Tan Boon Cheng 陳文清
褔洲
中華民國顯考陳府文清之壽域
妣林氏蘭金娘
Tan Boon Cheng . Born
In First Moon
6th February 1878
前清光緒戊寅年
正月初五日生
坐坤向艮兼未丑
民國九年庚申孟夏吉立
男
陳鏡溶
陳鏡湖
女
必有
仝奉祀
正向分金
丁未
丁丑
Biography
南洋名人集傳
Tan Boon Cheng
Foochow, set up Chop Hock Chin Bee.
Well versed in Chinese language and learned man, sociable and
active community contributer to society and philantrophist.
Manager of Foochow Association and Rong Nam Villa.
Treasurer of two schools Chong Cheng, Chong Ben. Honourable manager of Chong Nam School
Donated to Fujian Security. Two sons mentioned (confirmed from the tombstones they are the same)
Unconfirmed but based on oral history from caretakers: Boon Cheng was a famous fortune teller.
"On being handed the girl's pek ji, the young man's parents made a beeline to a diviner to check the compatibility of the young couple. The sinseh,as we addressed the diviner, was the renowned Tan Boon Cheng, who was a household name in Baba circles because of his reputation for accurate readings of horoscope charts. In the case of cousin Swee Neo's horoscope sinseh Tan announced a good reading when it was matched with that of the young man's."
Taken from A Nyonya Mosaic: Memoirs of A Peranakan Childhood
By William Gwee
Set in Singapore in the 1910s, A Nyonya Mosaic is the story of young girl growing up in a slowly changing world. William Gwee Thian Hock relates the childhood impressions of his Nyonya mother through her own eyes