Gopeng

Gopeng is a town in Mukim Teja, Kampar District, in the state of Perak, Malaysia, about 20 kilometres south of the state capital Ipoh. Until 1890 it was the most important town of the Kinta Valley, when Ipoh became more prominent. Mining by European and Chinese miners shaped its growth, including Hakka Chinese linked to Chung Keng Kwee, leader of the Hai San secret society during the Larut War. In the first decades after British intervention it was run by three groups together: the Europeans, the Chinese led by the Eu family, and the Sumatrans under the Assistant Penghulu Imam Prang Ja Barumun. It is also one of the first places where large numbers of Orang Asli met outsiders in the 19th century. The North-South Expressway passes on its west side through the karst landscape of the Kinta Valley, and visitors come for Tempurung Cave and the Gopeng Heritage House. The cartoonist Lat and the politician Burhanuddin al-Helmy were born there.