AI Traced Tan Siak Kiang's Chao'an Family Roots
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- Jariel Ann Tan used an AI tool to decipher a photograph of her great-grandfather's grave, narrowing his birthplace from Chao'an to Caitang and eventually Sha Long village.
- Sha Long village elders produced an old genealogy book and connected branches of Tan's family tree within minutes, confirming her great-grandfather's name in the records.
- Tan Siak Kiang left Chao'an at 11 during a mass Teochew migration driven by poverty, famine, instability and overseas work, but never returned to China.
- Tan Kwan Lok left home at nine and traveled via the Strait of Riau to Singapore, extending a migration pattern that began with his father.
- Jariel Ann Tan moved from Singapore to the UK in June 2015 with a passport and return ticket, a privilege that sharply contrasts with her ancestors' necessity-driven departures.
Why it matters: For the Tan family, the discovery turns a faded grave inscription and inherited language into a documented lineage: Tan Siak Kiang left Chao'an at 11 for Indonesia, and his son Tan Kwan Lok left at nine for Singapore. It also makes the author's 2015 move to the UK part of that migration inheritance.
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