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Lowe Kong Meng (born 1830 or 1831; died 22 October 1888 ) was a Chinese Australian businessman. Born into a trading family in Penang, Kong Meng learned English and French at an early age and worked as an importing merchant around the Indian Ocean. In 1853 he moved to Melbourne where he established business importing goods for Chinese miners during the Victorian gold rush. After 1860, as the Chinese population in Melbourne peaked, he diversified into other lines of business.

Kong Meng was a prominent member of Melbourne's upper class. He was well-regarded in the Melbourne elite and made contributions to contemporary political debates about the "Chinese Question". He lived in the suburb of Malvern until his death in 1888.

Early life
Kong Meng was born in Penang in either 1830 or 1831. His father Lowe a Quee was a merchant who owned significant amounts of property in Penang. His family had originated in Siyi, and had been trading in Penang for "a century". He went to high school in Penang and at the age of 16 travelled to Mauritius where he learned English and French under private tuition. Between 1847 and 1853 he began operating as an importing merchant, particularly between Singapore, Mauritius and Kolkata. He travelled between these destinations as a supercargo.

Kong Meng was a British subject by virtue of being born in Penang. He and his family supported the British in the First Opium War, in which his brother was killed "in the service of the East India Company".

Trader in Victoria
In 1853, Kong Meng travelled to Melbourne after hearing of the Victorian gold rush in Mauritius. He was the first Chinese merchant to arrive in Victoria. After unsuccesfully attempting mining for 3 months, Kong Meng left Australia for Kolkata disillusioned. He returned with cargo from India and established an importing firm Kong Meng and Co. in 1854.

Initially, Kong Meng's importing business catered primarily to the needs of Chinese miners on the Victorian goldfields. This included opium, preserved foods, tea and clothing. His tea imports were not large, since British traders were likely supplying most tea drunk by British in Victoria at the time. By the mid-1860s, he was the biggest single supplier of goods for Chinese miners in Victoria.

Kong Meng's importing business was also involved in the immigration of Chinese to Victoria. Some sources describe his business' involvement in this immigration as small. Others credit him with running one of the largest credit-ticket operations in the antipodes.

To pay for his imports, Kong Meng's business was also a major exporter of Gold from Australia, primarily to Galle in Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

As the population of Chinese miners in Victoria declined after 1859, Kong Meng diversified his business dealings. He began to import Chinese tea for European consumers in Victoria, and invested in business in the broader economy. This included the Commercial Bank of Australia, in which he was a founding shareholder with Louis Ah Mouy. Their involvement in the Bank was apparently part of an effort to attract Chinese depositors. A gold mining firm based south of Marysborough, Kong Meng Gold Mining Company, was quite successful. By 1863, the Argus wrote that "there are reputedly few wealthier men in Victoria".

Political contributions
As a prominent figure in the Chinese community in Melbourne, Kong Meng made a number of contributions to debate about the so-called "Chinese question" while living in Melbourne. In 1857, he testified before a Victorian parliamentary committee, arguing that clear laws would give Chinese more confidence to settle in Australia with their families.

Victorian Chinese residence tax
In 1857, the Victorian government legislated a residency tax of £1 per month on all Chinese living in Victoria. This prompted petitions, protests and resistance from Chinese mining communities in Victoria. By November of 1857, the residency tax was ammended to £6 per year, and it was again reduced to £4 per year in 1859 amid widespread refusal to pay and civil disobedience.

In May 1859, Kong Meng met with the Victorian governor. He argued that, since the tax had been conceived mainly to target Chinese miners, he and other Chinese merchants ought not to be subject to it. He distanced himself from the civil disobedience and campaigning of Chinese miners opposed to the tax. He and 150 other Chinese merchants duly paid the tax after their entreaties were unsuccessful. The unwillingness of Melbourne's Chinese merchants (including Kong Meng) to stand alongside the campaign of Chinese miners contributed to that campaign eventually petering out.

The Chinese Question in Australia
In 1879, with Louis Ah Mouy and Cheok Hong Cheong, Kong Meng published a pamphlet The Chinese Question in Australia. It was intended as a response to moves toward excluding Chinese from Australia, in the midst of similar efforts in the United States such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. The pamplet referred to US congressional investigations, and testimony from missionaries in defence of Chinese. It emphasised the importance of free Chinese migration to continuing free trade. And it pointed to obligations in the Anglo-Chinese Peking Convention of 1860 which granted reciprocal rights for Chines to travel and work in the British Empire. They rejected claims that Chinese migrants constituted cheap labour that would undercut British in Australia. Instead, they claimed that (like Irish migrants), their wages would quickly equalise with local workers.

Personal life
Kong Meng was a prominent member of Melbourne society. He married Mary Ann Prussia on in Melbourne on 4 February 1860. They had 12 children and lived in the wealthy suburb of Malvern, Melbourne. Contemporary accounts described him with words like "cultured", "influential" and "highly esteemed" and reference extensive charitable donations to charities and churches.

Kong Meng was a comfortable member of Melbourne's upper class, but he retained his Chinese cultural identity. His mixed-race marriage appears not to have impeded his participation in the Melbourne elite. In 1867, the couple attended a fancy-dress ball in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh, he wearing a mandarin's robes, while she dressed as a Grecian lady. Kong Meng always declared that he was British by right of being born in British Penang.

Kong Meng was a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and was appointed a commissioner for the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. Redmond Barry invited him to curate Chinese art for an exhibition in 1869. He declined on grounds of the poor quality of Chinese art available in Victoria at the time.

Lowe Kong Meng died on 22 October 1888 at his home in Malvern. He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. The Argus reported that his funeral procession was made up of about 100 vehicles, and the route was lined by many people, including Chinese.