In Singapore, 1946, at the inauguration ceremony of the 7th committee of the Singapore Tung Ann District Guild, the patriotic overseas leader Mr. Tan Kah Kee made a resounding appeal: “We must donate to establish a hospital for the people of our hometown, to benefit the community!” These words ignited the homeland sentiment of Tong’an folks overseas. A “Committee for the Establishment of a Hometown Hospital” was immediately formed, with Tan Boon Khah elected as chairman and Chen Cunmu appointed to return to China to oversee the construction.
In 1947, the Tong’an Public Hospital was born at Dalaoya on Sanxiu Street in the county town. Renamed Tongmin Hospital in 1948, it pioneered Western medical treatment in the towns of southern Fujian, carrying the warmth and responsibility of a century-old diaspora lineage.
The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen, formerly Tongmin Hospital.
Forging a Medical Soul: From Village Clinic to Top-Tier Hospital
In its early days, the hospital faced humble conditions and tight funds; it was the generosity of overseas compatriots that upheld this sanctuary of health. By 1954, all expenses of Tongmin Hospital were donated by the Tung Ann District Guild. In the 1980s, when medical resources were scarce in remote villages of Tong’an, Soon Peng Yam, chairman of the Tung Ann District Guild, took the lead in donating a mobile medical vehicle. This fleet eventually grew to six, equipped with X-ray machines, ECG monitors, and medicines, providing regular free clinics to 21 remote villages and islands.
“In those years, the white mobile medical vehicle was the most moving scenery in the countryside. The love of the Overseas Chinese traveled on wheels across every hill and river of Tong’an,” recalls Jiang Caipei, a returned overseas Chinese who coordinated these efforts, always moved by the memory.
As time passed, the medical soul nurtured by the diaspora grew stronger. In 2007, Tongmin Hospital was entrusted to The First Hospital of Xiamen. In 2013, it was upgraded to a Grade 3 General Hospital, ending the history of Xiang’an District having no top-tier hospital. In 2014, it was officially renamed The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen.
Today, covering an area of 105 mu, The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen boasts modern medical equipment, gathers a great number of medical talent, and has won multiple national honors, transforming from a village clinic into a robust Grade 3A hospital.
Endless Benevolence: The Legacy of Charity
Philanthropy in Maxiang Town has never been limited to medicine alone.
In the early years, when folks left home for Nanyang, the Qiaopiju (or overseas letter offices) became the “emotional station” connecting the homeland with overseas. The Qiaopiju established by the Chen family not only provided safe remittance services but also served as a bond for conveying local accents and relieving homesickness. Those overseas letters crossing the ocean carried not just money to support families, but the diaspora’s concern for hometown construction—some designated for repairing schools, some for aiding poor neighbors, others for supporting rural water conservancy, turning hard-earned money overseas into a warm current nourishing the native soil.
Statue of Tan Kah Kee in The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen
Simultaneously, the forty-year tradition of educational aid started by the Chen family has benefited countless students from humble backgrounds. From funding Shanting Primary School and Overseas Chinese High School to providing scholarships, building kindergartens, paving village roads, and sponsoring rural health clinics, the love of the Overseas Chinese has been like spring rain, silent yet nourishing, making charity the deepest cultural background of Maxiang Town.
From the Chen family’s initiative to build hospitals and establish Qiaopiju to the enduring tradition of educational aid, this land has always resonated with the spirit of “Love Country, Love Hometown, Love to Strive and Win,” standing as a vivid witness to the Minnan diaspora’s devotion to their roots.
A Grand Gathering: Homecoming and Future Visions
Recently, the 12th World Tong’an Fellowship Convention & Xiang’an Investment Promotion Conference concluded successfully. 500 Tong’an natives from around the globe crossed mountains and seas to return home. Among them was Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Honorary Advisor of the Penang Tong Aun Kim Har Association in Malaysia, who in 2000 inscribed for Tongmin Hospital: “For charity and public welfare, for culture and education, the spirit of Kah Kee lives forever!”
Dr. Koh Tsu Koon speaking at the 12th World Tong’an Fellowship Convention & Xiang’an Investment Promotion Conference
Returning to Xiang’an after more than twenty years, Dr. Koh was filled with emotion: “Today’s Xiang’an, as a strategic site for Xiamen’s cross-island development, greets us with vigorous vitality, infinite opportunities, and a magnificent layout… All of this makes us overseas folks feel incredibly inspired.”
Inscription by Dr. Koh Tsu Koon
From the foundation of Tongmin Hospital in 1947 to the flourishing The Fifth Hospital of Xiamen today; from the emotional Qiaopiju letters of early years to the entrepreneurial empowerment by young overseas merchants now; from Dr. Koh’s inscription two decades ago to the new opportunities brought by fellow folks at the conference…
Every inch of this land is engraved with the deep longing of the Overseas Chinese. Using themselves as bridges, they link history with the future, and the homeland with the world, passing down the torch of medical charity and writing a new chapter about the overseas Chinese legacy in the journey of high-quality development.