Datuk Chu Kok Keng who is the MK (Ming Kiang) Group Chairman was born and educated in Quanzhou, Fujian. In the early 1950s, he was invited by his close cousin Chu Shi Yuan to Kota Kinabalu. At that time, Datuk Chu was only in his early twenties. His cousin Chu Shi Yuan was a very successful retailer and distributor of Hua Quang Trading.
Datuk Chu sailed from Fujian to Singapore, then observed 30 days of quarantine followed by a reunion with his father for 14 days. He then left for Kota Kinabalu. He worked for his cousin as an assistant manager from 7am to 7pm everyday and continued to learn book keeping and accounting from 9-11pm every night.
Although Hua Quang Trading had grown tremendously during that time, a fire brought about its untimely demise. It was most unfortunate that the shareholders decided to dissolve the company and venture into other businesses.