By: Batman Why your fomily all batman/catwoman? Hahahahahahaha! By: Phil Wong Greetings from Sydney. I just came across your interesting blog this morning. You bring back beautiful memories for an old uncle who has been away for the last 36 years. Thanks again. Cheers Phil By: startears Awesome post! Just to clarify that you do not need an entrance fee to go into SBG itself. An entrance fee is required only if you enter National Orchids Garden. By: Chuang Shyue Chou Thanks for this piece. It’s greatly appreciated. I visited the place daily when I was a child. Now, I go there once a week. By: laokokok Thanks Jacq, glad it brings back good memories to you. By: Jacq Oh, now I remembered. The apartment/condo I lived in was the Botanic Gardens View… By: Jacq I love your post about Botanical Garden. It is one of the things I remembered the most when I was studying in Singapore for secondary school (1994 – 1997). I lived in an apartment right next to it. And I ate at that hawker center every morning before I head to the bus stop for school. Lots of memories there. I also remembered it as the “Singapore Botanical Garden” during my stay in Singapore. I would go there from the side entrance close to the apartment and sit by the water lily pots and watch them bloom right around sunset. It was free back then too, so I take lots of walks there and saw monkey and little green snakes. Thank you for this great post! By: laokokok Thank you Dancerene. By: laokokok Frankly I’m not too sure my answers are true hehe. By: dancerene I happened to stumble across this blog. I think you are doing an awesome job! Thank you for sharing with us your knowledge. By: Jungwon I thought u already got ur answer… Quoted from ur blog, First Answer “So why the Botanic Gardens does not date back to 1822 then? Personally I think it’s because the first Gardens was officially named as “Botanical and Experimental Garden” instead of Botanic Garden.” Second Answer “Or is it because the location of the first garden and the current one is different? Frankly, I really don’t know the reason why, do you?” Put it Simply, they don’t recognize Raffles’s Botanical and Experimental Garden as the first one, which doesn’t have much picture of it, only some old map to indicate its location. Its not their baby to begin with, but rather Raffles’… By: laokokok Seems like no one can tell me why not 187 years yet? By: yg wow! you really did a thorough job digging into the beginning of the botanic gardens. when i was younger i often wondered why the ‘ang mohs’ like to walk about in that humid place looking at trees and other plants. now, i appreciate the place a lot. it’s a wonder to look, see and learn at our botanic gardens. Our Botanic Garden – Why 150 Years And Not 187 Years? Recently there are many news articles about the Botanic Garden, like the one on Sunday Times. A man bought an old photo album in London and consists of a few very old photos of the Botanic Garden. He was even offered a 6 figures sum for the album and he refused to sell it! But when you mention Botanic Garden to me, I will immediately think of a few things related to it : ‘the hawker center and small carpark opposite the main entrance, the bandstand, the pond’. Of course there are many changes now like the hawker center and small carpark may not be there anymore, and many facelift inside. Whenever I read about the history of our Botanic Gardens, it was always mentioned that Sir Stamford Raffles established the first Botanic Gardens in Singapore in 1822 along the slopes of Fort Canning Hill. If this is the case, why are why celebrating 150 years now in 2009 and not 187 years? So let us go thru the years and see why; - 1819 : Since 1819, Raffles had been toying with the idea of establishing a botanic garden in Singapore. He used his time to persuade Wallich to write a glowing report aimed at persuading the Colonial government into starting a botanic and experimental garden. Indeed, in one letter to Raffles dated November 1822, Wallich had described Singapore as such, “It abounds in an endless variety of plants equally interesting to the botanist, the agriculturist and the gardener, with unrivalled facilities and opportunities of disseminating these treasures and exchanging them for others“. Three years before, the construction of Raffles bungalow on Government Hill (which is today Fort Canning Hill) had already seen an experimental garden being laid out in the vicinity, with some 125 nutmeg trees, 1,000 seeds of nutmeg, and 450 clove plants planted. - 1822 : But do we know exactly where is the old Botanic and Experimental Garden? Let us take a look at the below maps before we proceed on. Credit : Jackson Town Map, National Parks, Gardens of the Istana Below shows the current location of the old Botanic and Experimental Garden; 1. The canal is very obvious but the roads name may have changed: Credit : 1998 Singapore Street Directory, Ministry of Law Credit : Google