Tong King-sing also known as Tang Tingshu was a Chinese comprador

Comprador

Comprador or Compradore is a term used to describe native managers of European business houses in East Asia.-History:...

, interpreter, and businessman during the late Qing dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

. Born in Xiangshan

Xiangshan

-Mainland China:*Xiangshan Park , Beijing*Xiangshan District, Guilin *Xiangshan District, Huaibei , Anhui*Xiangshan County, Guangdong, former county*Xiangshan County, Zhejiang...

, Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

 province, he studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy and his classmates included Yung Wing

Yung Wing

Yung Wing . Born in Zhuhai in Guangdong province, he studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy where Tong King-sing was a classmate.-Biography:...

. Because of the knowledge of English he obtained employment in the Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 colonial government between 1851–57 and 1857–61, he served the Chinese Maritime Customs Service

Chinese Maritime Customs Service

The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until its bifurcation in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republic of China...

 as interpreter and chief secretary. In 1861-63, he joined the Jardine Matheson Company

Jardine Matheson Holdings

Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited often referred to as Jardines, is a multinational corporation incorporated in Bermuda and based in Hong Kong. While listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange, the vast majority of Jardines shares are traded in Singapore...

 as a salesman in Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

. He authored the work The Chinese Instructor, a six-volume series of dialogues, published in 1862.http://www.uni-giessen.de/anglistik/LING/Staff/huber/Abstracts.pdf

Tong is mainly known for his participation in a number of officially sponsored commercial projects during the last decades of the Qing dynasty, collectively known as enterprises under "official supervision and merchant management" (官督商辦). Between 1873-84 he served as the general manager of China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company

China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company

China Merchants Group is a state owned corporation of People's Republic of China. It is the major share holder of China Merchants Holdings as well as China Merchants Bank...

 (輪船招商局) in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, after which he worked in the coalmines in Kaiping in Hebei

Hebei

' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

 until his death in 1892. In Tangshan near Kaiping he was also a promoter of the Kaiping Tramway