Li Shangyin
In 1905, rubber magnate Teo Eng Hock (張永福; 1872–1957) – a great-granduncle of Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean – bought the villa for his mother, Tan Poh Neo, as a place of retirement. He renamed it "Wan Qing Yuan", a name inspired by a line from a Tang dynasty poem by Li Shangyin. In July 1905, Sun Yat Sen met Teo, Tan Chor Lam (陳楚南; 1884–1971) and Lim Nee Soon in Singapore through his close friend, Yau Lit, while en route to Europe from Japan. In April 1906, when Sun visited Singapore again, Teo offered his villa for use as the Tongmenghui's headquarters in Southeast Asia. At the villa, the Tongmenghui planned numerous uprisings and fundraising activities leading to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which ended imperial rule in China under the Qing dynasty. Three uprisings of the Xinhai Revolution – Chaozhou Uprising (May 1907), Zhennanguan Uprising (December 1907), and Hekou Uprising (April 1908) – were planned in the villa. Teo and his wife, Tan Sok Jee, sewed the flag of the Republic of China in the villa.