Map Sir Stamford Raffles, a keen naturalist, built his own house on the Bukit Larangan, later known as Government Hill (now known as Fort Canning Hill). Raffles instructed Farquhar, the Resident, that a Botanic and Experimental Garden be set up on Government Hill; an area of 48 acres was allotted for this purpose. An 1819 Map showing the Govt Hill; Credit : Singapore University Press, The Singapore River He aimed to introduce cultivation of economic crops such as cocoa and nutmeg, including those yielding fruits, vegetables, spices and other raw materials. The Botanic and Experimental Garden was started on the north of the Hill and was extended to the North-East of the Hill and this covered the area now occupied by the Anglo-Chinese School, Coleman Street, the Armenian Church and the National Museum. The man Raffles appointed to supervise the Botanic and Experimental Garden was Dr Nathaniel Wallich, a Dane, born in Copenhagen. The mature spice garden was the site of Singapore’s first botanical gardens, established primarily by Sir Stamford Raffles for experimental purposes. See what the above said “To commemorate Singapore’s first botanical garden founded on Government Hill in 1822″. So why not 187 years from 1822 then? - 1829 : After 7 years, in 1829 the Botanic and Experimental Garden, was a failure. It was abandoned after Raffles death, due to lack of funds to maintain it. The main reason given was that it was not economical. It cost the settlement $60 per month (a large sum of money in early Singapore) to unkeep it. So why the Botanic Gardens does not date back to 1822 then? Personally I think it’s because the first Gardens was officially named as “Botanical and Experimental Garden” instead of Botanic Garden. Or is it because the location of the first garden and the current one is different? Frankly, I really don’t know the reason why, do you? - 1859 : 30 years later, the present Botanic Garden began when the Ari Horticultural Society was granted 32 hectares of land in Tanglin (Napier Road) by the colonial government. The land was obtained from merchant Hoo Ah Kay or Whampoa, in exchange for the land at Boat Quay. The Garden was only about 23 hectares in 1866 as shown in the following map; Credit : Straits Times, SPH The Garden was officially opened to the public in 1874 by the Governor Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Clarke who presented two horned rhinoceroses. Not many know that the garden also flourished as a zoo for 20 years when it was abandoned in 1905. Not many photos of the Botanic Gardens were found in the net during the 19th century; Credit : Gardens in the Istana, National Parks, GR Lambert & Co. The Botanic Garden was planned as a leisure garden and ornamental park. The Society organised flower shows and horticultural fetes. Laurence Niven was hired as superintendent and landscape designer to turn what were essentially overgrown plantations and a tangle of virgin rainforest into a public park. The layout of the Botanic Gardens as it is today is largely based on Niven’s design. The photo below shows some Javanese workers employed to maintain the garden in the 19th century; Credit : Gardens in the Instana, National Parks, GR Lambert & Co. - 1874 : In 1874, the Society ran out of funds, handed over management and maintenance of the gardens to the Colonial government. The scientific mission of the Gardens evolved when the colonial government assumed management and deployed Kew-trained botanists and horticulturists to administer the Gardens. - 1877 : The first rubber seedlings came to the gardens from Kew in 1877. Henry Nicholas Ridley, or Mad Ridley as he was known, became director of the gardens in 1878 and spearheaded rubber cultivation. The gardens in 1880; Credit : Vis Credit : Gardens in the Istana, National Parks. Below postcard shows the Botanic Garden Entrance in 1900 at the Singapore Philatelic Museum; Credit : Singapore Philatelic Museum Note the postage stamp on the postcard was probably from 1912 to 1923 Straits Settlement period though. Many photos or postcard like to show the entrance of Botanic Garden, and it’s interesting to see the changes over time. Another postcard showing the entrance to the Botanic Gardens in 1900; Credit : Nation Best Here is one postcard that I have 100 years ago in 1909; One more postcard from 1909; If you will to take note of all these postcards, the name of the garden was Singapore Botanical Garden instead of Singapore Botanic Garden. I remember this was the name I used to call in my younger days. - 1925 : Professor Eric Holttum, Director of the Gardens from 1925 -1949, set up laboratories and conducted the first experiments in orchid breeding and hybridisation. His techniques led to Singapore being one of the world’s top centres of commercial orchid growing. - 1942 to 1945 : During the Japanese Occupation, Hidezo Tanakadate, a professor of Geology from the Tohoku Imperial University took over