A merchant from Malacca builds upon his family's wealth and achieves even greater business success. But more important than making money is giving back to society. He builds a Chinese school, a road, and even a bridge. This man was Tan Kim Seng, a man who did a lot of good for others in society.Who are our amazing pioneers, the people who travelled from distant lands to seek out adventure and fortune in early Singapore? In this series of fully-illustrated books, you'll discover our pioneers' inspiring stories, some of which have never been written out for children before! So, come and celebrate the people who have made a difference to Singapore, through their hard work, service and sacrifice.

A merchant from Malacca builds upon his family's wealth and achieves even greater business success. But more important than making money is giving back to society. He builds a Chinese school, a road, and even a bridge. This man was Tan Kim Seng, a man who did a lot of good for others in society.Who are our amazing pioneers, the people who travelled from distant lands to seek out adventure and fortune in early Singapore? In this series of fully-illustrated books, you'll discover our pioneers' inspiring stories, some of which have never been written out for children before! So, come and celebrate the people who have made a difference to Singapore, through their hard work, service and sacrifice.

It is remarkable that no biography of Tan Kim Seng has been published until now considering that his imprint on 19th century Singapore is so significant. Most Singaporeans will associate him with the Tan Kim Seng Fountain, Kim Seng Road and Kim Seng Bridge. Others may be aware of how the fountain came to be and that Tan Kim Seng in 1849 founded Chong Wen Ge, the first Chinese school in Singapore. Or that he was pivotal in quelling the Great Riot of 1854 when Hokkien and Teochew secret societies clashed. And that he gave a ball that was so famous that it was reported in England in a journal published by Charles Dickens. Some may not even know these facts. In the year when Singapore commemorates its bicentennial, it is timely that the life story of one of our most entrepreneurial pioneers is made known in a lavish book illustrated with rare images from the Tan family collection. Tan Kim Seng was not the typical refugee from South China. His family had already been in the Nanyang for three generations when he arrived in Singapore in the 1820s. With business acumen and gaining trust with British merchants, he built an empire with warehouses, mansions and the largest single piece of property which stretched from the coast of Pasir Panjang to Ulu Pandan to Tanglin. The details of his will, designed to repel “the curse of the third generation”, is founded on his values and beliefs. But what he did not anticipate was how his well-thought-out plans would be unravelled primarily by English Law.

Since its publication in 1923, Sir Song Ong Siang's One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore has become the standard biographical reference of prominent Chinese in early Singapore, at least in the English language. This fact would have surprised Song who saw himself primarily as a compiler of historical and biographical snippets. The original was not referenced in academic fashion and contained a number of errors. This annotation by the Singapore Heritage Society takes Song's classic text and updates it with detailed annotations of sources that Song himself might have consulted, and includes more recent scholarship on the lives and times of various personalities who are mentioned in the original book. This annotated edition is commissioned by the National Library Board, Singapore and co-published with World Scientific Publishing.

"Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party includes background papers, previously unseen Communist Party documents, propaganda posters, and other data. These materials, from both sides of the conflict, shed new light on the Malayan Communist Party, and present history as dialogue and debate."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved