Seah Eu Chin’s final resting place is at Grave Hill. This hill was part of his plantation along Thomson Road, and the area was reportedly the Seah family’s traditional burial ground. Intrepid tomb hunters, Raymond and Charles Goh, found the tomb in November 2012 and cleared a path for others, such as Seah descendants, members of the Teochew community, and history enthusiasts, to follow.

Several descendants, including Shawn Seah (author of Seah Eu Chin: His Life & Times; Leader & Legislator: Seah Liang Seah; and the children’s book series, Our Amazing Pioneers and Our Amazing Heroes), visited the tomb several times to pay their respects.

In 2018, some members of the Seah family even successfully collected contributions to repaint and clean the tomb, and clear the vegetation. This brought Seah Eu Chin’s descendants and clan members together to achieve a common goal.

This is the photo-journal of Shawn’s journey to visit the tomb in October 2017 (information updated periodically).

Seah Eu Chin’s Final Resting Place

Starting from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) along Thomson Road, we started our journey to visit Seah Eu Chin’s tomb from the carpark facing Grave Hill.

With MSF behind us, we walked into the jungle in search of Seah Eu Chin’s tomb (according to NHB, along a path at the end of Toa Payoh West). Already, we could see development taking place – in this photograph, you can see that on one side there are trees, and on the other side, a construction site.

After a short hike, we reached a large clearing and there was Seah Eu Chin’s magnificent and massive tomb. A smaller altar or structure for Tu Di Zhi Shen (a Chinese deity, commonly known as the Earth God or Earth Lord), as part of the tomb, stood nearby. Even the smaller Tu Di Zhi Shen altar itself was larger than many graves in neighbouring Bukit Brown Cemetery.

Seah Eu Chin’s tomb was huge. We met about a dozen history and heritage buffs who were visiting Bukit Brown Cemetery and Grave Hill. There were young and old visitors, and even at least one tourist! We had a discussion on the size of Seah’s tomb in comparison with Ong Sam Leong’s tomb in neighbouring Bukit Brown Cemetery and another discussion on whether the short walls surrounding Seah Eu Chin’s tomb comprised a larger perimeter.

We also saw the watchful guardians of Seah Eu Chin’s tomb. Despite the passing of many years, they stood alert and vigilant, silently watching over the tomb of Seah Eu Chin and his two wives, sisters of Tan Seng Poh. For context, Seah Eu Chin married Tan Meng Guet (his first wife) in 1837. Unfortunately, she passed away from smallpox a few months after their marriage. In 1838, Seah Eu Chin married her sister, Tan Meng Choo.

We paid respects to our ancestors, Seah Eu Chin and his wives. In fact, on 22 October 2017, a few days before, some members of the Singapore Seah Clan Association visited the tomb to pay their respects in the traditional custom and must have placed these joss sticks and cups on the altar.

A light drizzle began as we headed home after visiting Seah Eu Chin’s tomb. A personal reflection came to my mind: we do not need to wait for Qingming to honour and venerate our ancestors.

Thank you for reading the photo-journal of Shawn’s journey to visit Seah Eu Chin’s tomb at Grave Hill.

To visit the tomb and view it in person, you could retrace the steps taken in the images detailed above.*

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Tu Di Zhi Shen Structure Standing Near Seah Eu Chin’s Tomb

A smaller structure for the earth deity Tu Di Zhi Shen stood nearby, literally within a stone’s throw of the main tomb. In English, the term Tu Di Zhi Shen is sometimes translated as “Lord of the Earth” or “God of the Land” (in this case, it essentially means the guardian of the place). These are some photographs taken in 2022.

Photograph showing the relatively large size of the earth deity ‘overseeing’ and ‘guarding’ the main tomb.

This photograph shows the front of the structure, where the stele bears the inscription of Tu Di Zhi Shen (the “Lord of the Earth”), serving as a marker or a reminder.

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* All information provided is correct as at October 2017. Notwithstanding, visits to Seah Eu Chin’s resting place were also successfully made using the same route from 2019 to 2023. 

However, visitors may (sometimes) be surprised that the landscape might look a bit different in real life compared to the relatively clearer photographs on this page. Wild vegetation often obscures the tomb, while at other times, kind people help clear and tidy the tomb, so it is spruced up. But the jungle comes back quickly to reclaim the clearings.

Over the years, dedicated groups and passionate individuals have been putting in effort and finances to periodically maintain the tomb, even as the vegetation and the wild come back frequently. It takes constant effort and commitment.

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Copyright © 2017 by Shawn Seah

Webpage updated: 18 July 2025

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