Han Siong Kong

Han Siong Kong (1673-1743) is best known as the founder of the Han family of Lasem, a dynasty of government bureaucrats and landlords that played an important role in the colonial history of Indonesia.

Born in Tianbao, Zhangzhou in the Chinese province of Fujian, Han hailed from an ancient line of scholars-officials. His first attested ancestor is Han Zhaode, a general in the army of the warlord Tan Goan Kong, Marquis of Zhangzhou (died in 711), who pacified Fujian for the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Han Siong Kong's branch of the family is descended from a certain Han Hong, who received the degree of Metropolitan Graduate in the imperial examinations in 1121, then received an appointment as Secretary in the Ministry of Inland Revenue during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Around 1700, Han Siong Kong left his native country for Lasem, a port on the north coast of Java. By an unnamed woman of at least part-native ancestry, Han had five sons and four daughters. Two of his sons, Ngabehi Soero Pernollo and Han Bwee Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen, would play a significant role in establishing and consolidating Dutch colonial rule in East Java.

Han Siong Kong died in 1743 in Rajegwesi (now Bojonegoro). Local legend has it that in the course of Han's funeral ceremony, there was a thunderstorm. As a result, Han's children abandoned their father's coffin in the forest in order to seek shelter. The displeased spirit of Han Siong Kong is said to have cast down a curse on his descendants who dared settle down in Lasem.