- Katong
SG neighbourhood
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englishname=Katong
chinesename=加东
poj=
pengim=
pinyin=Jiādōng
malayname=Katong
tamilname="fill in"Katong is a residential area in the east of
Singapore near the seafront. It is a suburb of great prestige and possesses special historical charm for its Asian heritage and seaside town charm. Formerly located by the sea, land was reclaimed all the way toEast Coast Park to provide more land for housing and recreational purposes due to shortage of land in the late 1960s after Singapore gained independence.Katong is also the location of many villas and mansions of the wealthy elite in the late 19th to the mid 20th centuries, who made their fortunes in the
Far East and built seaside resorts, villas and manors along the beachfront of Katong, beginning fromKatong 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 Peranakanlaksa . Katong Laksa originated from Joo Chiat area. The hawker was nick-named 'Jangok" by the peranakan, because he had a few strands of hair at his chin. He was an itinerant hawker and lived in Tembling Road/Joo Chiat Terrace. Later he moved his business into the eating house at East Coast Road/Ceylon Road. Because the Katong people loved his laksa, it has come to be known as theKatong laksa throughout the world inHong Kong andNew York .Etymology
"Katong" is the name of an exotic species of
sea turtle nowextinct . It also means the rippling effect of a seamirage when looking at a shoreline. "Tanjong Katong" was a popular beach along the East Coast. "Tanjong" meanspeninsula orpromontory in Malay. This coastal feature was located near the present Tanjong Katong Flyover across East Coast Parkway and had since disappeared due to land reclamation.History
Katong's history has been rooted in prestige and wealth. Many wealthy English, Portuguese, Anglo-French and Chinese settlers bought parcels of land here beside 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 theGeylang River . FromGeylang Road to the sea, land was granted to individuals in large parcels, ranging from 8 to 200hectare s. Pioneer estate owners includedThomas Dunman , Thomas Crane, Sir Jose d'Almeida, John Armstrong, Whampoa Hoo Ah Kay, Chew Joo Chiat and the Little family.Most of the land was given over to coconut plantations because of the suitably
sand y 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 wealthysuburb . Large colonial, Chinese and Peranakanbungalow s were built along Meyer Road, Mountbatten Road, East Coast Road (now divided into East Coast Road and Upper East Coast Road) while many upper-class family homes 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 Promontory").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 toMartia Road . Also included in this strip are the Katong Church andCHIJ Katong Convent .The present Katong area stretches from Mounbatten Road, East Coast Road to Siglap. The Katong in Joo Chiat was formally an
ethnic enclave of the Eurasians.Many "town" Eurasians moved here in the 1920s and 1930s due to several reasons. They were attracted by the building of
Saint Patrick's (1933) 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 intoMarine 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
Joo Chiat neighbourhood which comprises 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, which includes the ancient villa of Chinese tycoon Joo Chiat, have been conserved and are now luxury homes for the wealthy elite from throughout the world.In the 2000s there was a widely-publicized and televised
Everitt Road Saga , in which the neighbours fought a cold war with surveillance cameras and automated digital video cameras, floodlights and verbal potshots. This seemingly silly conflict was televised throughoutAsia -China ,India and neighboring South-east Asian countries such asMalaysia ,Indonesia ,Thailand ,Burma andVietnam . This has heightened thesnob factor of this historically prestigiousenclave , cloaked in a rarefied secrecy spanning over three centuries ofwealth .Residents
It was home to the earlier scions of the
Englishmen Sir Arthur ,Lord Meyer ,Lord Mountbatten ,Cathay Organisation film magnateLoke Wan Tho . Its illustrious residents include the ancestral family ofMinister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew andSenior Minister Goh Chok Tong . The incumbent presidentSellapan Ramanathan lives in Katong in his primary residence instead of theIstana , Southeast Asia answer to the USWhite House . Since the 1990s, an increasing number of wealthy Americans have moved fromBukit Timah intoKatong luxury residences - architecturally-unique conservedshophouse s meant for glamorousmillionaire s. In addition, many otherPeranakan shophouses have been conserved into high-end boutique hotels serving wealthy Asian, European and Americanexpatriates moving away from theterrorist -prone zone of Holland Village, such asSandalwood . ManyParisian and European fashion labels such asAgnes B . andComme des Garcons have expressed interest in turning the quaint shophouses aroundJoo Chiat into exclusive closed boutiques, like those in the fashionable West Chelsea andmeatpacking district ofManhattan . These closed boutiques are meant for the exclusive international VHNWvery high net-worth private-banking clientele who fiercely guard their privacy, a unique niche economic group which shops on an absolutely different scale. Katong is preferred as these families do not engage inconspicuous consumption available in the densely-populated and verypublic Orchard andCity areas.Katong accent
During British colonial times, the civil service was the career of choice for many Peranakans and Eurasians. This led to Peranakan and Eurasian English language teachers passing onto their students a quaint and unique form of enunciation diametrically opposite of the more common "Singlish" creole. Thus words like "four" and "door" become pronounced as "foe" and "doe" in an odd sing-song manner - an influence from Chinese and Portuguese speakers.
