{"id":11556,"date":"2025-05-16T21:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/?page_id=11556"},"modified":"2025-11-26T00:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T16:23:40","slug":"09-tay-choon-neo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/wayfinder\/09-tay-choon-neo\/","title":{"rendered":"09 TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Woman of Measure<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/b>TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18 (1879\u20131942) Place of Ancestry : Ho San (\u79be\u5c71)<\/span><\/p>\n

Madam Tay\u2019s tomb propels us back into the our maritime past when Singapore was already a very busy international port. It is here the bustling <\/span>entrepot<\/span><\/i> business that made Singapore began.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, the larger merchant ships of the day would sail through the Straits of Malacca, stopping at Singapore. These ships were too large to dock alongside the available quays and would therefore have to be loaded and unloaded offshore.\u00a0 Once these ships were anchored somewhere offshore, small sturdy boats known as lighters or bumboats would swarm out from the warehouses along the quays, to pick up cargo which would be loaded on the smaller boats.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, the reverse would happen as supplies and new goods would be brought out to be loaded on board the ship. These <\/span>twakows <\/span><\/i>(as these bumboats were known locally) were developed and run by the local Hokkiens and Teochews.\u00a0 The Hokkien twakows<\/em> had red, green and white boat-heads, whereas Teochew ones were usually just red. The advent of modern container shipping, however, meant very much the downturn in the lives of these bumboat operators as larger ships now dock right up to the quays and are loaded and unloaded quayside.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, back in the\u00a0 days of Madam Tay Choo Neo, these twakows<\/em> were the lifeblood of Singapore ports as they enabled the larger ships to load and unload. Her husband Koh Siao Seng rose to prominence in the field and became the director of the Chinese Twakow Association. Unfortunately, he died in the 1920s, leaving his widow to raise her four sons.\u00a0 Years later, one of the sons Koh Swee Gin would rise to prominence and assume the directorship of the Chinese Twakow Association \u2013 as his father had so many years before him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tay’s grave has two epitaphs engraved penned by the Chinese Twakow Association and Lee Tiong Sek, a family friend and writer. Lee was also the first President of the Singapore Buddhist Lodge.<\/span><\/p>\n

The epitaph by the Chinese Twakow Association pays tribute to\u00a0 the life of her husband Koh and his contributions to the twakow<\/em> industry. It also honours Tay\u2019s virtue and devotion to her family in bringing up four children after his death. It observes that the tomb is placed in an auspicious location and will bless all descendants.\u00a0 The grave is located on an incline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you look closely here at the altar of the earth deity or <\/span>\u00a0tudi gong,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0there are two tigers guarding the Earth Deity, instead of guardian lions!<\/span><\/p>\n

The earth deity is the all powerful protector of the grave and the spiritual protocol dictates you to seek permission before you can begin any rituals at the grave. It starts from the very first formal request — ask the deity to to guide\u00a0 your ancestor to the tomb!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Earth Deity with tiger guardians. (photo credit : Peter Pak)<\/p><\/div>\n

by Darren Koh<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Woman of Measure \u00a0TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18 (1879\u20131942) Place of Ancestry : Ho San (\u79be\u5c71) Madam Tay\u2019s tomb propels us back into the our maritime past when Singapore was already a very busy international port. It is here the bustling entrepot business that made Singapore began.\u00a0 Then, the larger merchant ships of the day would sail through the Straits of Malacca, stopping at Singapore. These ships were too large to dock alongside the available quays and would therefore have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1489,"featured_media":0,"parent":11412,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11556","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n09 TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18 - Bukit Brown: A World Monuments Watch Site in 2014<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/wayfinder\/09-tay-choon-neo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"09 TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18 - Bukit Brown: A World Monuments Watch Site in 2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Woman of Measure \u00a0TAY CHOON NEO \u912d\u6625\u5a18 (1879\u20131942) Place of Ancestry : Ho San (\u79be\u5c71) Madam Tay\u2019s tomb propels us back into the our maritime past when Singapore was already a very busy international port. 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