Thio Tjin Boen
Thio Tjin Boen (1885–1940) was a Chinese-Indonesian writer and journalist who wrote in Malay. Born in Pekalongan, Central Java, he worked for several newspapers in the early 1900s, including Taman Sari, Warna Warta, and Perniagaan (1927–1929). He did editing, translating, and writing, and he also started his own paper, Asia, which did not last long. He is best known as a novelist.
His first novel, Tjerita Oeij Se (1903), follows a young trader who becomes rich and then is corrupted by wealth. The story has anti-Islamic tones, as his daughter converts to Islam. Some scholars see the book as commenting on Chinese assimilation through the matrilineal line. It was inspired by tobacco tycoon Oey Thai Lo. He later wrote Tambahsia: Soewatoe tjerita jang betoel soedah kedjadian di Betawi antara tahoen 1851–1856, about Oey Thai Lo’s son Oey Tamba Sia and his rivalry with Lim Soe Keng Sia.
In Tjerita Njai Soemirah (1917), a Chinese man falls in love with and marries a native Indonesian woman. Some scholars say this shows Thio’s view on interethnic marriages may have softened when the husband is Chinese, while others note the works still criticize both Javanese and Chinese worlds.
Other novels include Dengan Doewa Cent Djadi Kaja (1920) and Tan Fa Lioeng, atawa, Moestadjabnja sinsche Hong Soei (1922). Thio died in Bandung in 1940. He is noted for portraying Chinese people interacting with native groups.
Two of his novels were later included in anthologies of Chinese Malay literature and Indonesian nationalism: Tjerita Oeij Se (2000) and Tjerita Njai Soemirah and Dengan Doewa Cent Djadi Kaja (2001), with updated spellings and footnotes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:29 (CET).