Brief biography of Tan Kah Kee

Tan Kah Kee was born in 21 October 1874, Fujian, China .He died on 12 August 1961, Beijing, China. He was a prominent Chinese pioneer and philanthropist,and eventually a respectable communist leader in the China. nicknamed "Rubber King". He contributed in financing schools in Singapore and Xiamen extensively.

He was schooled at his village school in Jimei , age from 8 to 16. Immediately after that , he depart from Jimei for Singapore as a penniless 17-year old to work at his father's sundry shop in 1890. However , in 1903, his father's business collapsed.Tan started his own business and built an 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 Malaya and his native Fujian Province. Tan Kah Kee was one of the 110 founding members of Tao Nan School. He set up the Jimei Schools (now Jimei University) in 1913. In 1919, he set up The Chinese High School, now named Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore, which is currently the top secondary school in Singapore. While in 1921, he set up the Xiamen University and financially supported it until the Government of China took it over in 1937. In 1920, he married his daughter Tan Ai Li to Lee Kong Chian, who worked under him and who later became a famous Singaporean philanthropist and businessman

Jimei in Fujian was a few miles from Xiamen Island. Both counties were to receive extensive donations for educational institutions from Tan Kah Kee.



With reference :
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_839_2004-12-28.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Kah_Kee