The Aoxi Stream winds through lush mountains, offering scenic beauty at every turn. Known in the writings of philosopher Zhu Xi as “Anle Village” (village of peace and joy), this is today’s Aoxi Village in northwestern Lianhua Town, Tong’an. For centuries, the murmuring stream has nourished the land, fostering an overseas Chinese hometown DNA of “Love Country, Love Hometown, Love to Strive and Win,” embedding the cycle of “venturing out and returning to give back” deep into the soil.
Aoxi Village, Tong’an. Source: Xiamen One Heart Charity
This is the ancestral home of the Singaporean overseas Chinese leader Tan Ean Kiam (Chen Yanqian). Since the 19th century, generations of Aoxi people have left their homes for Nanyang; Tan Ean Kiam was one of them.
Pioneering in Nanyang: From Shop Assistant to Community Leader
Born into a common farming family in 1881, Tan Ean Kiam boarded a ferry for Singapore at the age of 18 to seek a living. He started as a shop assistant, working diligently. His honesty and keen business sense soon earned the appreciation of Tan Kee Peck (father of Tan Kah Kee), laying the foundation for his future.
During the rubber boom in Nanyang, he seized the opportunity and co-founded Joo Guan Co. in 1909. In business, he realized that Chinese merchants were at the mercy of Western financial capital and knew that “without collective strength, we cannot compete with foreign merchants.”
To break this deadlock, he rallied colleagues across the diaspora and co-founded the Oversea-Chinese Bank in 1919 to provide financial support to compatriots in Nanyang. During the economic crisis that hit the Nanyang Chinese economy, his vision and nerves led to the merger of several banks to form the new OCBC Bank, successfully turning the tide and establishing his prestige among the diaspora.
Devotion to Roots: Building the Hometown Foundation with a Diaspora Heart
“Success in business is ultimately for the purpose of better serving one’s home.” After establishing a firm foothold in the Singaporean business world, Tan Ean Kiam remained concerned about his impoverished and secluded hometown. When he returned to Aoxi Village and saw children with no schools to attend and fellow villagers with no roads to travel, his heart was filled with intense anxiety.
Thus, Tan Ean Kiam visited the homes of his kinsmen, engaging in heart-to-heart talks to detail his vision for establishing a school. He was moved to find that the hearts of his kinsmen had long been tightly connected to their hometown; their devotion to their native land had never diminished despite the passage of time. Upon hearing the plan to provide education for the children, they willingly offered their own residences to support the cause.
Aoxi Primary School, Tong’an District
Soon, Zhiyuan Primary School (now Aoxi Primary School) was established on the foundation of these ancestral homes. Tan Ean Kiam personally bore all construction and operating costs for the school. In 1936, he further allocated 20,000 yuan worth of shares from his own Tong Bee Motor Vehicles Company as a school fund, decreeing that all enrolled students be exempt from tuition fees. In an era of scarce educational resources, this school, built by the heart of the diaspora, was like a beacon in the dark, lighting the way for the children of Aoxi to pursue their studies.
Beyond education, he focused even more on breaking the transportation deadlock of his hometown. He constructed the highway from Yunpu to Aoxi, built the “Yanqian” and “Dingsheng” bridges, initiated the Tongmei Road and Bus Company, and supervised the repair of the highway from Tong’an to Jimei. One highway after another spanned the mountains and rivers, and bridge after bridge connected the villages, allowing Aoxi Village to step out of isolation and connect with the world.
Aoxi Primary School: A Century of Cultural Inheritance
Today, the sound of reading fills the campus as children grow through knowledge, inheriting the overseas Chinese hometown DNA. This is the result of a relay of protection by generations of overseas compatriots.
Inscription from 1971 recording donations from Singaporean compatriots for the school
Following Tan Ean Kiam, Kwek Hong Png (Guo Fangfeng), another Singaporean industrialist who hailed from Aoxi Village, continued the tradition of diaspora-led education. From the 1960s to the 1980s, he made multiple donations to Aoxi Primary School. In 1981, he made a one-time donation of 500,000 yuan to build the Aoxi Middle School buildings, making Aoxi Village one of the few rural areas in Xiamen at the time to have a secondary school, achieving full educational coverage from primary to junior high school. The successive assistance from these two diaspora leaders has solidified the educational foundation of Aoxi Village, cultivating groups after groups of outstanding talent.
The spiritual legacy of Tan Ean Kiam, much the waters of the Aoxi Stream, has silently integrated into the conscious actions of the villagers in building their hometown. During the “Beautiful Village” construction, Chen Yushan took the initiative to give up his own longan orchard, thatched hut, and dry latrine to support the village in building roads and sports courts. More and more villagers are joining public welfare efforts, carrying on the folk customs of “devotion to the hometown and mutual aid.” Aoxi Village is leveraging its excellent ecological resources and cultural heritage to vigorously develop characteristic leisure agriculture and rural tourism. This hometown, with its fruit-laden slopes and murmuring streams, has become the village of peace and joy in the hearts of many.
