Background
A Peranakan, Tan is the grandson of philanthropist Tan Tock Seng by his father, Tan Teck Guan.
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Tan Yan
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Tan was noted in Malayan history as the first man to plant rubber on a commercial basis, after he was introduced to rubber planting by Henry Nicholas Ridley. Subsequently, Tan started a 22-acre (89,000 m2) rubber estate at Bukit Lintang. He then ventured his rubber plantation business into Sri Lanka.
According to his family, Tan"s rubber plantation still belonged to the family.
As a philanthropist, Tan also gave $15,000 towards the setting up of a medical college in Singapore. Tan also served as a Municipal Councillor and a Trustee of the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple.
There is a variety of orchid named Vanda Tan Chay Yan, according to one of the Peranakan Cina Melaka"s annual dinner souvenir books, but there is no record of who named it such. A road in Melaka 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 as he often spent the long hours spent at the rubber plantations.
