Bibliography

http://www.blueskiescom.com/alumni/feb_mar_09/tan_kah_kee.htm (contributions)
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_839_2004-12-28.html (Biography)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Kah_Kee (Biography)

Reflective Responses

Through this project , i have a deeper understanding of Tan Kah Kee ,the founder of my school. I like this project because there is a lot of things that Tan Kah Kee had contributed but i did not know.

The thing that i do not like is that there is very little websites about Tan Kah Kee , there is only websites like wikipedia or nlb , thus , i have to refer other sources. The other sources lack imformation about Tan Kah Kee. They are too brief, thus , from all the sources , i have to collate them together and piece each them out, so that one idea per paragraph.

Suggestions of Monuments

I suggest that the monuments of Tan Kah Kee be put in front of the library. It is because that Tan Kah Kee has a strong impact of the education.

The library is the place people come to together to borrow books or discuss about projects. Since then , Tan Kah Kee be put here can raise the awaremess of people knowing Tan Kah Kee for its contribution to education of Singapore. Also , Tan Kah Kee had made a contribution to the library. He also bought a lot of books in his early life and gave them to the National Library .
Thus , the library is a suitable place for his monument to be placed at.

I think that the monument should still be in a shape of Tan Kah Kee. However , books and shapes like schools can be built surrounding him. The shape of Tan Kah Kee should still be there because it is so that people can know his appearance. Also , placing books and schools around him means that he has made contribution to schools.

Tan Kah Kee's contributions

Tan Kah Kee contributions have been widely regarded to the education of Singapore and his hometown , Ji Mei.

Tan Kah Kee found the importance of education before one can contribute greatly to Singapore.

Tan Kah Kee spent over fifty years in Singapore between 1890 and 1950, these being some of the best and most productive years of his life. However, it must be remembered that Tan Kah Kee’s Chinese background covered a traumatic and painful era that encompassed a vast and exciting revolutionary change in China and the rapid socio-political change in South East Asia. He made generous donations to Chinese Schools in Singapore like Tao Nan, Chung Wah Girls, Ai Tong, just to name a few

He found that after the students graduate from primary , they do not have a chinses secondary school to go in Singapore , instead , they had to go to China. He then decided to collaborate with Malaysia to open up "The Chinese High School", the first-ever chinese school in Singapore. This has contributed greatly to the society , becuase the students is able to go to this school after they graduate without having to go to China. Even when he was facing the risk of the bankrupcy of his company , he still do not stop making donations. As a result , his company closed due to shortage of money but he still continue his genorosity of making donations to various schools.

His involvement and the promotion of English education in Singapore was also impressive and substantial and on record he committed a sum of S$100,000 to the proposed Anglo Chinese School College in 1919. However, when the plan was aborted due to opposition from the British authorities, Tan Kah Kee agreed to transfer $30,000 to Anglo Chinese School as a donation to its physics and chemistry funds. The school then adopted his name for one of the sporting houses.

Besides owning rubber estates in Singapore and Malaya, Tan Kah Kee’s other enterprises include rice mills, pineapple canneries, biscuit factory, shipping, sweets and confectionery, newsprint (Nanyang Siang Pau), rubber manufactories like boot, shoes, hats, tyres, brickworks etc. He also established a Maritime School as Xiamen is near the coast.

In conclusion, Mr Tan Kah Kee had contributed greatly towards the education of Singapore. He built or help in one form or another to a lot of schools , ranging from Tao Nan Primary school to Nanyang Technology University. His contributions levels the standard of education in Singapore. He has realised that the future of Singapore leaders have to had a better education , thus , he contribute greatly to schools and had helped Singapore indirectly or directly better in nuturing the leaders of Singapore

With reference:
http://www.blueskiescom.com/alumni/feb_mar_09/tan_kah_kee.htm

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