Nankin Street, a one-way street in Chinatown, connects South Bridge Road to China Street. The street is named after the city of Nanking in China. It was associated with the Samsui women who lived in Singapore as well as tinsmiths who set up shop on this street ...
The Singapore Poh Leung Kuk (保良局), or “office to protect virtue”, was established by the Chinese Protectorate in 1888. It grew out of one aspect of the protectorate’s work: controlling prostitution through registration and inspection to prevent the spread of venereal ...
Opium (Papaver somniferum) contributed significantly to the general trade in Singapore’s pioneering years. Encouraged by the British colonial government, it reaped great profit from opium licenses. However, many Chinese coolies succumbed to this vice as an escape ...
From 1879 to 1901, Fort Tanjong Katong stood on the eastern side of Singapore, adjacent to Katong Beach on what is now Meyer Road and Fort Road. It lent its name to Fort Road, which led to the base of the fort. Built by the British colonial government, Fort Tanjong ...
Phillip Street (or Philip Street) is a short one-way street in Chinatown that connects Chulia Street to Church Street. It was named either after William Edward Phillip, the governor of Penang (1820–26) or after Charles Phillip, the superintendent of the Sailors’ ...
William Alexander Pickering (b. 9 June 1840, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England–d. January 1907, San Remo, Italy) was the first Protector of Chinese in Singapore. He joined the British colonial administration in 1877 and was the first British officer who could ...
The Chinese Protectorate was established in the Straits Settlements in 1877 to address matters concerning the Chinese community. Its main functions included establishing a pool of civil servants conversant in the Chinese language, managing newly arrived coolie ...
The Chinese Christian Association (CCA) was established in October 1889 and lasted for more than half a century. The group organised religious activities such as bible classes alongside secular activities including debates, lectures as well as drama and reading ...
The Singapore Straits is among the most geographically strategic sites in the maritime world. Ships sailing between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean had to, and still have to, sail around the southern coast of Singapore. Over the centuries, control over ...
Founded in Calcutta, India by Robert Laidlaw in 1882, Whiteaway Laidlaw was a department store that opened a premier branch in Singapore in 1900. Offering products that appealed to the Europeans and wealthy locals, the outlet in Singapore was located on D’Almeida ...
Tan Swie Hian (b. 5 May 1943, Pulau Halang, Indonesia–) is a multidisciplinary Singaporean artist known for his poetry, novels, paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. A highly esteemed artist, Tan has received multiple accolades both locally and internationally ...
On 3 January 2003 at about 11.35 pm, a patrol vessel commissioned by the Republic of Singapore Navy, the RSS Courageous, collided with a cargo ship, the ANL Indonesia, along the eastern Singapore Straits near Horsburgh Lighthouse (on the island of Pedra Branca). ...
Gay World was one of three amusement parks built in Singapore before World War II and around which Singapore’s nightlife revolved from the 1920s to the ’60s. The other two were New World and Great World. Gay World was a popular entertainment joint before the advent ...
Great World Amusement Park was one of the three “Worlds” that lighted up Singapore’s nightlife in the 1950s and 1960s. Although it closed in 1964, cinemas, cabaret and restaurants continued operations at the park until 1978. Today, the site is occupied by Great ...
Neil Road in Chinatown is a one-way road that begins at South Bridge Road and ends at two points – one leads into Kampong Bahru Road and the other to the junction of New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Street. Originally known as Silat, Selat or Salat Road, it was ...
The Odeon Cinema was built in 1953 at the junction of North Bridge Road and Cashin Street, where Odeon Tower and K. H. Kea Building are now situated. It was Cathay Organisation’s flagship cinema and its most successful box-office earner in Singapore. The Odeon ...
Built in the late 1930s, Johore Battery was the main artillery battery of the British coastal artillery defence network. It was located at Cosford Road in Changi on the northeastern coast of Singapore, off Upper Changi Road North. The guns at the battery were destroyed ...
Echigoya was a Japanese fabric store established around 1907 on Middle Road. It was famous for its fine fabrics and garments, and tailoring of Japanese fashionwear. Echigoya closed down following the Japanese surrender in 1945 during World War II. It resumed business ...
A co-founder of Fraser & Neave (F&N), the world-famous bottler of fizzy drinks, John Fraser (b. 1843, Wigtown, Scotland–d. 14 February 1907, Farnham, England) was a Scotsman who made his fortune in Asia. His diverse business interests included printing and publishing, ...
Opened in 1923, New World Park, an amusement park, was a popular nighttime haunt in Singapore from the 1920s to the ’60s. It was the first of three renowned amusement parks known as the “Worlds”, the other two being Great World and Gay World. New World was located ...