Publication Type

Magazine Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

7-2010

Abstract

On 27 January 2010 Tan Ah CHOON died at the age of 82. Born in the year of the dragon (1928), Tan was the most respected spirit-medium among his peers. He became a tangki (童乩 tongji ‘child diviner’ or Chinese spirit-medium) just before the 1950s, and by the 1960s was regarded as the wisest, most powerful spirit-medium in the Singapore tangki community so that he was nicknamed “Tangki Ong” (童乩王), the “Tangki King”.Mr Tan was “caught” by deities to become a spirit medium when he was aged about 21 years. This was just after the Second World War, but Tan’s family appeared to have done well enough for that time. The Tan family lived in Si Kar Teng (四腳亭 Si Jiao Ting literally “Four-legged Pavilion” named for the four-pillared pavilions built to provide shelter in the cemetery that once occupied this area) where Jalan Membina is now. The family home was a wooden hut with an attap (nipa-leaf thatch) roof, but it was big as far as village huts of that time went; there was room to spare, and three rooms were let out to tenants.

Discipline

Asian Studies | Religion

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

South China Research Resource Station Newsletter

Volume

60

Issue

15

First Page

1

Last Page

4

ISSN

1990-9020

Comments

田野與文獻

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