{"id":11583,"date":"2025-05-25T11:52:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T03:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/?page_id=11583"},"modified":"2025-10-16T22:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:47:09","slug":"24-tan-boo-liat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bukitbrown.com\/main\/wayfinder\/24-tan-boo-liat\/","title":{"rendered":"24 TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tan Boo Liat – Politics and Family\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8 (1874\u20131934)\u00a0 Place of\u00a0 Ancestry: Chiangchew (\u6f33\u6f84)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tan\u00a0 was a prominent figure, known for his social activism in high society. On December 26, 1898, his horse “Vanitas” became the first from Malaya to win the Viceroy Cup in Calcutta, earning him instant fame and a $100,000 prize<\/span><\/p>\n

But more<\/span> than a horse racing celebrity, Tan was a Rafflesian involved in China\u2019s national affairs. When the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce was established in 1906 at the behest of\u00a0 the Qing government, he also joined Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary party the <\/span>Tong Meng Hui,\u00a0 \u540c\u76df\u4f1a<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. This period saw ideological debates, with Kang You Wei who advocated imperial reform with the Emperor still in place.\u00a0 Both Sun and Kang came to Singapore at various times at the turn of the last century to solicit donations and support for their opposing causes.\u00a0 Tan chose Sun\u2019s cause and provided shelter and protection to him\u00a0 at his Golden Bell Mansion on Mount Faber at considerable personal risk. Rumours were rife that the remnants of Qing Imperial order had sent assassins to kill\u00a0 Sun to prevent him from reaching Nanjing to take up the Presidency of China.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0In the social sphere, along with the likes of Lim Boon Keng and Song Ong Siang, Tan called attention\u00a0 to the scourge of opium addiction at a time when opium revenue\u00a0 accounted for over half of\u00a0 the Straits Government revenues.\u00a0 He advocated for women\u2019s education and founded the Singapore Chinese Girls School (SCGS) at a time when womens\u2019 education went against the widely held attitude that\u00a0 <\/span>\u201can unedified woman is virtuous woman\u201d (\u5973\u5b50\u65e0\u624d\u5c31\u662f\u5fb7)\u201d<\/span><\/i>. SCGS was secular –\u00a0 unlike existing\u00a0 schools the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Methodists and Raffles girls schools – free from overt religious and colonial influences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Boo Liat had a close bond with his grandfather, Kim Cheng, and named his mansion Golden Bell (\u91d1\u949f) in his honour. Both envisioned a rejuvenated China\u2014Kim Cheng celebrated the Qing naval fleet’s visit to Singapore, while Boo Liat supported Sun’s revolution. They shared the same dream but pursued it in different ways.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Boo Liat maintained close ties with Siamese royalty sealed by his grandfather through a marriage arranged by King Mongut. His altar table carries two titles given by the Siamese King. The Thai chapter started by his grandfather is part of Tan Tock Seng’s extensive family tree, which includes over 2,000 members.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grandfather Tan Kim Cheng had a magnificent grave originally <\/span>located in a private plot off\u00a0 Changi Road, but because of land development, he was reinterred to Bukit Brown Blk 4 C plot no 1709.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tan Kim Cheng’s original grave off Changi Road<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tan Kim Ching’s relocated grave in Bukit Brown (photo credit : all things Bukit Brown<\/p><\/div>\n

by Fabian Tee<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tan Boo Liat – Politics and Family\u00a0\u00a0 TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8 (1874\u20131934)\u00a0 Place of\u00a0 Ancestry: Chiangchew (\u6f33\u6f84)\u00a0 Tan\u00a0 was a prominent figure, known for his social activism in high society. On December 26, 1898, his horse “Vanitas” became the first from Malaya to win the Viceroy Cup in Calcutta, earning him instant fame and a $100,000 prize But more than a horse racing celebrity, Tan was a Rafflesian involved in China\u2019s national affairs. When the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce […]<\/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-11583","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n24 TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8 - 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\/24-tan-boo-liat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"24 TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8 - Bukit Brown: A World Monuments Watch Site in 2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tan Boo Liat – Politics and Family\u00a0\u00a0 TAN BOO LIAT \u9648\u6b66\u70c8 (1874\u20131934)\u00a0 Place of\u00a0 Ancestry: Chiangchew (\u6f33\u6f84)\u00a0 Tan\u00a0 was a prominent figure, known for his social activism in high society. On December 26, 1898, his horse “Vanitas” became the first from Malaya to win the Viceroy Cup in Calcutta, earning him instant fame and a $100,000 prize But more than a horse racing celebrity, Tan was a Rafflesian involved in China\u2019s national affairs. 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