Palace of Ghosts: Singapore's Untold History

Final Years and Legacy In the last post we considered the scope of Tan’s relationship with the Qing court in China. At its most basic, Tan’s relationship with the Qing court could have been based on some kind of recognition provided in return for Tan’s donation to help the starving victims of the North China Famine in the 1870s. However, there are tantalising snippets of information that suggest there may have been more to it. Chinese sources suggest that Tan was acting as Sultan Abu Bakar’s de facto ambassador to the Qing court. The idea warrants further investigation but additional facts remain elusive for now. Likewise, the details of the interplay going on in Tan’s mind concerning loyal service to the Sultan, the management of his own personal and business affairs, and the siren song that beckoned him to his home town may never be fully understood.  This final post in the series about the life and times of Tan Yeok Nee, while also covering Tan’s final years, looks at some of th...

In the mid 19th-century the Qing government’s first-hand knowledge of the outside world was notoriously thin. The last post told the story of their tardy awakening to the reality of the burgeoning wealth among Asia’s overseas Chinese communities and described how an imperial consulate came to be first established in Singapore. Some contend that the Qing consulate was there to show “care and concern for the overseas Chinese, cracking down on illegal sale of cheap labours, protecting women, and tacking (sic) the pirates problem in the region”. The Qing History Society (Singapore) goes on to suggest that the first Qing Consul to Singapore, Zuo Bin Long, “served selflessly for the overseas Chinese, work (sic) hard to protect and ensure their welfare, as well as promoting education and setting up schools for them”. It is easy to be skeptical, even cycnical, when it comes to the mandate of individual consulate officials. But more generally, it is hard to believe that the Manchu Qing were pr...

Tan Yeok Nee is best known for his home in Singapore, a famous heritage building now known as The House of Tan Yeok Nee. The previous post told the story of its creation, including referencing the several visits he made to China to facilitate its completion. The post also highlighted, once more, the perplexing mystery as to why so little seems to be known about such a high profile public figure as Tan. On the one hand the mid-1870s to the mid-1890s saw Tan at the peak of his eminence, even celebrity; but on the other hand there appears to be long stretches of time where little information can be found about him in the historical record. All the more surprising then that, apparently out of the blue, it was during this period that he received his honorific title from the Qing court in Peking.    Few in Singapore appear to be aware of Tan’s Qing title despite the inscription above the main entrance to The House of Tan Yeok Nee. Fewer still would be able to guess at the back story...

The Singapore Years A 1910 postcard showing the main entrance to The House of Tan Yeok Nee The unexplained departure of Tan Yeok Nee from his official roles in Johor has been interpreted by some as the result of a conspiracy hatched by rivals intent of ousting him from his position of influence in Johor. The previous post explained why this is hard to believe and that an obvious alternative explanation exists: that for years Tan may have been developing a grand plan for a path to semi-retirement. The years following his departure from Johor saw him complete the construction of his palace in Chao’an, China. He would go on to build another beautiful mansion in Singapore, continue his close association with Maharaja Abu Bakar (soon to become Sultan), while continuing to manage his own personal business interests through his Singapore Boat Quay trading company Kwan Hong. Tan may have had a close eye on a quieter life. His new residence in Chao’an, southern China, must have been part of his...

Tan Yeok Nee's Zi Zheng Di palace, situated in Chao'an, Guangdong province, China, is several times larger than Singapore's The House of Tan Yeok Nee. This, and the fact that its central halls are adorned with highly intricate and unique stone carvings, accounts for why it took Tan a decade or more longer to complete its construction when compared to his Singapore mansion. Only after Zi Zheng Di was completed did he go on to build The House of Tan Yeok Nee in Singapore.  Very little has been written about Zi Zheng Di, in either Chinese or English, with the notable exception of a chapter by Gretchen Liu which appeared in the 2003 book The House of Tan Yeok Nee: The Conservation of a National Monument. The chapter she wrote sets out in some detail, for the first time, how the architectural style of Tan's second mansion in Singapore was so heavily influenced by his first mansion in Chao'an specifically, but also by that region's architectural heritage more generall...