control of the Singapore the Singapore Botanic Gardens. He ensured no looting occured during his tenure in the Gardens. The Gardens was also renamed as Shōnan Botanic Gardens (昭南植物園). Holttum and Edred John Henry Corner were interned in the Gardens and instructed to continue their horticultural work. Dr Kwan Koriba, a retired professor of botany from the Imperial University of Tokyo, arrived as Director of the Gardens, a post he held until the end of the war. After the war, the Gardens was handed back to the British. Eventually it played an important role during the “greening Singapore” campaign and Garden City campaign during the early independence years. - Mid 1960s : The Gradens was taking a leading role in the greening of Singapore. I had my first visit to the Botanic Gardens with my godsisters in 1968; - 1973 : In 1973, it merged with the Parks and Trees branch of the Public Works Department, which became the Parks and Recreation Department. - 1990 : In June 1990, the Singapore Botanic Garden came under the management of the newly formed National Parks Board. New attractions, such as the Ginger Garden, Evolution Garden, Coolhouse and the Children’s Garden are being added to keep the Gardens relevant as a key tourist destination. Stamps of the Singapore Botanic Gardens; 1978 : In my memory the first stamp of the Singapore Botanic Garden was issued in 1978; The above stamps did not really show the Botanic Garden well. It’s just some graphic representation of the garden. But at least the 75cents stamp showed part of the gardens’ Bandstand. 1979 : In 1979, a set of 3 stamps were issued to celebrate the 120 years of Singapore Botanic Garden; These are very nice set as the garden were properly shown on the stamps; 2003 : In 2003, again the Bandstand was featured in one of the set of 4 stamps ‘Garden City’ ; 2009 : For those that have missed the above stamps issues, never mind. In June 2009 there will be a set of 4 stamps commemorating the 150 years of Singapore Botanic Gardens; Entrance to the Gardens : The new look of the Entrance to the Gardens now; The above is the main entrance gate known as the Tanglin Gate of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Do you notice the changes compared to those old postcards? Do you think the 4 pillars are the same as the 4 pillars of the past entrance? The Bandstand : This is another main icon of the Singapore Botanic Gardens besides the Tanglin Gate; This octagonal shaped Bandstand was erected in 1930, almost 80 years old. The original bandstand was erected in the early 1860s as a focal point of the original landscape design of the Gardens. So far, most photos only showed the current Bandstand but not the original one. Wonder how the original one looks like? The Bandstand now no longer hosts any music performance, though it was used for military band performance in the past. That Tembusu Tree : Ok I’m not a botanist so even if I’m in front of this Tembusu Tree, I may not be able to identify it hehe. This Tembusu Tree got popular probably because it was featured in our $5 note. This tree was also featured in one of those TV8 Mediacorps Chinese dramas. And comparing it with our $5 note; This Tembusu Tree is now a heritage tree, meaning it cannot be ‘chop off’. Credit : Above 3 photos from Alice. The Old Taman Serasi Hawker Centre : Before I end the post, do you still remember My last visit with my family to the Botanical Garden or Botanic Gardens was a few years back but all my photos were wiped off from my harddisk corruption… Yes in my last visit, think we need to pay an entrance fee and no longer free like in the past. So when was your last visit to the Botanic Gardens? Qing Ming Is About Knowing Our Family Tree Before the Qing Ming festival ends, let me blog something about this one month festival. This Qing Ming festival or Tomb Sweeping festival is a time where we pay our respect to our elders or relatives who have left us. I remember when I was young during my primary school days, I love this Qing Ming festival as it was a time when I could get together with my cousins. Usually my Seventh Uncle’s family would chartered for a mini bus to pick up both families for this important day. Of course at that time, Qing Ming festival is really a Tomb Sweeping festival as our ancestors tombs were still at those graveyard at Peck San Theng. You may take a look at the old Peck San Theng here. We need to walk a distance to the tombs then, and those Indian grass cutters who can speak Cantonese much better than my kids, will lead the way. Needless to say, we had to pay them some money to clear those wild grasses at our ancestors’ tombs. After the relocation of tombs to temples and Government-Managed Columbaria, my Seventh Uncle’s family and ours did not go together anymore during this festival. But now only my wife and my kids will accompany me to pay our respect to our ancestors. My Paternal Grandmother tablet was located at the Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng, while my Paternal Grandfather and Great Grandmother are at the Mandai Columbarium. I prefer the Mandai Columbarium as it is much cleaner and tidy though the distance is much further from my house. Mandai Columbarium; But why I said Qing Ming festival is about knowing our Family Tree? Well how many of us especially the younger generation like my kids know the relationships of who we are paying respect to? How do our kids address them in our own dialects or in Mandarin? Of course in English is much easier but I’m talking about our Chinese Roots and our own Family Tree. How much we know about our Family Tree then? Do you keep a record of your Family Tree too? I’m glad that my father bothers to keep a record of our own Family Tree when he was much healtier; My father has 9 brothers/sisters and my father is the youngest (10th). So the one at Peck San Theng is my Paternal Grandmother or 祖母. I will address her as 奶奶. The other 2 at Mandai Columbarium are my Paternal Grandfather or 祖父 and Paternal Great Grandmother or 曾祖母. I will address my Grandfather as 爺爺 and my Paternal Great Grandmother as 老奶奶. Of course what my kids address them will be much more complex haha. Luckily my mother kept two copies of old newspaper cuttings regarding the Family Tree address or relationship. One is from The 1981 copy of The Straits Times; I don’t quite like this set as it’s not so detail; The other copy is the 1988 Straits Times; I like this copy very much as it’s not only colorful but detail and clear; Credit : Above 4, The Straits Times, SPH I’ve to admit that I’m no good at such Chinese addresses for our relatives and elders. My wife and I also have difficulties in teaching our kids to address our relatives in Mandarin when we visit them. One example is my wife’s elder sister and younger sister – how should my kids address them? All the while my wife asked our kids to address them (both elder and younger sister) as 姨姨. But I think there should be a difference and should it be my wife’s elder sister as 姨媽 and younger sister as 姨姨? Do you think so? You may check it out here too at this site; “maternal elder aunt mother’s elder sister 姨母  yi4 mou5 yi2 mu3 姨媽 yi4 ma1 yi2 ma1 maternal elder aunt’s husband mother’s elder sister’s husband; 姨夫 yi4 fu1 yi2 fu1 姨丈 yi4 jeung6 yi2 zhang4 maternal younger aunt mother’s younger sister 姨 yi4 yi2 same maternal younger aunt’s husband mother’s younger sister’s husband; 姨丈 yi4 jeung6 yi2 zhang4 same” On the lighter side, Mediacorp will be showing its new Chinese drama series “ 书包太重, My School Daze”. The first series on 29 Apr 2009 at 9pm Channel 8 will be interesting especially when a lady Chinese tutors teaching Mandarin to her students. Listen carefully to what the teacher said ‘Your Mother’s Elder and Younger Sisters called 阿姨’; Now the second part is really hilarious; Credit : Mediacorps. But why is it important to know the address and relationship for Qing Ming festival? Well at least when you burn the offerings to your ancestors, you can write down who you are offering to and their relationship to you. The Green Bag is for Female (红男绿女); The Red Bag is for Male; This is my Grandfather’s tablet; This is my Great Grandmother’s tablet; You may see that usually for female (my Great Grandmother) their names were omitted as they just take after their husband’s surname. Unfair for the fairer sex right? Also note how the years were written at that time – Min Guo 民囯. Min Guo 民囯” refers to Zhonghua Minguo 中華民囯 (Republic of China or ROC) established in 1911, but eventually had to relocate to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese nationalist (Kuomintang) lost the civil war to the Chinese communist. Therefore, the stated Min Guo year will be based on the years starting from 1911. So, for Min Guo 27th year, it’s 1938 (since 1911+27 years) For Min Guo 24th year, it’s 1935 (since 1911+24 years) Btw, I do not have any religion so I’m not so well verse with all these tradition but since I’m Chinese, I must still go along with our tradition, our roots, else next time my kids will not know what and how to do when my wife and I gone. Guess Where Quiz No.2? This is the second Guess Where Quiz in my blog. This time maybe not so easy as compared to the first. Any idea where is this place or location? You have to give me the name of this place. This photo was taken in 1968 together with my godsisters. I was only 6 years old then. Also take note of the fashion of the 60s. From Amusement Park To Cement Park Probably some youngster find the word “Gay World” amusing like someone posted in the STOMP site regarding the Gay World Hotel. I’m surprised that there are still people not aware of the Gay World existence in Singapore. Of course Gay World is short for Gay World Amusement Park, one of the 3 main Amusement Parks in Singapore. You have probably read about my post on New World Amusement Park. Gay World Amusement Park