Yap Ah Loy in Kwong Tong cemetery

I went back to the Kwong Tong cemetery to find Yap Ah Loy's grave, as Papanjones had pinpointed it for me on the Chinese map.

And during my drive round I explored a part of the cemetery which is new to me. This is an area of new graves, all of the same design and colour and arranged in neat rows. Modern section, 2005 -

2008
Right by these are some apartment blocks -

living & dead side by side

Further over is an area of relatively new graves that are rather overgrown.

Yap Ah Loy is known as being the founder of Kuala Lumpur. He was born in China in 1837, arrived in Malacca in 1854, and moved to Selangor in the 1860s. At that time lots of Chinese had arrived to seek their fortune in the tin mines. The local sultan needed a 'Kapitan China' to control these Chinese, and Yap Ah Loy was appointed and did such a good job that he became the founder of KL. He died of illness in 1885.

Sometimes it is hard to imagine that KL is only about 150 years old. Yap Ah Loy was the 3rd kapitan China, and has a road named after him, located in Chinatown off Jalan Tun Perak.

I wasn't very sure of the exact location of Yap Ah Loy's grave (section C2) and saw a large plot with a freshly painted yellow surround and wondered if it was that, but it wasn't. Then I spotted some workmen and a new marker stone indicating the memorial site.

There is a new plaque in 3 languages, but nothing in English to indicate which was the actual grave.

A Chinese worker showed me which is Yap Ah Loy's grave,

and said the neighbouring ones belong to his wife, son and father. I don't know if this is correct, anyone know if Yap's father came to Malaya?

wife's grave

father's grave

son's grave

by the family plot

Overgrown neighbouring grave

view of family plot

not sure about this one
If someone can read Chinese please correct me if I have the wrong captions.
Don't know who is buried here -

died 1926 aged 100

don't know what this is, all in Chinese

nice colour frangipani

the signs are good as they accurately tell you where you are, and are easy to follow. Just wish they were in English!
Back in the old part -

I've been told by Cheah via Papanjones that this is Zhao Yu, who built the railways Kuala Lumpur to Klang, Kuala Lumpur to Ampang.

rubbish dump

lorries must dump large items

What an eyesore.

Now I have to look for Yap Kwan Sen's grave.

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Found this piece of history on the internet :

Over the past 100 years, the relationship between the Selangor and Federal Territory Kwong Siew Association and Kwong Tong Cemetery had been very close indeed. In the initial stages when the association for the cemetery was formed, Yap Kuan Seng, Zhao Yu, and Loke Yew, spared no effort in planning and building the cemetery.

The temple in Jalan Lapangan Terbang Lama, Kwong Tong Temple, was completed in 1909. In 1925, the management of the cemetery built 10 pavilions, so that the people who paid respects to the dead could take a short rest.

© Liz Price
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