Doing Business as a Christian in Singapore: The Case of C. K. Tang and the Tangs Department Store

Authors

Ying-Kit Chan

Abstract

Drawing on oral history interviews conducted by the National Archives of Singapore, this article examines the life of Tang Choon Keng (1902–2000), colloquially known as C. K. Tang, an ethnic Chinese Singaporean entrepreneur who founded Tangs department store in Singapore. As the first major retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in what is now the premier retail district of Orchard Road, Tangs is historically significant for helping shape and fashion Singapore into a shopping paradise for domestic consumption and tourist promotion. While C. K. Tang’s life was typical of Chinese entrepreneurs of his time, being marked by a long period of hardship and struggle against adversity prior to eventual success in business, he belonged to a small group of Chinese Christian businessmen in Singapore who attributed his triumph not to Chinese or Confucian roots but to his Christian upbringing in his hometown Shantou (Swatow) in south-eastern China. In the context of Singapore’s secular and highly calibrated economic modernity, C. K. Tang’s overt account of how the Christian faith had positively influenced his business life is intriguing. However, at least initially, he operated Tangs as a family business, following the model of familism, which scholars have conventionally ascribed to “Chinese” commercial enterprises. This article thus suggests the inadequacies and blind spots of viewing Chinese businesses through only the lens of culture, ethnicity and language and of assuming a shared “Chinese” culture and ethnicity between the Chinese in mainland China and those in Southeast Asia.

Recommended Citation

Chan, Ying-Kit (2023) "Doing Business as a Christian in Singapore: The Case of C. K. Tang and the Tangs Department Store," Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies: Vol. 12: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://mjcs.newera.edu.my/journal/vol12/iss1/2