was originally known as Happy World Amusement Park in the 30s. Happy World was the last one to be built in 1936 after Great World (1932) and New World (1923). How Happy World looked like in the 50s; You can even see the British Flag then in the above photo. Let’s take a look at Happy World Amusement Park over the years; 1936: The Happy World Amusement Park, commonly known as 快乐世界 by the locals, was founded by George Lee Geok Eng (of George Lee Motors fame), brother of philanthropist Lee Kong Chian. He invested $350,000 to open this amusement park then in 1936. It was a form of nightlife entertainment where East meet West, located at the junction of Geylang and Mountbatten roads. You will normally find cabaret performances, ronggeng, movies, gaming and arcades, wayang and cultural shows and even trade shows in this amusement park. It was one of those must visit places for courting couples in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Like New World, those unforgettable places of visits include dance hall where one could have a dance with taxi girls for probably twenty cents, and the popular ghost train ride; Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS 1939: The Happy World Amusement Park was used for the Singapore’s first trade show – The Engineering and Trade Exhibition. 1941: A 1941 Japanese Map showing the Happy World location between Geylang Road and Grove Road (now known as Mountbatten Road); Credit : Lim Shao Bin 2004 Photos of Singapore The Straits Chinese China Relief Fund Committee of Singapore organised a modernised bangsawan (a traditional Malay opera)  for 3,000 babas and nyonya in Happy World, to raise funds for China war effort leading to WWII. 1942 to 1945: Even during the Japanese air-raids hit Singapore in January 1942, business at Happy World continued, and the cabaret had blackout dances (with no lights) to escape the Japanese bombings. Of course this has nothing to do with the recent Earth Hour haha! The Japanese also turned the Happy World into gambling den. As these dens were precluded from raids, the bright lights at the Happy World continued.   The Japanese were not allowed in the gambling dens but they could patronise the cabarets and nightclubs in the Happy World.  The gambling dens were closed after Japanese surrendered in 1945. The Happy World was also used as a military workshop during the Japanese Occupation. 1950s to 1960s: After the war, the amusement park continued to operate. But what I remember best about the Happy World was the frequent fire broke out in the park. In 1962, fire broke out twice in 2 months, destroying the theatre, part of the cabaret and 26 stalls. In fact, more blazes happened in 1972, 1976, 1977 and 1988. Stalls were burnt in 1958 at Happy World; Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS Mr.Sin Ma Chai, those elderly Cantonese will know who he is, performed at the Happy World in 1963; Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS 1966: The Gay World; The Happy World was renamed as Gay World Amusement Park (繁華世界) in 1966. The word “Gay” here means “joyful”, “carefree”, “bright and showy” and only until probably later, it means “homosexuality”. Some of the main tenants were Eng Wah Organisation, Datoh Rajah Theatre and Cabaret, Tai Thong Restaurant and New Happy Cinema. By the way, the park used to have 4 cinemas, including one open-air one – Happy Theatre, Silver City and the open-air Victory Theatre. Do you remember the other one? Sin Wah Emporium, later became part of Emporium Holdings, and Tai Thong Restaurant, were my only haunt there. I went to Tai Thong Restaurant for their mooncakes. The New Happy Theatre; The Gay World Amusement Park ticket; Credit : The Straits Times. Way before the National Indoor Stadium was built, the Gay World Stadium was once the greatest covered stadium in SEA. This octagonal shaped stadium built for boxing and other sports could seat 7,000. The Gay World Stadium was later renamed as Geylang Indoor Stadium. It was even the venue for Malaya’s first badminton Thomas Cup in 1952. The Gay World Stadium; In 1973, the Gay World Stadium was one of the venues for the SEAP games. Boxing and wrestling fights were the popular sports held there and most paid only20 cents to see wrestlers like Tiger Ahmad and King Kong in the ring. The Gay World Stadium also held circus shows occasionally. 1980s: Even with free admission to the park, it did not attract enough visitors. The park was badly maintained and rats were seen running about. Only 1 of the 4 cinemas remained and probably only screening Tamil shows. 