Biography
Shawn Seah Li Song
Shawn Seah is the author of My Father’s Kampung: A History of Aukang and Punggol (2020), a finalist for Best Non-Fiction Title and Top 10 Readers’ Choice of the Singapore Book Awards 2021. He is also the author of Leader and Legislator: Seah Liang Seah (2019) and Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times (2nd Ed. 2019). He has shared stories at places such as the Peranakan Museum; Blackbox at Fort Canning Centre during the Singapore Bicentennial; the National University of Singapore; and the Nanyang Sacred Union, a Chinese temple. He has also been part of the Singapore Heritage Festival and the Baba-Nyonya Literary Festival.
Shawn holds a Master’s degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, with a minor in History, from the National University of Singapore. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education with Distinction, from the National Institute of Education.
Books by Shawn Seah Li Song
In 1823, a gutsy and astute eighteen-year-old from China arrived in Singapore to seek fame and fortune. He succeeded in his adopted country, rising to become a business and community leader, and when he died 60 years later, he left a legacy that remains to this day. This book captures a snapshot of Seah Eu Chin’s life, and the lives of his famous sons, especially Seah Liang Seah and Seah Peck Seah, interwoven with other early pioneers such as Tan Tock Seng, Whampoa, and Sir Song Ong Siang.
Told against a backdrop of a declining China and a rising British Empire, the book also tells the story of the founding and rise of a small maritime settlement nominally under British rule and its agricultural industry—and the rise of the “King of Gambier and Pepper”. And it tells the story of the Chinese secret societies, including episodes of rampages and widespread outbreaks of mayhem like the Anti-Catholic Riots of 1851 and the Hokkien-Teochew Riots of 1854, and how the hapless colonial authorities turned to respected Chinese leaders like Seah Eu Chin for help.
Written by a direct descendant of Seah Eu Chin, the book is largely based on documented material drawn from various sources including One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore by Sir Song Ong Siang.
Books by Shawn Seah Li Song
It was the heyday of the mighty British Empire. In the colony of Singapore, a rapidly growing settlement in Southeast Asia, a young man from a prominent local family rose to become a successful businessman, Teochew community leader, and member of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements. Straddling both East and West, he lived an exciting life marked by public service, profit and parties. And when he passed away in 1925, he left behind many prominent descendants, a massive fortune… and an unusual will.
This remarkable man was leader and legislator, Seah Liang Seah.
Written by the author of Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times, this book tells the incredible story of the man behind Liang Seah Street and Bendemeer, as well as the stories of his Straits Chinese contemporaries, such as Tan Jiak Kim, Dr Lim Boon Keng and Sir Song Ong Siang, and the larger social and economic history of Singapore in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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