Born in the Shan Pui village, Toi San (Tai Shan) district, Quan Dong province, China in 1892, Chun Kong Chow came from a family of merchants.

His grandffather, Chun Jung Chung, sought to make a better life for his family by leaving the small farming and fishing community of his ancestors to open Sun Goon Shing, a general merchandise store, in Melbourne, Australia, in 1833.

The Chun family established Sun Goon Shing in Hong Kong in 1898. The Hong Kong Branch was an export house that primarily supplied goods to Sun Goon Shing in Melbourne and later to Sun Goon Shing in New York City.