2000s: By 2000, the Gay World was in an abandoned state. There was no power or water supplied, and only about 40 tenants carried on business using portable generators. The last days of Gay World; In 2001, the bulldozers came and the Gay World and the Geylang Indoor Stadium were demolished. The site was zoned for residential development,  however, this does not material even till now. In 2004, the Nicoll Highway collapse sent one of the 2 concrete making plants there working non-stop. Today, the two concrete-making plants and the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System site office are located there. I’ve always wondered with 3 amusement parks in the past, why can’t we accommodate the last amusement park at Geylang – The Gay World Amusement Park and the Gay World Stadium (or Geylang Indoor Stadium). Why must we keep demolishing all these nostalgia amusement park in Singapore just for residential and commercial development? A 1956 City Map showing the Happy World Park; Credit : Singapore Improvement Trust, Survey Department A 1976 Chinese Edition Street Directory showing the Gay World Park; A 1988 Edition Street Directory showing the Gay World Park and the Geylang Indoor Stadium; A 1998 Edition Street Directory showing the Gay World Park and Gay World Hotel: Credit : Chief Surveyor, Survey Department, Ministry of Law. The aerial view of the Happy World Park and the octagon shaped Stadium in the 50s; Credit : Editions Didier Millet, National Archives of Singapore Now the Geylang Indoor Stadium no longer exists though the name still remains at the Google Map; View Larger Map The bus stop now stands in front of the old Gay World entrance; The fence up area and those trees inside make the Gay World Park disappears from one memory. The Cement Plant in the old Gay World Park as seen from the Geylang Road; Another view of the Cement Plant as seen from Mountbatten Road; The Cement Trucks queuing up along the Geylang Drive; Credits : All photos above gothere.sg Big Brother Big 大哥大 How many of us still have such a ‘Big Brother Big 大哥大’ at home? Sigh…I don’t have one at all…. I’m referring to the first generation of those mobile phone – big bulky type. Later toy makers made water bottles mobile phones lookalike for children to mimmic. Talking about such ‘Big Brother Big’ mobile phone users, probably because of the size of the phone, they were usually held on the hands and ‘displayed’ on the tables when the users were seated down. Above Photo : Relatives ‘displayed’ their Big Brother Big mobile phones on the dining table during my wedding dinner on 19  Dec 1992. Above Photo : A lady reporter from the Chinese media holding a ‘Big Brother Big’ mobile phone in 1992. Take a look at how this man used the ‘Big Brother Big’ mobile; Don’t you find the long antenna troublesome? Such bulky mobile phones were popular during the 80s and 90s; and mainly from Motorola. Do you still remember what brand and model is your first mobile phone? I don’t remember the brand and model, but I do recalled that the phone advertisement on TV showing it floats on a leaf. Do you know that brand for this ad? That was my first mobile phone in 1991 or 1992 when I was working for a US MNC as a Product Manager. The phone was fully paid by the company then and of course the monthly bill too. Too bad the phone was returned back to the company when I left them. In 1991 or 1992, I do remembered that my boss was using the popular Motorola Micro Tac phone; In fact, in the early 90s most Big Brother Big mobile phones were slowing fading off from the scene. The smaller version of mobile phones like the Micro Tac was surfacing then. If I were to keep all my handphones since day 1, I really don’t know how many will there be? But it was easier to trade-in used handphones in the past, so I didn’t keep most of them. Below are only some of those that I have left; Feather And Leaf In My Book I wonder how many of you ever try or believed that by feeding a feather with pencil shavings, it will grow and reproduce. I did! When I was in primary school, my classmates and I used to keep those beautiful colored feathers in books and fed them with pencil shavings. When I tell this to my primary 4 daughter, she wanted to try it. After 2 months, there is still no sight of a new born feather…I remember it did reproduce when I was in primary school or my eyesight something wrong…hehe. Another thing I used to keep in my books is ‘落地生根’ (pronunced as LuòDìShēnɡGēn) or Bryophyllum pinnatum leaf. I used to tear a leaf off from my godmother pot of 落地生根. After some time, roots will grow from the leaf! To a primary school boy, this seem to be a miracle! So what other things you keep in your books besides bookmarks? Old Calendar A very belated Happy 牛 Year to all (though I’m rather late in this greetings…the last day of Chinese New Year). Finally things have settled down and I managed to squeeze some time to blog. This year the Chinese New Year falls in January, the first month of the year 2009. Before I could rid off my old 2008 calendar, the Chinese New Year is already around the corner and now the 2 days holidays were over. Every end of the year, I will be looking forward to getting new calendars for the following year. Every beginning of the year, I will be deciding which calendar to use for