The Cemented Tomb 

LIM  KING CHUAN 林金璋 (1893 – 1937) Place of Ancestry: Heng Hwa (興華)

Lim  who was born in 1893, like many immigrants came from China to seek his fortune in Singapore. He would eventually earn enough to bring his family  including his two sons, over.  After the death of Mr. Lim at the age of 44 on 12 October 1937, one son eventually settled in Sarawak while the other in West Malaysia.

In the burial registry the name in English of the person buried in Block 3 Division 3, plot 659 is Teng King Chuan. The tombstone however is inscribed as  Lim King Chuan  林金璋.  A chance encounter during Qing Ming in 2023 with brownie Peter Pak   confirmed the surname  on the tombstone is correct. It appears to be a typo  by the clerk registering the death details.  

Excerpt from Register of Burials – (photo credit: Peter Pak)

The descendants also shared cementing the mound came much later when they made the decision to move to Malaysia. It would  protect the tomb from erosion and maintenance would not be an issue since they would not be able to visit regularly. 

While such cemented-over mounds are unusual in Bukit Brown, similar mounds have been observed by travellers in Amoy (present-day Xiamen) in the late 19th–early 20th century. According to traditional feng shui beliefs, burial mounds should be kept well maintained so that water would not pool on top, as that was considered bad luck. 

Documented feng shui principles date as far back as the Jin Dynasty. (265–420), in the Book of Burial (葬书) by Guo Pu (郭璞). He wrote that  practice of feng shui in burial customs and rituals is to ensure a good future for the deceased’s descendants.

The reasons for cementing tombs are varied.  Some subscribe to the belief that a person’s horoscope at birth maybe “inauspicious” and  misfortune will befall throughout his or her life. When such a person dies, the tomb has to be readied within a short period of time and sealed up to prevent contact. Others believed that cemented mounds should be used for people who died of infectious diseases. 

Whatever the reasons,  the beliefs are linked to the protection of future generations. 

Elsewhere on Wayfinder, #tomb28 of Low Nong Nong, the burial mound is also cemented.