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He was born in Xiamen Fujian Province, during the Qing dynasty of China. He was born on the 21th October 1874. His father (Tan Kee Peck), mother, docter and nurse were involved.

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Helping out with business (1890, 16 years old)

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Helping out with business (1890, 16 years old)

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He travelled to Singapore in the Straits Settlements (Singapore from 1826-1942) to help his father, Tan Kee Peck, who owned a rice trading business.

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After his father's business collapsed, he started his own company and built a business empire from rubber plantations, manufacturing, sawmills, canneries, real estate, import and export brokerage, ocean transport and rice trading. He is proficient in Hokkien, so he achieved much success doing business in Singapore because Hokkien was the common language of overseas Chinese in Singapore back then.

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Improving the education at his homeland (1918)

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Improving the education at his homeland (1918)

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He established the Jimei Schools (now Jimei University) in Xiamen.

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The Chinese High School (now Hwa Chong Institution)

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Setting up and Supporting schools (1919)

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Setting up and Supporting schools (1919)

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He set up The Chinese High School (now Hwa Chong Institution) in Singapore. He was a member of the Anglo-Chinese College Council and had pledged $100,000 to the proposed Anglo Chinese School College. However, the proposal was turned down by the Government.

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Helping his homeland with educational improvements (1921)

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Helping his homeland with educational improvements (1921)

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He set up Xiamen University and financially supported it.

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He agreed to channel $30,000 he had given to Anglo-Chinese School fund for physics and chemistry. This helped to complete the Secondary school at Cairn hill.

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He stopped financially supporting Xiamen University when the Nationalist government of the Republic of China took over. He was one of the prominent overseas Chinese to provide financial support to china during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He organised many relief funds under his name, one of which alone managed to raise ten million straits dollars.

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He was a participant in the Legislative Yuan of the Nationalist government in Chongqing. After the Japanese invaded and occupied Malaya and Singapore, they conducted systemic extermination of anti-Japanese elements. He escaped from Singapore before it fell to the Japanese, and went hiding in Malang, a town in East Java province, Indonesia. He strongly rejected proposals to attempt to negotiate with the Japanese and regarded such attempts as a characteristic of a race traitor. He tried to dissuade Wong Jingwei (politician) from such activities.

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He began writing his memoirs, The Memories of an Overseas Chinese of the Southern Ocean. It later became an important document of the history of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.

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He founded the Chiyu Banking Corporation in Hong Kong, an intended to be sustainable business with profits to be devoted to education in Xiamen and the rest of Fujian province in China.

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After the Communist victory in China and the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he tried to return to Singapore in 1950 but was denied entry as the British colonial authorities were concerned about communist influence in Singapore and the Malaya. he moved permanently to China and served in numerous positions in the Chinese Communist Party.

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The year of grief (he passed away) (1961)

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The year of grief (he passed away) (1961)

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He died in Beijing and was given a state funeral by the Chinese government. In Singapore, the Tan Kah Kee Scholarship fund, later became known as the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, established in memory of him.