the critical situation. He put
down the revolt with a very firm hand and restored the
authority of the Siamese Government in Ranong.
A grateful monarch (Rama V) showed his appreciation
by making him Rajah of Ranong, and conferred upon him
the title Phraya Damrong Sucharit Mahisornphakdi (Head
of Palace Official). The king also decreed that his
second son, Khaw Sim Kong, who was given his old title
Phraya Ratanasethi, should succeed him in due course.
In addition, the King gave him three thousand "rai"
of land (about one thousand, two hundred acres), a
large gold table, a gold jug, a gold spittoon, as well
as a long handled red umbrella and robes befitting his
rank for use on official and ceremonial occasions.
Khaw Soo Cheang was not ashamed of his humble
beginning. After he had become wealthy and powerful,
he had the carrying pole, which he had brought all the
way with him from China, partly encased in gold, and
he showed it, with justifiable pride, to visitors.
Following the fashion of the Siamese aristocracy
and the successful men of his day. He was polygamous.
He had a Chinese wife (Sitt Kim Lean), and a Siamese
wife. By them he had six sons and five daughters. When
he went back to China in 1875, after the death of his
first wife, he brought back an eighteen year old
bride. He had desired a pretty and cultured wife (a
"Hsiao Chieh") from the old country to grace his home
and to satisfy his ego's cry for beauty in his old
age, and she was specially selected for him.
 Within
his family circle, Khaw Soo Cheang was a good and
generous father to his children, as well as being a
doting grandfather who always had time for his
grandchildren. As aresult of many hardships he had
endured in his early years, he was most concerned
about the well being of his existing and future
descendants, the majority of whom he would never see,
and he provided as best he could for them.
He willed that sixteen shares of the residue of his
estate was to be used to set up a Trust according to
the provisions of his Will. On 10th April, 1905,
twenty-three years after his death, the three
surviving executors of his Will set up the Trust, Koe
Guan Kong Lun, in Penang.
Khaw Soo Cheang was so interested in his future
descendants that he went to the extent to choosing the
middle names of his male descendants of the next five
generations after him. By doing that he ensured that
he would be known and remembered by them; he also made
it possible for them to recognise and to get to know
one another easily.
 The hardships he had encountered in his
early years also made him a philanthropist. In 1862 he
gave a big donation to the Kuan Yin Temple in Pitt
Street, Penang, for major repairs to the temple.
 To Penang, which had given him a new
start in life, he gave a large piece of land next to
the old Esplanade - known as Ranong Ground - for a
playing ground. To-day, Ranong Ground is the site of
Dewan Sri Pulau Pinang.
He lived to be the grand old man of his day;
acknowledged as a noble and a strong "pillar" of the
Throne in the Siamese Court, and well known in
business circles in both Siam and Penang.
He died on 25th May, 1882, (the 9th day of the 4th
moon of the Horse Year of the Chinese calendar) when
he was in his mid-nineties. The seventy-two years he
had spent in Penang and Siam had been hard, but his
lasting achievements were satisfying and outstanding.
His remains were buried on a hill in Ranong given
to his family by Rama V (King Chulalongkorn). The
hundred and fifty acres piece of land, on the
outskirts of Ranong Town, was given by the King to the
Khaw family in perpetuity for use as its own private
burial ground, in appreciation of Khaw Soo Cheang's
loyal and meritorious service to the Rayal House of
Chakri.
Following his death, his second son, Khaw Sim Kong
assumed the title Phraya Damrong Sucharit
Mahisornphakdi and became the second Raja of Ranong.
His other sons were also enobled by the King and
appointed governors of three of the southern provinces
of the country. Khaw Sim Khim, his fourth son, became
Governor of Kra; Khaw Sim Teik, his fifth son, was
appointed Governor of Langsuan; while his youngest
son, Khaw Sim Bee, was made Governor of Trang. In 1892
Khaw Sim Bee was appointed High Commissioner of South
Siam.
In 1916 when the Chinese in Siam were required to
have Siamese names in order to be citizens of that
country, Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) issued a Royal
Decree on 1st July, 1916, giving the surname "Na
Ranong" ("of Ranong") to all the descendants of Khaw
Soo Cheang living in Siam. Thenceforth all the Khaws
of Ranong in modern day Thailand are known by that
name.
According to an old Chinese proverbs:-
"A tiger dies and leaves a skin; A man dies and
leaves a name."
A hundred and three years have gone by since the
death of Khaw Soo Cheang, and the House of Ranong,
which he founded, has withstood the winds of changed
reasonably well. To date, it has lasted much longer
than most other well known old wealthy families in
this part of the world.
In fact it can be said that Khaw Soo Cheang had
done the best he could for his House , and as a result
of his efforts the Khaw of Ranong still have a place
in the sun, in and out side of Thailand. Many of them,
particularly those from the second and fifth branches
of the family, still serve in the Thai civil,
military,and diplomatic services, and "Na Ranong" is
still an honoured and respected name in Thailand.
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