Who is Mr. Tan Kah Kee?

• It is not car keys, mind you
• Mr. Tan Kah Kee (1874-1961) was a Chinese businessman & educationist of his age
• 富商, 慈善家, 教育家

What was his background?

• He was born in FuJian, China
• At sixteen years of age, he followed his father to Singapore & made his fortune
• 出身于福建省同安縣集美村
• At the turn of the century, he felt that China was weak & the Chinese vulnerable to exploitation
• This gave him the conviction & commitment to strengthen the country & the will of the people through support from the overseas Chinese as well as education for the rest of his life
• He believes that education is the foundation of national strength & the duty of every citizen
• 痛感國弱民窮受欺辱, 遂萌興學濟世之念
• "教育為立國之本, 興學乃國民天職"

Sounds like start of a heroic career?

• You bet
• In the pre-world war years, he actively funded & organised emergency efforts to support Chinese refugees as well as started his first school in FuJian
• In Nanyang, various primary schools were started with a focus on Chinese education
• The Nanyang Chinese secondary school, The Chinese High School 新加坡南洋華僑中學校, was funded by him with the land on the school still stands today in Bukit Timah, Singapore
• In the post-war years, he moved back to his homeland China to concentrate on the efforts on education

Did he write about himself?

• Yes, he wrote on his Nanyang experiences & speeches
• 出版有: <<南僑回憶錄>> (1946), <<南僑言論集>> (1949)

Your views?

• Mr. Tan Kah Kee was an exceptional person
• Amassing such a fortune in the colonial days was already a feat, but even more legendary was that he chose to give & gave it all he did
• He was known to have gone nearly bankrupt in order to continue his educational efforts & support funding
• Leaving a legacy on the importance of education for the young, man or woman, has inspired thousands to follow in his footsteps - the emphasis on education that Singapore has always been known for
• His generosity is admirable, but I think it is the belief underlying his efforts that is crucial - the awakening of the societal role that every single citizen inherits
• This is akin to the functional view associated with sociology, management as well as medicine - each member, team or cell not only has its own specific & unique task, but also the consciousness, vision & bio-encryption to be integrated into the whole
• 在新加坡提倡道南學校, 愛同學校, 崇福女校, 華僑中學, 南僑女中, 新加坡水產航海學校
• 中國: 集美學校, 廈門大學
• 于1961年去世, 被推崇為 "華僑英雄"