Tan Kah Kee

Tan Kah Kee (Traditional Chinese: 陳嘉庚; Simplified Chinese: 陈嘉庚; pinyin: Chén Jiāgēng, Hokkien: Tân Kah-kiⁿ) (October 21, 1874 - August 12, 1961) was a prominent businessman, community leader, and philanthropist in colonial Singapore, and eventually a respectable Communist leader in the People's Republic of China. Image File history File links Tan Kah Kee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Tan Kah Kee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)). This article describes the most common variant called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name) also known as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; Pinyin: Zhōngguó GòngchÇŽndÇŽng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Life

Tan was born near Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, and went to Singapore in 1890, when he was 16 years old, to work for his father's rice store. After his father's business collapsed in 1903, Tan started his own business and built an empire from rubber plantations and manufacturing, sawmills, canneries, real estate, import and export brokerage, ocean transport to rice trading. His business was at its prime from 1912-1914, where he was known as "Henry Ford of Malaya". View of Xiamen Xiamen (Simplified Chinese: 厦门; Traditional Chinese: 廈門; Pinyin: Xiàmén; Wade-Giles: Hsiamen) is a coastal sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Fujian (Chinese: 福建; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal System Pinyin: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of several varieties of plants. ... A plantation is an intentional planting of a crop, on a larger scale, usually for uses other than cereal production or pasture. ... Manufacturing is the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale, by means of tools and a processing medium, and including all intermediate processes involving the production or finishing of component parts (semi-manufactures). It is a large branch of industry and of secondary production. ... This article or section should include material from Saw mill A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards. ... Canning is a method of preserving food by first heating it to a temperature that destroys contaminating microorganisms, and then sealing it in air-tight jars, cans or pouches. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice refers to two species (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) of grass, native to tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia and to Africa, which together provide more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans[1]. Rice is an annual plant, growing to 1-1. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Further information: Ford Motor Company Time Magazine, January 14, 1935 Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company. ... The Federation of Malaya, or in Malay Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was formed in 1948 from the British settlements of Penang and Malacca and the nine Malay states and replaced the Malayan Union. ...

Statue of Mr Tan Kah Kee in front of his memorial hall in Xiamen University.

With the profit that he made from his business empire, Tan contributed greatly to the community, both in Malaya and his native Fujian Province. In 1919, he set up The Chinese High School, now named Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore, while in 1921, he set up the Xiamen University and financially supported it until the Government of the Republic of China took it over in 1937. In 1920, he married his daughter Tan Ai Li to Lee Kong Chian, who worked under him and who later became a famous Singaporean philanthropist and businessman. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 372 KB) Statue of Tan Kah Kee, in front of his memorial hall. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 372 KB) Statue of Tan Kah Kee, in front of his memorial hall. ... Xiamen University (XMU, Latin: Universitas Amoiensis, Pinyin: Xiàmén Dàxué, Simplified Chinese: 厦门大学), colloquially Xia Da (Pinyin: Xià Dà, Simplified Chinese: 厦大), located in Xiamen, Fujian Province, is the first university in China founded by overseas Chinese. ... The Federation of Malaya, or in Malay Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was formed in 1948 from the British settlements of Penang and Malacca and the nine Malay states and replaced the Malayan Union. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Name The Chinese High School Abbreviation TCHS School Code 7103 Chinese Name 华侨中学 Address 661 Bukit Timah Road Singapore 269735 Country Singapore Town Bukit Timah Founded 1919 Community Urban Type Independent Secondary Religion Secular Students Boys Levels Secondary 1–4 Colours Red, Yellow Motto 自强不息 Philosophy Win-Win Newspaper Hwa Chong Highlights... Hwa Chong Institution (Simplified Chinese: 华侨中学; Traditional Chinese: 華僑中學; pinyin: Húaqíao Zhōngxúe) is a prestigious college offering education from a Secondary (High School) to Pre-University (Senior High) level in Singapore. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Xiamen University (XMU, Latin: Universitas Amoiensis, Pinyin: Xiàmén Dàxué, Simplified Chinese: 厦门大学), colloquially Xia Da (Pinyin: Xià Dà, Simplified Chinese: 厦大), located in Xiamen, Fujian Province, is the first university in China founded by overseas Chinese. ... Motto: None Anthem: National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei City (de facto) Nanjing (de jure)1 Largest city Taipei City Official language(s) Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  - President Chen Shui-bian  - Vice President Annette Lu  - Premier Su Tseng-chang Establishment Xinhai Revolution   - Declared October... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... Lee Kong Chian (Chinese: 李光前; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a famous Singaporean philanthropist who followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, Tan Kah Kee. ... A philanthropist is someone who devotes his/her time, money, or effort towards helping others. ...

