Tan Kah Kee (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.

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. But after his father's business collapsed in 1903, Tan built a business 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".

With the profit that he made from his business empire, Tan contributed greatly to the community, both in British 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 over in 1937.

Tan was one of the prominent ethnic Chinese Malayans to financially support Chiang Kai-shek's effort the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance and organized many relief funds under his name. However, his adherents were defined as "undesirables" and were subjected to systematic extermination in the Sook Ching Massacre.

Tan was the de facto leader of the Singapore Chinese community. However, he lost this role when the Chinese Civil War divided the Singaporean Chinese community into Communist Party and Nationalist Party sympathizers. Tan supported the CCP because he saw the corruption within the Nationalists. He returned to China in 1950 and served in numerous positions within the CCP. He passed away in 1961 in Beijing and was given a state funeral by the People's Republic of China.

Further reading

• 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.

See also

• History of Singapore

External links

• Tan Kah Kee Foundation Homepage.