Thursday, June 14, 2018

Statue romanticising the good old days of farming in Chong Pang, Singapore


I visited Chong Pang Toastmasters club in the Chong Pang Community Centre. When I got off the bus my attentionwas immediately drawn to this dramatic statue and I ran back to phtograph it. The statue depicts a farmer, I presume carrying water in two buckets suspended from a pole across his shoulders.

Chong Pang is the name of a prominent local person, Lim Chong Pang. The family or clan name is Lim. The two names Chong and Pang are his person names, like a first name and middle name. 

His father was Lim Nee Soon. I had previously visited Nee Soon East Community Club but had never known why the area was called Nee Soon. 

Chong Pang, according to the Wikipedia article and other sources, was a man who rented out small parcels of land at affordable prices to the local Indian workers who were employed by the British. After the British left, the Indians lost their jobs, and largely went back to India. So this changeover, the end to British rule, seen as a joy by the local Chinese population, was not necessarily a blessing to the Indians. 

Now the area is mainly Chinese. It is well known for its food.

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Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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