A statue of Tan in The Chinese High School

Tan was one of the prominent ethnic Chinese Malayans to financially support Chinese efforts in the Second Sino-Japanese War which broke out in 1937 and organized many relief funds under his name. . He was also a participant in the Legislative Yuan of the Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing. After the Japaneses invaded and occupied Malaya and Singapore during the Battle of Malaya and the Battle of Singapore, these contributors were defined as "undesirables" and were subjected to systematic extermination in the Sook Ching Massacre, although Tan survived. Tan Kah Kee strongly rejected proposals to attempt to negotiate with the Japanese, regarding any such attempts as characteristic of a hanjian (traitor of the Chinese), and petitioned the pessimistic Wang Jingwei to dissuade him from any such activities. The statue of Tan Kah Kee stands tall infront of the tower block. ... The statue of Tan Kah Kee stands tall infront of the tower block. ... Name The Chinese High School Abbreviation TCHS School Code 7103 Chinese Name 华侨中学 Address 661 Bukit Timah Road Singapore 269735 Country Singapore Town Bukit Timah Founded 1919 Community Urban Type Independent Secondary Religion Secular Students Boys Levels Secondary 1–4 Colours Red, Yellow Motto 自强不息 Philosophy Win-Win Newspaper Hwa Chong Highlights... Han Chinese (Simplified: 汉; Traditional: 漢; Pinyin: hàn) is a term which refers to the majority ethnic group within China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world. ... Combatants National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Zhu De, He Yingqin Tojo Hideki, Matsui Iwane, Minami Jiro, Kesago Nakajima, Toshizo Nishio, Neiji Okamura. ... The Legislative Yuan building in Zhongzheng District, Taipei City (the view is blocked by the childrens hospital building of the National Taiwan University Hospital). ... The Republic of China (Traditional Chinese: 中華民國; Pinyin: Zhōng huá mín guó) succeeded the Qing Dynasty in 1912, ending 2,000 years of imperial rule. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen. ... Chongqing (Simplified Chinese: 重庆; Traditional Chinese: 重慶; pinyin: Chóngqìng; Wade-Giles: Chung-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Chungking) is the largest and most populous of the Peoples Republic of Chinas four provincial-level municipalities, and the only one in the less densely populated western half of China. ... The Japanese Occupation of Singapore was to become a major turning point in the history of several nations, including that of the Japanese, who rampaged down the Malay Peninsula with the singular intent of occupying Singapore to gain greater control over her war-time resource gathering efforts, the British, with... The Federation of Malaya, or in Malay Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was formed in 1948 from the British settlements of Penang and Malacca and the nine Malay states and replaced the Malayan Union. ... During the early morning hours of December 7th/8th, 1941, before the first bombs started falling on the United States Pacific base at Pearl Harbor (time zone differences), World War Two widened in the Pacific with the Battle for Malaya - the Japanase invasion of the British Malaya. ... Combatants Allied forces: Indian Army; British Army; Australian Army; Malayan forces; Straits Settlements forces Imperial Japanese Army Commanders Arthur Percival Tomoyuki Yamashita Strength 85,000 36,000 Casualties about 5,000 killed; about 80,000 POWs 1,715 dead, 3,500 wounded The Battle of Singapore was a battle fought... The Sook Ching massacre (肅清大屠殺) was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among ethnic Chinese Singaporeans by the Japanese military administration during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, after the British colony surrendered in the Battle of Singapore on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Sook Ching was later extended... Before the enemy Wokou have been driven off our lands, all civil servants found negotiating a peace treaty shall be considered a Hanjian and traitor to the nation. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... Wang Jingwei * Courtesy name: Jixin (季新) * Alternate name: Zhaoming (兆銘). Wang Jingwei (Traditional Chinese: 汪精衛; Simplified Chinese: 汪精卫; Hanyu Pinyin: Wāng JÄ«ngwèi; Wade-Giles: Wang Ching-wei) (May 4, 1883 – November 10, 1944), was a Chinese politician. ...

