WEALTHY ORIENTALS

Evening Star, Issue 22688, 30 June 1937, Page 14

WEALTHY ORIENTALS

CONTBAST IB AIMS A dramatic contrast between the expenditures of two wealthy Chinese residents of Singapore is drawn here by the weekly English language ‘ China Critic,’ Chinese-edited (says the Shanghai correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor ’). The ‘ Critic ’ lives up to its name in commenting upon a ‘ Straits Times report that the wdll-known millionaire, Aw Boon Haw—who, to do him justice. should be identified as a frequent philanthropist—had “ exhausted Singapore gold stocks ” in building the six domes of his new villa at Pasir Panjang. The building is said to he probably the most costly one-story 40fthigh building in Singapore, and the domes are termed “ one of the finest examples of modern architectural design to be seen anywhere in Malaya and the Far East.” But in Singapore also, the ‘ Critic ’ points out, there lives another man whose name is l not much heard. His contributions to China’s education are not now .as spectacular as they were a decade ago, yet_ “ proportionately it may be truly said that it costs Tan Ka Kee more to support the Amoy University and the Chip Bee schools now than in his heyday.” “ It is an indisputable fact,” continues the ‘ Critic,’ that Mr Tan deliberately chose to see his company go bankrupt rather than let the two educational institutions founded and supported by him go unsupported. And it must be said that lie does not seek publicity, as the other philanthropist of the same South Sea eeaoort does.

“ Instead of surrounding himself with great pomp and prosperity, he leads a simple life. He may not leave to posterity a residence with gold domes, the gilding of which exhausted Singapore’s gold stocks at one time, but those crude buildings of the Amoy University and the Chip Bee Schools will remain a lasting monument to Mr Tan’s contribution to China’s educational rebirth.”