The Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) is a tropical and sub-tropical tree belonging to the family Rutaceae. Associated with good fortune by the Chinese, it is a features prominently in local Chinese New Year celebrations. The fruit is high in Vitamin C and its ...
The Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched on 7 September 1979 by the then prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. The campaign was initially started to simplify the language environment, improve communication among Chinese Singaporeans from the various dialect ...
Orang Laut (Malay for “sea people” or “people of the sea”) were nomadic sea gypsies organised into suku (divisions). They occupied the maritime zone surrounding the Strait of Melaka. During the period when the British thought Singapore was uninhabited, the Orang ...
Samsui women, also known as hong tou jin (红头巾; Mandarin for “red headscarf”) after their trademark red headgear, were female immigrants mainly from the Sanshui (“Samsui” in Cantonese; meaning “three waters”) district of Canton (Guangdong today) province in southern ...
Kit Chan (陈洁仪) (b. 15 September 1972, Singapore – ) is a Singaporean singer, actress, author and Singapore’s first Youth Ambassador. Dubbed by the local Chinese media as Singapore’s “national treasure”, the multi-talented artiste has recorded numerous albums in ...
Cecil Clementi (Sir) (b. 1 September 1875, Cawnpore, India–d. 5 April 1947, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom) was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements as well as High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States from 1930 to 1934. Proficient ...
Pulau Brani, which means “isle of the brave” in Malay, is an island situated at the south of Singapore’s Central Region. It was once home to the Orang Laut. For a while, the island had a brick kiln, a coal depot, a tin smelting plant and a ship-repairing dock. ...
Tay Bin Wee (b. 1926–d. 13 July 2000, Singapore) was a prominent actor and director in the Mandarin theatre scene in Singapore between the 1950s and 1980s. He co-founded the Singapore Amateur Players (now known as the Arts Theatre of Singapore), a Mandarin theatre ...
Liang Wern Fook (Dr) (b. 1964, Singapore) is a writer, singer-composer and educator in Chinese literature and the Chinese language. A pioneer of xinyao, a genre of Mandarin songs that is unique to Singapore, Liang’s name is synonymous with the xinyao movement. ...
Han Lao Da (b. 22 October 1947, Singapore–), original name Han Yong Yuan, is a Mandarin playwright, theatre director and xiangsheng (or crosstalk, which is a traditional Chinese comedic performance featuring witty dialogue) pioneer who has worked in the local Mandarin ...
Bilingualism has been the cornerstone of Singapore’s language policy since the People’s Action Party (PAP) was elected to power in 1959. The policy entails an emphasis on using English and the mother tongue languages, particularly that of the three main ethnic ...
Char kway teow (炒粿条; chao guo tiao in Mandarin) is a dish of flat rice noodles and tubular yellow wheat noodles fried in garlic, sweet soya sauce and lard, with ingredients such as egg, Chinese waxed sausage, fishcake, beansprouts and cockles. The dish, of Teochew ...
Bee Cheng Hiang (美珍香) is a Singapore-based company that produces and sells a wide variety of food products, most notably its signature bakkwa (meaning “dried meat” in Hokkien; also known as rougan, or 肉干, in Mandarin) – barbequed pork slices. It is currently the ...
Tanya Chua (蔡健雅) (b. 28 January 1975, Singapore–) is a critically acclaimed Singapore Mandopop singer-songwriter who emerged on the music scene in the 1990s. Effectively bilingual in both English and Mandarin, Tanya gained popular success mainly in Taiwan and has ...
Xinyao (新谣) is a genre of music that typically refers to Mandarin ballads composed, written and performed by youths in Singapore. Started in the late 1970s, xinyao was at its peak in the 1980s and propelled many local singers and singer-songwriters to stardom, ...
The Arts Theatre of Singapore (新加坡艺术剧场) is a Chinese-language theatre company whose beginnings can be traced to 1955 when it was established as the Singapore Amateur Players (SAP). In 1995, the SAP registered itself as a non-profit organisation, switched its focus ...
Lin Chen (b. 1919, Singapore–d. 29 August 2004, Singapore) was a pioneer theatre director and playwright who was active in the local Mandarin theatre scene in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also an accomplished writer who wrote short stories and prose under the pen ...
Low Ing Sing (b. 1924, Sibu, Sarawak–d. 2002, Singapore) was a pioneer of Mandarin drama and theatre in Singapore. An all-rounded theatre practitioner, Low acted, wrote and directed plays, and was also a drama trainer. Furthermore, he was an established writer ...
Samfu (also spelt as samfoo) is the Cantonese term for an everyday attire that was popular with the Chinese in South China, Hong Kong and Singapore right up until the mid-20th century. Known as shanku in Mandarin, the two-piece outfit comprises an upper garment ...
The cheongsam (“long dress” in Cantonese), also known as qipao in Mandarin, is a dress style typically worn by Chinese women. The cheongsam was at the height of its popularity between the late 1920s and 1960s, when it was the standard dress for many Chinese women ...