Tan Teck Soon
| Tan Teck Soon | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 陳德順 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈德顺 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Tan Teck Soon (simplified Chinese: 陈德顺; traditional Chinese: 陳德順; pinyin: Chén Déshùn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Tek-sūn; 1859 – 25 November 1922) was a Chinese intellectual and writer active in Singapore. He was the son of missionary Tan See Boo.
Early life[edit]
Tan was born in 1859 in Singapore. His father was Chinese missionary Tan See Boo. His mother, Yeo Geok Neo, was an alumna of the Chinese Girls' School.[1] Tan attended Raffles Institution and was particularly proficient in Chinese studies.[2] As a teenager, Tan often helped his father to translate his letters to overseas missionaries from Chinese to English.[3] In 1873, he became the first Straits Chinese recipient of the Guthrie Scholarship for Chinese boys, which allowed him to further his studies at the Anglo-Chinese College in Xiamen, China.[2]
Career[edit]
After completing his further studies, Tan returned to Singapore to work as a civil servant. He subsequently joined the private sector, serving as part of Kim Ching & Co's consulate in Thailand.[2] Tan was also an active member of the Singapore Chinese Educational Institute, the Straits Chinese Christian Association, the Anti-Opium League, and the Chinese Philomathic Society.[4]
In 1893, Tan co-founded the Straits Philosophical Society, whose membership was limited to 15 and required one to be of "distinguished merit", a university graduate, or a member of a European learned society; alongside Lim Boon Keng, who was admitted into the society in 1895, Tan was one of its two Chinese members.[4] In 1894, Tan and Presbyterian minister Archibald Lamont purchased the Daily Advertiser, which Tan had been the editor of since 1890. Tan also co-authored a book on Chinese expatriates in Singapore, titled Bright Celestials: The Chinaman at Home and Abroad (1894), with Lamont.[4]
Tan frequently wrote for the Straits Chinese Magazine, a quarterly journal that ran from 1897 to 1907. In 1898, together with Lim Boon Keng and Chinese scholar Khoo Seok Wan, Tan established the Chinese-language newspaper Thien Nan Shin Pao; he served as its general manager from 1898 to 1905.[5]
Later years[edit]
Tan withdrew from public life in his later years.[6] He became increasingly drawn to Buddhism and was a supporter of the Maha Bodhi Society founded by Sri Lankan revivalist Anagarika Dharmapala.[7] Tan died on 25 November 1922 at the age of 63.[8]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ White 2017, p. 104.
- ^ a b c Doran 2006, p. 50.
- ^ DeBernardi 2020, p. 181.
- ^ a b c Doran 2006, p. 51.
- ^ Doran 2006, p. 52.
- ^ Isakhan 2015, p. 262.
- ^ Turner, Cox & Bocking 2020, p. 117.
- ^ Doran 2006, p. 63.
Works cited[edit]
- DeBernardi, Jean (2020). Christian Circulations: Global Christianity and the Local Church in Penang and Singapore, 1819–2000. NUS Press. ISBN 9789813251090.
- Doran, Christine (2006). "Bright Celestial: Progress in the Political Thought of Tan Teck Soon". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. 21 (1): 46–67. doi:10.1353/soj.2006.0003. JSTOR 41308064.
- Isakhan, Benjamin (2015). The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748653683.
- Turner, Alicia; Cox, Laurence; Bocking, Brian (2020). The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk who Faced Down the British Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190073084.
- White, Chris (2017). Sacred Webs: The Social Lives and Networks of Minnan Protestants, 1840s–1920s. BRILL. ISBN 9789004339170.
External links[edit]
- Bright Celestials: The Chinaman at Home and Abroad (digitization at Internet Archive)
