Afterwards he spent some time working for the rail line Staats Spoorwagen in the city, before returning to Sukabumi and writing articles for the Chinese-owned dailies Sin Po and Perniagaan.
[1][3] In 1920 Tan became a member of the editorial board for the Bandung-based Sin Bin; he stayed with the newspaper until it closed, migrating to Keng Po.
[1] In 1928 he produced an adaptation of Tjoe Hong Bok's novel Setangan Berloemoer Darah, a story in which a son attempts to avenge his father's murder.
[1] During this decade he published several novels in the literary magazines Tjerita Roman and Penghidoepan, including works such as Koetoekannja Boenga Srigading (1933), Bergerak (1935), Digdaja (1935), Kembang Latar (1937), and Tjoban (1936).
[7] However, he also saw the dangers of blindly adhering to tradition, and his Lelatoe Anaknja Api (1933) urged that divorced or widowed women be allowed to remarry – something forbidden at the time.