In the family

This is the temple of the Khoo Kongsi, (the Khoo clan), in Georgetown, Penang. It was built between 1894 and 1906 and is considered the most ornate clan temple outside of China. From the last picture you can see how it dominates the clan housing around it. Kongsi has a number of connotations, including the less savoury one of triads, (or mafia). When we lived in Malaysia as children my mother would refer to a doctors' partnership as a kongsi, as it was quite widely used in references to businesses. The strength of Chinese communities both socially and economically has been attributed to the concept of the kongsi, or keeping it in the family. Jewish communities prospered in a similar fashion.

As noted here, from Wikipedia:

The system of kongsi was utilised by Chinese throughout the diaspora to overcome economic difficulty, social ostracism, and oppression. In today's overseas Chinese communities throughout the world, this approach has been adapted to the modern environment, including political and legal factors. The kongsi is similar to modern business partnerships, but also draws on a deeper spirit of cooperation and consideration of mutual welfare.

It has been stated by some that the development and thriving of Chinese communities worldwide are the direct result of the kongsi concept. A vast number of Chinese-run firms and businesses were born as kongsi--many ending up as multinational conglomerates. In the Chinese spirit, derived in large part from Confucian ideals, these kongsi members or their descendants prefer not to boast so much of their wealth but to take pride in earning worldly and financial success through their work ethic and the combined efforts of many individuals devoted to group welfare.

In Thailand today a number of large families control huge swathes of economic life in the kingdom, and although they are Thai now, with Thai names, their origins are distinctly Chinese - the so-called Thai Chinese. Despite their huge wealth, they usually live modestly, although in the younger generation, this is beginning to change, as the scourge materialism takes control.