Lim Bo Seng | |||||||||||
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Native name | 林謀盛 | ||||||||||
Other name(s) | Tan Choon Lim | ||||||||||
Born | Houpu Village, Meilin Town, Nan'an County, Fujian Province, Qing Empire | 27 April 1909||||||||||
Died | 29 June 1944 Batu Gajah Prison, Perak, Japanese-occupied Malaya[1] | (aged 35)||||||||||
Buried | Lim Bo Seng Memorial Tomb, MacRitchie Reservoir Park 1°20′31.76″N 103°49′50.6″E / 1.3421556°N 103.830722°E | ||||||||||
Allegiance | Singapore Special Operations Executive Allies of World War II | ||||||||||
Service | Force 136 | ||||||||||
Years of service | 1942–1944 | ||||||||||
Rank | Major-General (awarded posthumously by the Republic of China) | ||||||||||
Unit | Force 136 | ||||||||||
Battles / wars | Operation Gustavus | ||||||||||
Memorials | Lim Bo Seng Memorial, Esplanade Park | ||||||||||
Alma mater | Raffles Institution University of Hong Kong | ||||||||||
Spouse(s) |
Gan Choo Neo (m. 1930–1944) | ||||||||||
Children | 4 sons and 4 daughters | ||||||||||
Relations |
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Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 林謀盛 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 林谋盛 | ||||||||||
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Lim Bo Seng (Chinese: 林谋盛; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Bô͘-sēng; pinyin: Lín Móushèng; 27 April 1909 – 29 June 1944) was a Chinese resistance fighter based in Singapore and Malaya during World War II. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he was a prominent businessman among the overseas Chinese community in Singapore and Malaya. Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he participated in fund-raising activities to assist the war effort in China and boycott Japanese goods. After Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, Lim went to India, where he joined Force 136, a Sino-British guerrilla task force backed by the Special Operations Executive, to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance operations in Japanese-occupied Malaya. In 1944, he was captured by Japanese forces in Malaya and ultimately died in prison due to torture and ill-treatment. After the war, his remains were transported back to Singapore and buried near MacRitchie Reservoir. He is remembered as a war hero in contemporary Singapore and the Lim Bo Seng Memorial at Esplanade Park was constructed in 1954 to commemorate him.