A brief history of the Singapore Tea Merchants Guild

sequence:

The Singapore Tea Merchants Association, established in 1928, has witnessed the transition of an era. At that time, a trip to Nanyang to sell tea would take several months, leaving home and wandering at sea. Many villagers are helpless and live a difficult life in Singapore. Against this background, tea merchants have strong local sentiments, and establishing a liaison station to provide a place for villagers to stay became one of the original intentions of the establishment of the Guild. Some traces of this still remain. Gradually, the guild also began to assume certain social responsibilities, such as donating to education, disaster relief, and assisting in community activities. Many of the things discussed and experienced by the Guild were closely related to the historical events at that time. This glorious history, these feelings for the villagers, and contribution to society make us, as members of the guild, extremely proud.

Times have changed, and in today's environment, the necessity of the guild's existence is far less than it was in the past, and the contact station has also lost its practical value. The younger generation engaged in tea-related undertakings often do not feel that the guild is an organization of value to them. In 2014 , 87 years after the establishment of the Singapore Tea Merchants Guild, I began to find that people who knew this story were gradually leaving us, and the experience of the Guild might even be lost in the torrent of history. This is the original intention of writing this historical summary. To this end, we gathered all members of the guild to restore the history and record the colorful stories as much as possible. No matter how the tea industry in Singapore changes, it is our unshirkable responsibility to truly convey the feelings and will of our ancestors to the future generations.

It’s the order!

Wei Ronnan

February 16, 2015