Information AboutKatong |
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Katong is a residential area in the east of Singapore near the seafront. It is a suburb of great prestige and posesses special historical charm for its Asian heritage and seaside town charm. It was home to the earlier scions of the Englishmen Sir Arthur, Lord Meyer, Lord Mountbatten, Cathay movie magnate Loke Wan Tho . Its illustrious residents include the ancestral family of ex-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong . The finance for China's war of liberation was raised here by China's founding father, Sun Yat-sen . A Sun Yat-sen villa, now converted into a museum, is situated in Katong. Katong is also the location of many villas and mansions of the wealthy elite in the 18th to 20th centuries, who made their fortunes in the Far East and built seaside resorts, villas and manors along the beachfront of Katong, beginning from Katong Park to the end of the East Coast. Katong's rich cultural mix has contributed to its unique cuisine. Katong is well known for its restaurants serving Peranakan (Straits Chinese) cuisine, particularly a spicy Malay noodle soup called Singapore Peranakan Laksa . There is a restaurant in Hong Kong 's Central district serving Katong Laksa. ETYMOLOGY ''Katong'' is the name of an exotic species of Sea Turtle now Extinct . It also means the rippling effect of a sea Mirage when looking at a shoreline. "Tanjong" means "Bay". Hence, "Katong", the "Turtle Mirage" district is bordered by "Tanjong Katong" which means "Turtle Mirage Bay", similar to the "Turtle Bay" district in Manhattan , New York opposite the United Nations headquarters. HISTORY Katong's history has been rooted in prestige and wealth. Many wealthy English, Portuguese and Chinese settlers bought parcels of land here besides the sea to cultivate plantations. They built business empires from trading in these early international commodities such as Cotton , Coconut and Gambier . The earliest cultivation took place in 1823 , when Francis Bernard, son-in-law of Lieutenant Colonel William Farquhar , the first Resident of Singapore, started a coconut estate in the district. Gradually, the crown of Singapore sold plots of land in the area stretching from Frankel Avenue , Siglap Road, to the Geylang River . And from Geylang Road to the sea, land was granted to individuals in large parcels, ranging from 8 to 200 Hectare s. Pioneer estate owners included Thomas Dunman, Thomas Crane, Sir Jose d'Almeida, John Armstrong, Whampoa Hoo Ah Kay, Joo Chiat and the Little family. Most of the land was given over to coconut plantations because of the suitably Sandy conditions, although cotton was also introduced in February 1836 . Unnfortunately, cotton planting was largely a failure and only coconut plantations remained. In the first four decades of the Twentieth Century and especially after World War I , Katong developed from a weekend seaside Retreat into a home for the wealthy, who built their main residence away from the hustle and bustle of town-life in the form of ornate and immense colonial seaside bungalows. Katong then took the form of a wealthy Suburb . Large colonial, Chinese and Peranakan Bungalow s were built along Meyer Road, Mountbatten Road, East Coast Road (now divided into East Coast Road and Upper East Coast Road) while many modest houses were built on increasingly expensive and smaller plots of land around Joo Chiat Road (formerly the family estate of Joo Chiat) and Tanjong Katong Road (which in English means "Road of the Turtle Mirage Bay"). The Katong of today covers both sides of Tanjong Katong Road and the seaward strip along Mountbatten Road and East Coast Road, stretching from Katong Park up to Martia Road (opposite Roxy Square). Also included in this strip are the Katong Church and Katong Convent. The Katong area, a stretch between Tembeling Road and Telok Kurau Road, with the old Joo Chiat Police Station (now "Katong Mall") as its centre, was an Ethnic Enclave of the Eurasians , who subsequently fled Singapore for Australia in the 80s and 90s. Many "town" Eurasians moved here in the 1920s and 1930s due to several reasons. They were attracted by the building of St Patrick's (1933) (along the stretch of East Coast Road intersecting Frankel Avenue) and also by the Holy Family Church also known as "Katong Church". Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Katong (CHIJ Katong) was built much later on Martia Road and expanded its secondary school into Marine Parade after land reclamation of the East Coast in 1965. The Eurasians wanted better homes after the Depression ; however, the city centre of Singapore and its surrounding area was experiencing congestion and pollution with overcrowding being common. Therefore, they sold their estates in town and built their homes in Katong. The Chinese settlers followed suit. HIGHLIGHTS The area is traditionally associated with the Eurasian and Peranakan community. However, many high-rise apartment blocks now stand alongside the traditional shophouses and Peranakan terrace houses. In 1993 , the ancient villa of Chinese tycoon Joo Chiat, Joo Chiat neighbourhood which comprises of the historical centre of Katong, with its delicate and uniquely Singaporean architecture mixing Chinese, Peranakan and English colonial styles, was designated a national heritage conservation area by the Singapore Government. Many of the traditional houses in the area have been conserved and are now luxury homes for the wealthy elite of Singapore. In the 90s there was a widely-publicized and televised Everitt Road Saga , in which the aging heirs and heiresses of Katong dynasties and the nouveau riche moving in fought a cold war with surveillance cameras and automated digital video cameras. This class conflict coincided with the 2nd Iraq War. That this seemingly silly conflict was televised non-stop throughout South-east Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, attests to the continuing allure and mystique Katong wealth and style holds throughout the world. The public never fails to be obsessively fascinated with this fabled neighborhood, ancestral home of Lord Mountbatten, Thomas Dunman, Loke Wan Tho, Lee Kuan Yew (whose ancestral home is now where OCBC Bank is next to Katong Church) and Goh Chok Tong. On one of the world's most densely populated island where citizens live in box-like apartments in skyscrapers, the old knights and maidens of Katong continue to live, not as tenants in the sky, but as land-owning gentry on its sandy land. In Singapore, a tiny dot of a country in the world map, but absolute epicentre of East Asia and South-east Asia, where materialistic Singaporeans obsess over the latest hair thermal treatment from Japan or the latest Lamborghini from Italy , and where Hong Kong fans trail the heels of movie stars the likes of Chow Yun-Fatt , Jackie Chan , Stephen Chow , and their latest trysts with wives and lovers in Singapore ( Gong Li , Sandy Lam , Maggie Cheung ) or from Singapore (Jasmine Tan), the paparazzi invariably set up an outpost in Katong. No wonder estate after estate of colonial villas in this part of Singapore! There is kampong saying about the Singapore elite. "They grow up in Katong villas, move away from parents to live in Orchard apartments, migrate to Holland Village when dating, return to marry and build their families again in Katong , migrate to England, Australia, America, Canada or wherever. In the end, they return to Singapore to die in Bukit Timah ." EDUCATION Katong is home to prestigious schools, both traditionally Christian, Chinese and state schools such as Christian Schools Patrick's Boys' School St. Stephen's Boys' School The Katong Convent (Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Katong -CHIJ Katong) Chinese Schools Dunman High School Chung Cheng High School (Main) Tao Nan School State Schools Tanjong Katong Girls' School Tanjong Katong Secondary School Haig Girls' School Haig Boys' School REFERENCE
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