Tan was the de facto leader of the Singaporean Chinese community, serving as chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and helped organise the Hokkien clan association. However, he lost this role when the Chinese Civil War divided the Singaporean Chinese community into Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Kuomintang sympathizers. Tan was a CCP supporter as he was disillusioned with the corruption within the Nationalists. After the Communist victory in China, Tan tried to return to Singapore in 1950, but was denied entry by British colonial authority which was concerned about communist influence in Singapore and Malaya. He then moved permanently to China and served in numerous positions within the CCP. He died in 1961 in Beijing and was given a state funeral by the People's Republic of China. In Singapore, the Tan Kah Kee Scholarship Fund, which later became the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, was established in memory of this philanthropist. The Chinese constitute more than three-quarters of the countrys population. ... Combatants Chinese Nationalist Party Chinese Communist Party Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong Strength 3,600,000 circa June 1948 2,800,000 circa June 1948 The Chinese Civil War (Traditional Chinese: 國共内戰; Simplified Chinese: 国共内战; Pinyin: guógòng neìzhàn; literally Nationalist-Communist Civil War) was a conflict in... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name) also known as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; Pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Chinese Nationalist Party (Traditional Chinese: 中國國民黨; Simplified Chinese: 中国国民党; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhōngguó Guómíndǎng), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a conservative political party currently active in the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Beijing (Chinese: 北京; Pinyin: Běijīng; ; IPA: ), a city in northern China (formerly spelled in English as Peking or Peiking), is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

Tan Kah Kee's issue against negotiation with the Japanese in the Fujian press.

In 1943, while taking refuge in Java from the Japanese, Tan began writing his memoirs, The Memoirs of an Overseas Chinese of the Southern Ocean (Traditional Chinese: 南僑回憶錄; Simplified Chinese: 南侨回忆录; pinyin: Nánqíao Húiyìlù). This work became a valuable resource of the history of overseas Chinese. Image File history File links Chenjiageng_proclamation. ... Image File history File links Chenjiageng_proclamation. ... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)). This article describes the most common variant called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme...

References

• The Memoirs of Tan Kah Kee. Ed. & Tr. AHC Ward et al. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1994.
• Yong Chin Fatt. Tan Kah Kee: The Making of an Overseas Chinese Legend. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989.
• Tan Kah Kee, The Memoirs of an Overseas Chinese of the South Seas (in Chinese). Taiyuan: Shanxi Guji chuban she,1996.

See also

• History of Singapore
• The Chinese High School
• Lee Kong Chian

The history of Singapore had a relatively minor role in the greater history of Southeast Asia until 1819, when the Englishman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded a British port on the island. ... Name The Chinese High School Abbreviation TCHS School Code 7103 Chinese Name 华侨中学 Address 661 Bukit Timah Road Singapore 269735 Country Singapore Town Bukit Timah Founded 1919 Community Urban Type Independent Secondary Religion Secular Students Boys Levels Secondary 1–4 Colours Red, Yellow Motto 自强不息 Philosophy Win-Win Newspaper Hwa Chong Highlights... Lee Kong Chian (Chinese: 李光前; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a famous Singaporean philanthropist who followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, Tan Kah Kee. ...

External links

• Tan Kah Kee Foundation Homepage.