Kapitan China Yap Ah Loy (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Ya̍p Â-lòi, Jawi: ; 14 March 1837 – 15 April 1885), also known as Yap Tet Loy and Yap Mao Lan, is an important figure of early Kuala Lumpur. He served as the third Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur, and in this administrative capacity, played an important role in developing the city as a commercial and mining centre during the 19th century. After the independence of the Federation of Malaya from the British Empire on 31 August 1957 and later the Formation of Malaysia in 1963, Kuala Lumpur became the capital of Malaysia. Today, there is a street named after him in the heart of Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, known as "Jalan Yap Ah Loy" or "Yap Ah Loy Road". Background Yap Ah Loy was born in a poor village at what was formerly known as Canton province, southern China, on 14 March 1837. His parents lived in the town of Danshui/Tamsui () in Kwai Yap district, Huizhou prefecture. He was a Hakka of the Fui Chiu (Chinese: 惠州) clan. Yap Ah Loy left China via Macau for British Malaya in 1854. On his arrival in Malaya, he found the place very different from China. The scenery, with tall coconut and betel palms, and the small Malay houses with atap (nipah thatch) roofs, was a new and fascinating experience to him. On his arrival at Malacca, Yap Ah Loy was given shelter by one of his clansman called Yap Ket Si. He was then taken to a tin mine in Durian Tunggal, where he stayed for 4 months. He soon left for Kesang in northwestern Johore, where he found work in the shop of a relative named Yap Ng. He remained there for a year before arrangements were made to send him back to China via Singapore. Misfortune befell him when he lost all his money while waiting for the junk to set sail in Singapore for China. Instead of going back to Malacca, he and another of his relatives named Yap Fook travelled on foot to Lukut, then still part of Selangor (now Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan). As Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur Yap Ah Loy arrived in Lukut in 1856 at the age of 19. He spent his early years in the peninsula as a miner and petty trader, but in 1862 his fortunes improved when his friend Liu Ngim Kong (,