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.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/974780

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

Next Stop, Sir Stamford Raffles

This is the very cool Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles. xD It is located along the stretch of the Singapore river, just beside the old Parliament House and the Asian Civilisation Museum.

The statue of sir stamford raffles at singapore river is where people believed that he first set foot onto singapore . Sir stamford raffles is one of the most iconic person who was essential in turning singapore into how it is now . He was an employee of the British East India Company and he ventured towards Asia in search for a point along a major trading route . The singapore used to have a shore bank and that is where he supposedly landed.

The Parliament house. Old one or new one ??? o_o

Ok this is apparently the New Parliament House ._.

Story. =D

The Old Parliament House, now know as the Arts House at the Old Parliament was formerly home to the Parliament of SIngapore between 1965 to 1999. The old parliament house was completed in 1827 and was originally a Neo-Palladian building owned by a scottish merchant called John Argyle Maxwell. Sir Stamford Raffles requested for the building to be over so that it could be out to government use in 1823. The government leased the building for 500 rupees every month. In 1955 when David Marshall was elected, the building was renamed Parliament House in August 1965, when singapore gained independence.The building was made a national monument in 14 february 1992. On September 1999, the Parliament of Singapore moved into a new building which faces North Bridge Road.

Links:

• http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_836_2005-01-06.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Parliament_House,_Singapore

Coleman Bridge.

As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog, this cement bridge behind my group is called Coleman Bridge, named after its first designer George D. Coleman(1795-1944).

There are actually 3 different other Coleman Bridges built over each other over time due to their instability. The very first was built in 1840, made of bricks.

Subsequently in 1865, this bridge was replaced by one made of timber. But apparently, this wooden bridge was not well built. It had to be replaced by the a third Bridge in 1886, this time it was made out of iron.

Finally in 1986, the bridge was demolished as it could not cope with the increasing traffic going through it. A concrete bridge replaced it ever since, until now its still standing and functioning well. When the previous bridge was demolished, some of its features were incorporated into this latest bridge in recognition of its historical significance.

Singapore River. (Map)

So this is the map and the trail we walked by the Singapore river as well as the landmarks we came across along the way :D .

The link to the map:

http://maps.google.com.sg/maps/ms?msid=202338598311728980165.0004bbdf4a21b8df55074&msa=0&ll=1.289358,103.849672&spn=0.00325),0.004613