History

In 1873,  Eu Kong left his hometown in Foshan, a village in Guangdong, China and settled down in the small mining town of Gopeng, Perak. Noticing that the tin mine workers were heavily dependant on opium to alleviate the pain and suffering from hard work and poor living conditions, he introduced traditional Chinese herbal remedies to nurse their health.  Eu Kong used his knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine to create herbal remedies to alleviate their physical suffering and restoring their health. Eu Kong opened his first Chinese medicine shop in 1879 in Gopeng, named “Yan Sang”.
The shop Eu Kong founded, was made up of the words "Yan" (仁) "Sang" (生). The former means benevolent, kind or humane in the Cantonese dialect, while the latter represents birth, life or livelihood.
"Yan Sang" (仁生) literally means caring for mankind.

In 1890, Eu Kong’s eldest son, Eu Tong Sen inherited the family business. Eu Tong Sen was heavily involved in Malaya’s tin mining and rubber plantation businesses. Eventually, Eu Tong Sen expanded the family business of traditional Chinese medicine to other parts of Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and Southern China. In Singapore, a main street in Chinatown is named after Eu Tong Sen. Besides tending to the business, it was evident that Eu Tong Sen fully supported the philosophy his business had been grounded upon – caring for mankind. He would often donate generously to the poor and needy, and was ever ready to support the growth of education in the region.