Tongmenhui was founded by Sun Yat-sen and his early revolutionist comrades that eventually became the biggest force that brought down the Qing dynasty in China.
At the turn of the 20th century, Chinese communities in Rangoon (Yagon), as elsewhere in major Southeast Asian cities, were fought over for support of the confrontational movements between the Qing royalists and the revolutionaries.
Grandfather Yeo Cheow Kaw never appeared on the name list of Tongmenhui members incorporated in the book written by Xu Zhanzhou on the formation of Tongmenhui in Burma. Yeo Cheow Kaw was mentioned however, in a short write-up of Yeo Cheow Toe, believed to be his 10-year-older cousin-brother, who was praised as a dedicated member of Tongmenhui.
Yeo Cheow Toe ran the Heng Moh business together with Great Grandfather Yeo Poon Myah’s, started Sin Chip Moh with Yeo Cheow Kaw, and they worked together in clan activities in Sit Teik Tong and Kian Teck Tong. A page on Tongmenhui office holders, identified Yeo Cheow Toe and a certain Yeo Joo Cheng. The name of Yeo Joo Cheng was written with a different Chinese character 汝，as ‘Joo’， different from 子 as in Yeo Cheow Kaw‘s other name 楊子贞. It was likely that it was a human typo error that the wrong name of Yeo Cheow Kaw was entered during the Tomenghui recruitment. The recruitment eventually registered over three thousand members in total. The Revolutionary History of the Tongmenghui in Burma written by Xu Zhanzhou contained a list of only two thousand over. Both Yeo Cheow Toe and Yeo Joo Cheng were not in the shorter list.
Yeo Joo Cheng in the correct name of 楊子贞 was mentioned many times in the power-struggle acccounts by Xu as well as Feng Lidong, another historian of Burmese Chinese. His involvement in the early Tomenghui activities as described could at the least implicate Yeo Cheow Kaw as a strong sympathizer of the revolution movement. Later after the Republic was formed, when Sun Yat-sen needed to raise funds again, grandfather Yeo Choew Kaw or Yeo Joo Cheng was again solicited to lead Burmese merchants in setting up an industrial bank.
By 仰索, dated March 18, 2021