Khoo Seok Wan (邱菽园, 1874-1941) was a well-known literary scholar and poet in Singapore. Born in Haicheng, Fujian, China, he came to Singapore at seven years old to join his father, Khoo Cheng Tiong who was a successful rice merchant and prominent community leader in Singapore. Khoo was given a traditional Confucian education and returned to his hometown at the age of 15. In 1894, he passed the provincial imperial examinations and obtained the qualification of a juren (provincial-grade scholar). However, in 1895, he failed the central government imperial examinations in Beijing and hence returned to Singapore.
Known as the “Master Poet of the South”, Khoo was able to masterfully turn his everyday observations into lyrical pieces of poetry. His poems cover various subjects such as personal reflections, politics and social commentary on the world around him.
Shu Yuan Shi Ji (《菽园诗集》Collected Poems of Khoo Seok Wan) was compiled by Khoo’s daughter, Khoo Meng Kuan and her husband, Ong Seng Tee. The book was printed in 1949, eight years after Khoo passed away in 1941.
The publication consists of three volumes. The first volume comprises 696 poems composed between the age of 17 and 66. It includes two prefaces written by Kang Youwei (Chinese philosopher and politician) and Lee Choon Seng (businessman) respectively, and a biographical write-up by Chang Shu Nai (newspaper editor).
The second volume comprises 317 poems, all written in the year 1940 as Khoo lived in seclusion in the Katong area. He organised the poems according to the four seasons — spring (23 poems), summer (64 poems), autumn (128 poems) and winter (102 poems). This marked his most prolific spell as a poet. In contrast, as Khoo himself noted in the preface, his first volume of poems had taken him over 50 years to compose.
The third volume contains 32 poems, mostly written in 1941.
Khoo composed about 1,400 poems in his lifetime. Besides traditional and modern poems, he also wrote political essays and review articles to introduce Chinese literature to local readers. His literary works were also published in various Chinese newspapers in Singapore and abroad. Khoo was the founder of the reformist paper, Thien Nan Shin Pao (天南新报) in May 1898. He was the publisher and editor while Lim Boon Keng was the English editor. In later years, he worked as an editor for Cheng Nam Jit Poh (振南日报)between 1913 and 1920 and Sin Chew Jit Pao (星洲日报) from 1929 to 1930.
A lesser known fact was Khoo’s role as a social education reformist, working with community leaders such as Lim Boon Keng, Tan Boo Liat, Ong Soo Tee and Chia Hood Theam towards the formation of the Singapore Chinese Girl’s School in 1899. Khoo Seok Wan himself donated $3,000 during a time when most Chinese were apathetic to the education of women.
Other than Shu Yuan Shi Ji, you can also find two of Khoo’s other publications in our digitised collection:
