The Zheng Zaoru former residence in the Zhongshan Museum welcomed a group of special visitors on September 29. Paulo Jop (Zhongru Wong), a shoe tycoon in Peru, whose ancestral home is Denglongkeng Village of Baiqi Village in Nanlang, visited the place with his family, and donated the Wong family's English genealogy book to the museum.
Paulo Jop's father went to Peru to make a living in his early years. In 1952, at the age of 15, Paulo Jopwent to Macao from Zhongshan to seek refuge with distant relatives. Later in 1957, he went to Peru and worked in his father's grocery store.
In 1964, Paulo Jopfounded the Calimod shoe factory, which has been in business for 60 years. The factory now has more than 800 employees, produces over 2,000 pairs of shoes a day, and operates 38 chain stores in Peru.
"Today, I donate the family history materials of the Wong family to the museum, hoping to enrich the research on overseas Chinese history of Zhongshan," said the 88-year-old. He specially visited the Zhongshan History Museum of Overseas Chinese, behind which is the Zheng Zaoru former residence.
In 1886, Zheng Zaoru, a native of Haotou Village in Zhongshan, established the Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China as a minister of the Qing government in Peru. It is now Peru's oldest and most influential organization of overseas Chinese. Paulo Joponce served as the president of the Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China.
"This is my first time visiting Zhongshan, and I am looking forward to learning more about the culture of my hometown," said Paulo Jop's granddaughter Michelle Wong.