Turtle Garden (Aoyuan) Situated on the southeastern tip of Jimei Town, Turtle Garden includes a 50-meter-long corridor, a monument and the Mausoleum of Tan Kah Kee.
Originally from the village of Jimei, 16 miles from Xiamen in Fujian Province, China, Tan Kah Kee arrived in Singapore at age 16 (1890) to begin his career in his father’s rice store. That business collapsed in 1903, but Tan Kah Kee went on to build an industrial empire ranging from rubber plantations and manufacturing, sawmills, canneries, real estate, import and export brokerage, ocean transport to — rice trading. The years 1912 and 1914 were the best for his enterprises when he amassed a huge fortune. He came to be known as the ‘Henry Ford of Malaya.’ He spent his fortune not on himself or his family, but on education, for education, not business, was his abiding concern. He founded and financed several schools and other educational institutions in his native Jimei as well as in Singapore. In 1921 he set up Xiamen University where Lim Boon Keng was first Vice-chancellor, and maintained it for 16 years even during his financially difficult years, before the Chinese government took it over in 1937.
Back to the garden. The walls on both sides of the corridor have carvings of more than 40 pictures relating the lives of historical figures. A pagoda-shaped stone monument is erected in the centre of the garden. On the stone railings are relief sculptures depicting the life of this great patriot.
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