Clans at Bukit Pasoh the Clan Associations of Bukit Pasoh Were, and Still Are, Integral to Their Respective Communities
Chinatown Stories | Updated as of August 2019
Clans At Bukit Pasoh The clan associations of Bukit Pasoh were, and still are, integral to their respective communities.
In 19th and early 20th century Singapore, social services were sorely lacking. This was where the clan associations played a vital role: providing a community and invaluable support for fellow immigrants of common ancestry, surname or language, or those who were from the same hometown.
Beyond social functions, some of these clans founded schools, provided scholarships, and supported local arts and culture. They also assisted members with important life events such as weddings and funerals.
These clan associations used to be concentrated along certain streets in Chinatown, such as Bukit Pasoh Road. Even though their numbers are fast dwindling today due to diminishing membership and high operating costs, the few that remain at Bukit Pasoh such as Gan Clan, Tung On Wui Kun, Koh Clan and Chin Kang Huay Kuan have adapted to the times. They continue to pool resources to promote Chinese culture, guard their heritage and benefit the community.
Gan Clan This kinship clan’s early years were fraught with obstacles. Dating from 1926, it was established for immigrants with the surname Gan (颜, Yan in Mandarin) and was known as the Lu Guo Tang (鲁国堂) Gan Clan Association.
During the Japanese Occupation, it ceased operations, but re-registered itself as an association after 1948. However, it dissolved again as a result of weak organisational structure.
Undeterred, founding chairman Gan Yue Cheng (颜有政) suggested reviving the clan during a banquet in 1965. The idea was so well received that a year later, the official Gan Clan Association (颜氏公会) was established at 18 and 20 Bukit Pasoh Road. It had less than a hundred members then.
The clan supported education and social services. In 1970, it launched the Gan Clan Association Scholarship and in 1977, it launched its Welfare Fund to provide financial assistance to members in need. A Senior Citizen Club, and Women Group and Youth Group were also established in the late 1980s.
As the Gan Clan grew, its reach extended beyond local shores. In 1986, it was the first overseas Chinese group to establish a commemorative monument for their ancestors at Qufu (曲阜), the hometown of their ancestor and Confucius’s best disciple Yan Zi (言子). The process was filmed in a Japanese movie Yellow Sea.
Stronger international relations were forged in 1991 when the clan organised the inaugural World Gan Congress. Some 375 clansmen from around the world attended this event, which spearheaded the international Gan Clan cyber centre, and World Gan Clan Cultural and Educational Fund. The initiative raised S$200,000.
This event also laid the groundwork for the clan’s bi-annual world congresses to promote
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cultural exchange and collaboration. The first of its kind in Singapore, it was soon adopted by other local clans.
In 1995, former Member of Parliament and businesswoman Gan See Khem was elected as the president of the Gan Clan. The daughter of the late founder Gan Yue Cheng, she was the first female president in history of clan associations in Singapore.
Under her leadership, the clan launched its Heritage Centre in 2013 in collaboration with the National Heritage Board. Costing upwards of $500,000, it features Confucius and his disciple Yan Zi, the Gan history, as well as a memorial wall for ancestors. The very same year, the clan won the Clan of the Year Award by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations.
Today, the clan organises events during Chinese festivals, group outings, as well as cultural programmes for youth. This includes calligraphy classes for the script Yan Ti (颜体), developed by Yan Zhen Qing (颜真卿) during the Tang Dynasty.
Tung On Wui Kun One of Singapore’s oldest clan associations, Tung On Wui Kun (东安会馆) has a history of 143 years. Established in 1876 by immigrants from the Dong Guan (东莞) and Bao An (宝安, Shenzhen 深圳 today) counties in Guangdong, China, it began with little more than 100 members.
At that time, most of its early members were women living in Chinatown and working as maids, hawkers and construction. In later years, this demographic shifted to include more men.
Over the next four decades, membership numbers grew and in 1919, the clan purchased a shophouse at 285 North Bridge Road. Four years later, the clan established a primary school, Chinese Dongan Yixiao (东安义校) within the clubhouse. This school provided free education for immigrants from Dong Guan and Bao An. It stopped operations in end 1964 due to dwindling student intake and insufficient funding.
After the war, membership grew to more than 3,000. While the school did not reopen, the clan continued to support education by offering scholarships to the children of clansmen. In 1994, Tung On Wui Kun purchased and moved to the shophouse at 21 Bukit Pasoh Road.
One of this Cantonese clan’s main contributions is its establishment of a Cantonese opera troupe (东安戏曲) in 1947. Having trained under renowned opera instructors Zhang Yao Guang (张耀光) and Guan You Tian (关有添), it created two original operas based upon Buddhist teachings: Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha Saves the World (地藏王渡世) and The Reincarnation of Yu Lin (玉林再世缘). It even invited Hong Kong acting veterans Luo Jia Ying (罗家英) and Liang Tian (梁天) to grace one of its events as special guests.
With the advent of television, Cantonese opera’s popularity declined. And while few opera troupes remain in Singapore today, Tung On Opera Troupe remains a steadfast custodian of this dying art.
In 1996, it was invited to perform at the Guangzhou International Opera Festival, and in 2004, it participated in the Yangcheng International Cantonese Opera Festival held in
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Guangyu City. Currently operating out of 23 Bukit Pasoh Road, the troupe continues to perform at community centres, charity shows and old folks’ homes. It also conducts opera singing lessons and opens rehearsals weekly.
Besides preserving Singapore’s Cantonese opera heritage, the clan also organises annual Lunar New Year celebrations, international conventions, ancestral offerings and clan trips to Shenzhen and Dongguan to strengthen international ties among clansmen.
Koh Clan Set up before World War II but disrupted by the war, the Koh Clan (高氏公会) was officially re-established and registered in 1948. It provided a gathering place and support system for people with the Koh (高) surname.
This surname is one of the Lieshan (烈山) Five Surnames, which include Lu (吕), Lu (卢), Ji (纪) and Xu (许), originating from Hubei, China. They are variations of the surname Jiang (姜). Legend has it that people with these surnames are descended from the Farmer God Shennong, who got his surname from the Jiang waters where he was born.
The clan acquired its first headquarters at Havelock Road in 1949. However, the government requisitioned it in the 1960s. In 1971, the clan purchased and relocated to a shophouse at 15 Bukit Pasoh Road, where it continues to operate.
Today, the association rents out part of the shophouse to fund bursaries, the celebration of festivals and clan ties trips. A member of the international Lieshan five-surname, it also organised the 11th world conference of the Philippines Lieshan Five Surnames Association in 2008, and continues to strengthen ties with Koh kinsfolk around the world today.
References: https://roots.sg/Content/Places/landmarks/chinatown-clans-associations-trail/tung- on-wui-kun https://www.ura.gov.sg/services/download_file.aspx?f=%7B98C78AC1-5131-413F- BFC7-DD4C7B7A9731%7D https://roots.sg/Content/Places/landmarks/chinatown-clans-associations-trail/tung- on-wui-kun https://www.ura.gov.sg/services/download_file.aspx?f=%7B7776F6BE-0F93-41EE- AB6C-ED388675D467%7D https://www.ganclan.sg/en/ https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/how-gan-clan-became-happening https://www.hisour.com/gan-heritage-centre-singapore-18858/ https://roots.sg/Content/Places/landmarks/chinatown-clans-associations- trail/singapore-koh-clan-association https://roots.sg/~/media/Roots/Files/ura-chinatown-clans-and-associations- trail/uracombinedchinatowntrail19_-brochure.pdf?la=en
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