the hall, and each room or to be given away if there is any extra. Sad to say, nowadays the number of calendars are getting lesser and lesser probably due to poor economy. I personally preferred my Tampines Town Council table calendar. I’ve not used those olden times wall calendar for a long long time. Some of the commonly used old calendars (some of which still using now) are: 1. Single Page Date Type. I love this type of calendars especially now that my eyesight is failing haha. But I hate the hassle of tearing the paper daily. Some people will use the paper torn off to place those bones during their meal time (good recycle idea!). Of course most of these calendars were attached to an advertisement board as seen below and they were usually given free by the company. Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS You can even see that this roadside barber (below) also hang one such calendar on the wall. The setback is that one must usually put a nail on the wall to hang such type of calendar which is probably why most people are not using them now. Credit : National Archives of Singapore, National Heritage Show There were some type with a smaller size paper calendar as shown below; Credit : Chinatown Heritage Centre 2. Horse Racing Calendars. The other type of popular calendar is the horse racing type showing the dates of one whole month on one page including the horse racing dates. Credit : National Archives Of Singapore, PICAS I like this type too as I only need to tear off the page after 1 month and not on a daily basis. There is also a smaller version for those taxi drivers to hang in their cabs. 3. Swimsuits Type These are very popular type among some shops like car workshops, furniture shops, etc.. where women in swimsuit type of calendars were usually hang on their shop walls. Also in the past during the Chinese New Year, my godmother would like to hang a new Chinese Zodiac Signs type of calendar on the wall too; Credit : National Archives Of Singapore, PICAS With such a Chinese Zodiac sign calendar, we are able to roughly tell the age of a person if we know his/her Zodiac sign like Tiger, Pig, Rabbit, etc… My Apologies; Sorry for not blogging for a long while as I’m unable to do so. My father (only 78 this year) has suddenly turned from independent to dependent. In December last year, he was having problems in getting up from his bed and finding difficulties in his movement. I thought it maybe gout and arthritis but after 3 weeks, he was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was warded for a week, and everyday he was tested for what causes the sickness. He was diagnosed to have Polymyalgia Rheumatica, Frozen Shoulder and Mild Cervical Mylopathy. There isn’t much the doctor can do except to give him some pain-killer and discharged him to do Physio Therapy at another step-down hospital. He was discharged a couple of days before the Chinese New Year and now it was almost 2 weeks plus. After he was discharged, I’m his caregiver and I need to attend to all his needs 24/7 including bathing for him, etc… I thought taking care of my kids from baby to teenager is tough but now taking care of my father is even much more …. not only physically taxing but also mentally taxing. I’ve finally managed to shed 4 kg off within 1 week! The only contention is after these 2 weeks of home therapy, he is improving on his movement. Now I start to fear…will I be the same in 30 years time…when I aged. For those that I’ve not reply to you, my apologies. Guess What Quiz No.1 Most of the younger generation may not have seen this ‘Pass-Out’ shown in the below photo; I’m only showing part of the whole photo above for this 1st part of the clue. I believe the older generation like Victor, Peter, Philip or Chun See may know the answer very well. So Guess What is this ‘Pass-Out’ ? Answer : Philip got it right and Peek a boo came quite close to it but he is not quite definite about it. It is a cinema/theatre Pass-Out card for interval Credit : Shaw Gallery at the Shaw Tower, Beach Road. You can view the above at the Shaw Tower located at Beach Road. But anyone knows why is it called ‘Pass-Out’? Have a guess. ETV ? The younger generation probably may not know what is ETV. Also not many may bother about it. But ETV means a lot to me at that time. Credit : The Straits Times This was the TV programmes list in The Straits Times 27 years ago (1981). Nothing special except the channels were known as SBC 5 (Channel 5), SBC 8 (Channel 8), Malaysia 3 (Malaysia Channel 3) and Malaysia 10 (Malaysia Channel 10 where occassionally we had some Cantonese shows). From my previous post here, SBC was formed probably from 1980 to 1994. From the above newspaper cut-out, you can see at the bottom – CDIS (Curriculum Development Instittute of Singapore) section. This was the Educational TV Programmes for students, probably mainly Primary School students. In fact the CDIS was formed about the same year