Singapore River .

Singapore River .
The starting point, Coleman Bridge

Friday, March 23, 2012

Changes in the river

Past
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Singapore-map-1825.jpg




http://www.singapore-river.com/singaporerivercampaign/img/map/Map_SingRiver(small).jpg


Some areas of the river have been claimed as land and over the time , industrial use may have also affected the Singapore River. The Singapore River will most likely remain the same despite the increasing urbanization .



Ending Point. . . :/



And Behind us lies the ending point which is better known as the Anderson Bridge, just a short distance walk away from the Museum.

Anderson Bridge was built with one purpose which is to improve the traffic conditions from the Government area and the civic district, which is not the business district. Cavenagh Bridge could not take the increasing traffic flow as Singapore Flourished due to trade, even though 2 other bridge were built to solve this problem. So in the end
Cavenagh bridge became a pedestrian bridge while all heavy traffic is diverted to the Anderson Bridge on the other side of the river.

Chinese Pottery and stuff :D

After the invention of pottery in the Neolithic, (5000-2200 BC) the ancient Chinese successfully came up with painted potteries, black potteries and carved potteries. Through lots of years of experience with kiln (Oven) firing led China into a new age of ceramics in the Han Dynasty. There has been evidence that Glazed pottery being made in the Western Zhou Dynasty while Glazed wares was not common until the Han Dynasty.

In this current age, more Chinese ceremicists have adopted the western form of "Studio" art into the potteries they make instead of the Cultural and collective



Links:
http://www.arttiques.com/about_history.html
http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/316.aspx

Shadow Puppets O_o . . . Puppets ? . - .

Origins of puppets is traced but to the ancient times when they were use for religious ceremonies, and was believed to have magical aspects which were forgotten or replaced through time. Puppetry in the ancient times had great significance in regions and was used for the development of story telling and preaching.

Puppets in Asia originated in India and was brought to Asia as trade and communication between the Indian and Asian regions began. As Indian merchants and immigrants came to Asia, their culture and literature influenced developing settlements through religion.




Chinese Shadow Play, from puppets too.
It dated back to the which was the Mid-Late Tang Dynasty or into the Five Dynasties(907-960). It was a form of media for the preaching of Buddhist Dharma of transmigration and retribution. In temples, the shadow figures are supposedly souls of the dead when their sin was expiated after death by Monks.



Now there are even shadow puppets by just using your hands. (Y)





Links:
http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_madeinchina/2005-12/05/content_76667.htm

Tea. ish nice :d


This is how Tea was drank. . . with a teapot and cups.


Tea is a very common yet popular drink . In this age and time , people can get tea very easily but that still does not diminish how nice it tastes . For me personally , tea is an essential part of my breakfast.



Indonesian

Tea was brought to indonesia by traders from FuJian , a part of china. Traders called it 'Tay' and that was how merchants and traders called it. In 1910 , Sumatra , a part of indonesia became a place for cultivating and exporting tea.




Japan

Lots of things that were brought from China to Japan and vice versa were brought by monks who were traveling . Tea is no exception . Japanese monks who travelled to china brought tea back to Japan and now , tea is an important part on Japanese Culture.

Now , We head back to China to find out more about the origin of this savory drink. Legend says that Emperor Shen Nong actually discovered tea accidentally . A lone , dry tea leaf fell from the pant into a cup of water and that was the origin for tea.

After Ming dynasty, more and more types of Chinese teas were invented. The Art of Chinese is constantly perfected. The famous Kung Fu Cha (or Kung Fu Tea) is one of the landmark development of Chinese tea brewing.

The Chinese Civilisation. . . . \^^|

Ok so at the Museum, We got a bit lost. There were sooooo many people there o_O. Anyways we decided to choose the Chinese Civilisation as shown in the title up there ^ .

WE ARE HERE !! :D ( Asian Civilisation Museum)


. . . And here we are finally after walking for awhile, the entrance or outside of the the museum.





Originally called and used as a Government's Office, now houses the Singapore'sAsian Civilisation Museum. It overlooked the Mouth of the Singapore river every since it was Designed and Built in the 1860s, costing about £53,000 at that time. The current building is supposedly larger then in the 1860s.

This building was then, in Honor of Queen Victoria, The Empress Place building around the starting of the 20th century.

The Museum Officially opened in 2003. With a firm mission, "To explore and present the cultures and civilisations of Asia, so as to promote awareness and appreciation of the ancestral cultures of Singaporeans and their links to Southeast Asia and the world."



Links:
http://www.acm.org.sg/home/home.asp