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Lim Boon Keng (Dr) (林文庆; Lin Wenqing) (b. 18 October 1869, Singapore–d. 1 January 1957, Singapore) was an eminent figure of the Straits Chinese community.

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Lim Boon Keng enrolled in Raffles Institution in 1879.His studies at Raffles Institution were nearly terminated when his father passed away and the family faced financial difficulties. The then school principal, R. W. Hullett, intervened and Lim was able to continue with his education.Lim graduated from Raffles Institution and was awarded the Queen’s Scholarship in 1887

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He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and graduated in 1892, earning a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degree with first-class honours.

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Lim Boon Keng returned to Singapore in 1893, setting up his private practice on Telok Ayer Street.

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In 1895, at the age of 26, Lim was appointed as a Chinese member of the Straits Settlements Legislative Council. He served in this position until his resignation in 1903.

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In 1896, he entered into a partnership with T. Murray Robertson and co-owned The Dispensary at Raffles Place).

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Lim Boon Keng became a member of the Chinese Advisory Board from 1896.

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Lim also saw the practice of Confucianism and reformist ideals as means to improve the lives of the Straits Chinese and larger Chinese community. Lim and Song founded The Straits Chinese Magazine in 1897. He used the magazine as a platform to express these ideologies,and wrote about the social ills of opium as well as the importance of female education.

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Lim believed that education was the key to improving the general character of individuals and thus advocated for various educational reforms. Concerned about the lack of female education in Singapore, Lim, together with Song Ong Siang and other prominent members of the Straits Chinese community, founded the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School in 1899. He also started organising Mandarin classes at his home that year, as he thought that English-educated Chinese also ought to be proficient in Mandarin.

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Lim was outspoken about the ills of opium smoking in 1900s. Lim was hugely influenced by the reform movement in China during the late 19th century, and developed close ties with the movement’s key figures, Sun Yat-sen and Kang You-wei, both of whom visited Singapore in the 1900s

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In addition to his other endeavours, Lim also wrote books and published numerous essays. Some of his articles published in The Straits Chinese Magazine were written under pseudonyms such as Lin Meng Cheng, W. C. Lin, M. C. Lin and Historicus.
1911: 《普通卫生讲义》 (Putong weisheng jiangyi; “Elements of Popular Hygiene”)
1914: 《孔教大纲》 (Kong jiao dagang; “Principles  Confucianism”)
1901: The Chinese Crisis from Within (published under the pseudonym “Wen Ching”)
1917: The Great War from the Confucian Point of View, and Kindred Topics, being Lectures Delivered During 1914–1917 1927: Tragedies of Eastern Life: An Introduction to the Problems of Social Psychology
1929: The Li Sao: An Elegy on Encountering Sorrows

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He also held various other positions such as municipal commissioner (1905–1906)

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Back in Singapore, Lim was a founding member of the Tongmenghui (同盟会) set up by Sun in 1906 and subsequently served as its president after the group became the Singapore branch of the Kuomintang in 1912.

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He was a founding member of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which was established in 1906.

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Between 1907 and 1910, Lim taught at the Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School (later renamed King Edward VII Medical School) on a gratis basis.

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Lim partnered Tan Chay Yan, then already an established rubber planter in Malacca, to open rubber plantations in Singapore; in 1909, they formed the company, Serangoon Rubber Plantations. When the Malayan rubber industry boomed in the early 20th century, Lim reaped the profits.

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In 1911, following Sun’s successful revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, Lim was variously appointed as a medical adviser in the Peking (now Beijing) government, inspector-general of the hospitals in Peking and president of the Peking government’s Board of Health. He also became the personal physician and private secretary to Sun, the first president of the Republic of China

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During World War I (1914–18), Lim helped to implement war taxation and rallied support from the Straits Chinese community for the Allies’ war efforts.

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Lim was reappointed to the council in 1915 when Tan Jiak Kim resigned from his seat, and served until his departure from Singapore in 1921.

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After heading the university for 16 years, Lim returned to Singapore in 1937

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During the Japanese Occupation (1942–45) in Singapore, Lim was pressured to become the leader of the Oversea Chinese Association. He was tasked with raising 50 million Malayan dollars for Japan on behalf of the Chinese community.While Lim and his committee managed to raise a portion of it, the full amount was eventually reached with a loan of 22 million Malayan dollars from the Yokohama Specie Bank.

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After the war, Lim retired from public life and passed away on 1 January 1957, leaving behind his wife, six children, 30 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. One of his great-granddaughters is the playwright Stella Kon. Lim was buried at Bidadari Cemetery, which was cleared in the 2000s to make way for redevelopment. His remains were exhumed and the tombstone placed at the Bidadari Memorial Garden at Mount Vernon. Boon Keng Road and Boon Keng MRT station are named in his honour.

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During a 2004 international conference, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew hailed Lim as a role model of biculturalism that Singapore Chinese should emulate as the influence of China grows.