"Katong Girls"
Besides its food, Katong is famous for her daughters - "
Katong girl s" - protected and privileged daughters of the elite families in Singapore.Originally daughters of English-speaking Chinese families belonging to the
landowning class inSingapore living in gated, isolatedbungalow s ofWindsor Park , they moved toKatong to pursue a moreexpressive social life when theWomen's Charter was introduced during thesixties , freeing up economic and socialequality for women.Subsequently, after they married and formed their own families, their own daughters were also schooled in single-sex Convents such as the
Katong Convent throughout all their childhood and adolescent lives. Katong girls are very much sought after in the Singapore who's-marrying-whom scene and the prom / socialite scene because of their seemingpurity ,kindness , charity, combining all the goodChristian values with the rightConfucian ones. Katong girls are easily distinguishable from other prettySingaporean girls through theirupper-class Englishaccent and virtuousupbringing . Traditionally, many follow anArts /Humanities curriculum and are then sent to boarding schools and universities inEngland . Most mothers ofSouth-east Asian heirs prefer their girlsKatong , as they are deemed the mostkosher in morality, values, upbringing, and generalold-world classiness. Hong Kong crossover actor in Hollywood, Chow Yun-Fatt's wifeJasmine Tan is one of many such examples.Education
Originally,
Katong has been purely residential - it served as home for the wealthy whose children normally had private drivers to fetch them to town schools such asAnglo-Chinese School (ACS),Raffles Girls' School (RGS) andMethodist Girls' School (MGS). However, as the overcrowded city area became zoned by thePAP government initiative for international commercial businesses, many wealthy elite East Coast families began sending their children to "Christian" religious schools or Clan-based schools such as theHokkien Huay Kuan -sponsored group of schools within or near Katong (see [Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan schools] http://www.shhk.com.sg/education/education.html ), before sending them overseas toEngland ,Scotland ,Ireland ,Canada ,Australia and theUnited States for their full education. 'Bukit Timah ', a formerly poverty-strickentin miningkampong recentlygentrified by a flood of upstartmillionaire s, have tried to rival, but has yet come close to challenging the mystique and prestige of this quaint, historic town. The following are historically important schools within the Katong district.*
CHIJ Canossa's Convent - now defunct
*CHIJ Katong Convent - Autonomous School
*Chung Cheng High School (Main) - SAP/Autonomous School
*Dunman High School - SAP/Autonomous School
*Kong Hwa School - SAP School
*Tao Nan School - SAP School
*Saint Patrick's School
*Tanjong Katong Girls' School - Autonomous School
*Tanjong Katong Secondary School - Autonomous School
*Victoria Junior College - Top 5 JC
*Victoria School - Autonomous SchoolPolitics
Katong is part of the
Joo Chiat Single Member Constituency whoseMember of Parliament isChan Soo Sen of thePeople's Action Party . Katong formerly was part ofEast Coast Group Representation Constituency from 1997 to 2001.TV shows about Katong
*
Katong Miss Oh , a sitcom aired on MediaCorp Channel 8 in 2002.References
*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), "Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names", Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
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