as SBC in 1980, by MOE. Credit : The Straits Times What about before that when I was in Primary School in the 70s? I remember it was known as ETV (probably Educational TV programmes). Of course it was the RTS times in the 70s. The teacher would brought the whole class to the TV Room to watch the 10 to 15 minutes of ETV (in black and white at that time), mainly covering subjects like English, Maths and Science. Not many of us had TVs at home, so watching such educational programmes on TV in school really thrilled us. Sometimes the class was noisy and we arrived late and only managed to watch to the last 5 minutes of the show. You may wish to read more about ETV from this article. In fact, ETV was started sometime in 1967. At that time Mr. Ong Pang Boon was the Minister For Education. Primary School students watching ETV in the TV room (1971) ; Credit : National Archives of Singapore, PICAS From TV Singapura To MediaCorp Just last Sunday 23 Nov 2008, Channel 8 telecast the gala show of its 45 years in TV broadcasting. Before that, it showed some preview of it like the one below about its history or milestone; As you can see, the icons shown in sequence were as follow; 1. TV Malaysia Singapura 2. TV Singapura; Note the similarity of the above two icons. 3. RTS (Old and New Logo); 4. SBC; 5. TCS; 6. MediaCorp; Credit : Above all – MediaCorp of singapore I practically grown up with our TV broadcasting as I’m 46 yrs old and they are 45 yrs! But one thing I find it confusing with that 45 years gala show and its premeire : Should TV Malaysia Singapura come before TV Singapura (as shown in the above sniplets shown on TV previously)? I’m not sure and let’s wait for the actual gala show on 23 Nov 2008 Sunday. While I’m hoping to get more details from the Sunday Gala show, I’m rather disappointed. Below is the edited version of part of the whole show, depicted the history of our TV broadcasting shown in “news broadcasting” style; For the benefits of those who don’t understand Mandarin, let me try to write down the main points (correct me if I’ve made any mistakes); 1. 1961- Started planning TV Transmission 1963 – Trial Transmission 1963, 2 Apr – TV Singapura officially started transmission. 1963, 23 Oct – Channel 8 launched. 2. 1965 – RTS formed. 1974, 1 Aug – Started color transmission. 1977, 1 Nov – All programmes in color transmission. 3. 1980, 31 Jan – SBC formed as a Stat Board and separated from Ministry of Culture. 4. 1994 – TCS formed as an Enterprise to replace SBC. 1999 – MediaCorp established replacing TCS. It seems like I still cannot gather from the above show on whether TV Singapura or TV Malaysia Singapura started first…so I Googled and found the following infos from the Singapore Infopedia on Television Singapura; 1. 1963, 15 Feb – Television Singapura was launched as Singapore’s first monochrome television station. 2. 1963, 2 Apr – Television Singapura started regular transmission. Channel 5 was first started, and Channel 8 was launched in Nov, 1963. 3. 1964, 1 Jan – First advertisement was aired to reduce relying on subsidies. 4. 1964, Nov – The TV station joined the Radio Singapura to form RTS (Radio Television Singapura). 5. 1966, 26 Aug – A new $3.6 million building at Caldecott Hill was officially opened to house the Television Centre. 6. 1974, May – RTS began colour TV test transmission. 7.1980, 1 Feb -The Department of Broadcasting (RTS), Ministry of Culture, became the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), a statutory board. 8. 1994, 1 Oct – SBC was dissolved to make way for Singapore International Media (SIM), a fully privatised entity that led to Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) taking over the television broadcasting role of SBC. 9. 2001 – TCS became Mediacorp TV under a newly restructured group, Media Corporation of Singapore (MediaCorp Singapore). Weird, howcome there is also no mention of the TV Malaysia Singapura? So I Googled again and found the following from Mica website; 1963 – Inception of national television, Television Singapura. Later renamed Television Malaysia (Singapura) when Singapore became part of Malaysia on 16 Sep 1963. So for how long TV Malaysia (Singapura) lasted? Probably until Singapore separated from Malaysia on 7 Aug 1965.  In Nov, 1964 RTS (Radio Television Singapura) already formed and some equipments from TV Malaysia (Singapura) still remained in used probably until 1966 as can be seen in this below photo from PICAS; Credit : Above 2 – National Archives of Singapore, PICAS. Do you still remember in 4 Apr 1988, we celebrated 25 yrs of Television service in Singapore by launching a new set of stamps; In this set, all stamps are showing the SBC logo only. Before I end, do you realise there is a mistake in the Gala show? For those who understand Mandarin, see if you can identify the mistake; In fact I practically grown up with our TV broadcasting service as I’m 46yrs this year and they are 45.