Ten Thousand Prosperities (萬興利)

Okay, after much hemming and hawing, we – meaning myself, my sponsors and my publisher – have made a final decision on the title of my book on Ban Hin Lee Bank. 

It's no longer Boundless Prosperity or even Bountiful Prosperity. We have agreed to use Ten Thousand Prosperities, which is the literal translation of Ban Hin Lee (萬興利) from the Penang Hokkien dialect into the English language.

Ten Thousand Prosperities had always been used by the bank right from the beginning but when I was writing this book, the feedback I received was that this translation had little meaning in the English language. 

Thus began the process of convincing the former directors – Goh Eng Toon, Stephen Yeap and Yeap Lam Yang – to agree to a more contemporary translation of the bank's name. 

They said 'yes' to either Boundless Prosperity or Bountiful Prosperity. But then about two weeks ago, my publisher had a change of mind and suggested that Ten Thousand Prosperities was, after all, quite appealing as the term was already so well known in the community when speaking of the bank.

So here again, there was this process of putting forth the new title to the former directors. Of course this time, there was little objection to it and I can now heave a sigh of relief that one more milestone of the book has been reached.