Guan Chuan Street within the Tiong Bahru Estate was named after So Guan Chuan.
Guan Chuan was a merchant in the 19th century Singapore.
Little was known about him, other than the fact that he was elected a member of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce in 1837.
The chamber then had only a few Chinese merchants as members.
He was also a founder member of the Qing De Hui and he contributed generously to the building funds for the construction of the Tian Fu Gong in Telok Ayer Street.
See Moh Guan was born in Malacca and was the fourth son of Si Hoo Keh.
He was in the pepper and gambier business.
In 1879, he assumed chairmanship of Heng Shan Ting temple, taking it over from his father.
Mr See died in 1879.
Later, a street was name after Mr See Moh Guan.
Located within the Tiong Bahru Estate, the first Singapore Improvement Trust estate built between 1936 and 1941, this street is the address of a unique ring-shaped five-storey block of flats which used to boast a clock on its facade.
Among the older generations, Moh Guan Terrace is often referred to as Tiong Bahru Gor Lau (A Hokkien term meaning “the five-storey flat in Tiong Bahru”) in honour of the only five-storey building in Tiong Bahru.
Yong Siak Street is a road between Chay Yan Street and Moh Guan Terrace.
(These are street names found within the Tiong Bahru Estate)
It was named after a Teochew merchant Tan Yong Siak (1835 – 1914).
Born in his native Zhaoan in 1835, he came to Singapore when young.
He first worked as an apprentice before becoming manager of Chop Ban Seng.
In 1863, he founded Chop Yong Hak Seng at 49 Circular Road and Ban Seng Soon at 71 Boat Quay in 1879, both dealing in Siam rice, rattan and rubber.
He was a founder member of The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
He was a charitable man and an arbitrator.
He died in 1914, leaving behind many children and grandchildren.
Tan Jiak Ngoh was his second son.
Tiong Poh Road within the Tiong Bahru Estate was named after a Fujian merchant, Khoo Tiong Poh.
He came to Singapore from China at 22.
He founded Chop Tiong Ho in Market Street and then quit in 1874 to set up Bun Hin & Co with his friend as shipowner.
He then engaged in ship chandlery business in the name of Ann Bee & Co.
He was also a partner with Keng Nam and Co and Chop Sin Bee Siang.
In 1888, he sought and was conferred a honorary title by the Manchu government.
He died in 1892 at 62.
Eng Hoon Street is named after a Malacca merchant Koh Eng Hoon (1823 – 1880).
Eng Hoon is is Koh Kee Oot’s son and Koh Teck Hin’s grandson.
Eng Hoon came from an old Chinese family that has been in Malacca for over 200 years.
He came to Singapore in 1840 at the age of 17 in search for opportunity.
First he worked as a shop assistant, and later a cashier with Boustead & Co.
He quit the company in 1845 to set up his own company, Benefit Society.
He had large dealings with the Bugis as a merchant and commission agent.
He died in 1880 at 57, leaving behind considerable properties in Singapore and Malacca.
Seng Poh Road and Seng Poh Lane are located within the Tiong Bahru Estate. Both streets are after Tan Seng Poh(1830 – 1879), who was born in Perak.
His father Tan Ah Hun was from Zhaoan (between Fujian and Guandong provinces) and was the rich Captain China of Perak.
Tan Seng Poh’s eldest and second sister were married to Seah Eu Chin in Singapore.
Seng Poh followed his sister to Singapore and later became one of the four richest Teochews here.
He built a mansion in Loke Yew Street, which became one of the four largest houses among the Teochews.
Seng Poh once had the monopoly to sell opium in Johor.
In Singapore, he was head of the Opium Farm.
In 1871, he was appointed Municipal Commissioner and in 1875, head of its committee.
Seng Poh was made a Justice of Peace and a honorary magistrate in 1872.
He was keen in public service, social welfare and education.
The street within the Tiong Bahru Estate is in memory of Seah Eu Chin (1805 – 1883), who left his native Chenghai, Zhaozhou, for Singapore in 1823. At 25, enterprising Eu Chin was established as a commission agent in Circular Road, dealing in native produce.
Born in 1837 in his native Zhangzhou, Fujian province, he came to Singapore in 1858. He started as a small time businessman and went on to set up a medical shop, Chop Ban San and later Chop Hock Nam, which eventually became one of the largest Chinese druggist stores. He also dealt in private banking. Committed to social services, he was a member of the Chinese Advisory Board, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Society of Arts.
A devout Buddhist, he established the Siong Lim Temple in Kim Keat Road in 1902. (Siong Lim Temple is the common Hokkien or Fukien name of the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery (Chinese: 莲山双林寺), literally Twin Grove of the Lotus Mountain Temple)
At the age of 60, Kim Pong had a dream where he saw a golden light rising from the west over the sea (the west being symbolic of Buddhism which originated in India, and is west of China). He took the dream to be an omen, and went to the coast the next day. At dusk, he met a unusual Hokkien family arriving by boat.
Educated at a high school in Malacca, he was appointed a Municipal Commissioner at 21 and a Justice of Peace at 24. In 1900, he was elected a member of the Straits Chinese British Association in Singapore and later President of its branch in Malacca. Chay Yan donated $15,000 in the name of his father to a medical school which was to become the King Edward VII Medical School, the forerunner of the University of Singapore’s Medical Faculty.
An orchid variety, Vanda Tan Chay Yan, was named after him. The peach-coloured Vanda Tan Chay Yan is considered one of the most outstanding hybrids produced in Singapore and has established Singapore firmly on the world orchid map. Vanda Tan Chay Yan was awarded a First Class Certificate, the highest award given by the Royal Horticultural Society of the UK, at the Chelsea Flower Show in England in 1954.
A road in Malacca was also named after him in view of his contributions to the country’s revenue.
Tan died of malaria at the age of 46. A relative believed he could have caught it during the long hours spent at the rubber plantations. His wife, Chua Ruan Neo, a tenth generation Nyonya here, continued with the family tradition of giving. The couple had seven children – six daughters and a son.
Kim Ching was the eldest son of Tan Tock Seng, a native of Changzhou, Fujian province.
He followed his father’s footsteps and achieved considerable success for his Chop Chin Seng, which owned rice mills in Saigon and Siam.
When the Tanjong Pagar Dock Co. (the forerunner of the Port of Singapore Authority) was established in 1863, he contributed $120,000 to its development. He also engaged in saw-mill and shipping.
After his father’s death, he was revered as a leader in the Chinese community.
He was made a Justice of Peace in 1865, two years after he was made an additional Justice of Peace.
Later in 1872, Kim Cheng received another honor of being appointed a honorary magistrate to assist in the administration of justice.
In 1888, he was made a Municipal Commissioner.
As he was engaged in rice and foodstuff trade with Siam and had forged a close relation with the country, he was appointed the first Consul-General for Siam by the King in 1886.
In 1878, he joined hands with Tan Beng Swee, son of Tan Kim Seng, to found an ancestral shrine Bao Chi Gong for the Tan clan.
In 1888, Kim Cheng was conferred the 3rd class decoration of the Order of the Raising Sun for arranging Prince Komatsu’s (of Japan) visit to Siam on a diplomatic mission.
A charitable man and an arbitrator, Kim Cheng had great influence on the Chinese in Kelantan and Petani.
Before the signing of the Pangkor Treaty on Perak affairs, he exerted influence on the secret society members of Shan He Hui to accept mediation by the government.
He was fluent in Malay and was arguably the most powerful Chinese leader in the region in the 19th century
Kim Cheng died in 1892 at 63, leaving behind a daughter and several grandchildren.
All his sons died earlier than him.
Tiong Bahru Estate 
