The years of foreign imperialism in China produced many tales about the humiliation of the Chinese. There was the now notorious park in Shanghai's foreign sector that allegedly excluded both dogs and Orientals as well as the slightly less galling but even more basic expropriation of sovereign rights and national treasure by outside powers and their commercial representatives. It should not be surprising that some of the most widely told anecdotes about the major overseas Chinese capitalists relate instances when these Eastern businessmen bested their foreign rivals, forced acquiescence on a point of prestige, or otherwise gained respect for their business acumen. One such story has to do with an overseas Chinese millionaire known locally as Thio Thiau Siat.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, when China's defeat at the hands of the Japanese had exposed the weakness of the Chinese modernization program, Thio was the dynasty's consular representative in Singapore. Having been ordered to return immediately to China for official consultation, Thio sent an agent to purchase a first-class steamship ticket. The German shipping company that he approached refused to issue the ticket on the grounds that non-Europeans were not permitted to travel in the superior accommodations. Even though Thio was a government official, the management refused to break the long-standing rule and allow a Chinese to purchase passage as a first-class passenger.

The Chinese consul found it difficult to contain his displeasure.