From Community to Political Leadership: Tan Kah-kee in Command
TAN KAH-KEE’s personal political experience commenced with the Sino-French War (1884–5) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5). On both occasions, he happened to be at home in Chi Mei, hearing and sensing the peril China was in. His latent anti-Manchu feelings were steadily being built up during the 1900s with the visits of Chinese reformists and revolutionaries to Singapore. These political exiles attempted to enlist Overseas Chinese support and to propagate their contending ideologies on reform, revolution and modernization of China…