It is Qing Ming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) again. I make my annual trip to pay respects at Fung Yun Thai Association Columbarium near Old Holland Road, where my grandparents’ funeral urns are stored. Also commonly known as Hakka Clan (客人邑), this is where the early Chinese Hakka immigrants had settled and lived for generations.
Old Holland Road
There are many “old” roads in Singapore, such as Old Yio Chu Kang Road, Old Upper Thomson Road and Old Tampines Road. In most cases, these roads were renamed after their roles and importance diminished over time and were replaced by the newer arterial roads of the same names.
In the sixties, a long stretch of the original Holland Road wound its way through a massive Chinese Hakka graveyard called Fung Yun Thai Cemetery (丰永大坟山), serving as a link between 6½ Milestone Bukit Timah Road and its main arterial portion at the junction with Ulu Pandan Road.
When the cemetery was exhumed in the early eighties, part of Holland Road (see map below) was also demolished. A new road by the name of Holland Road North was constructed in the late nineties as an accessible route to planned private condominiums in the vicinity. It was supposed to be linked up with Holland Road South and Holland Road West, but the constructions were never completed.
Holland Road North was later renamed as Old Holland Road, as a continuation of the road that started off Bukit Timah Road. The incomplete Holland Road South and West, on the other hand, became rocky paths, and are out of bounds to motor vehicles today.
The newer Holland Plain and Holland Link, as their names suggest, refer to the grass plain that has formerly the exhumed cemetery, and the link that joins Old Holland Road to the original Holland Road. The rocky paths are now a favourite route for joggers and dog owners, while many enthusiasts can be seen flying their kite and remote-controlled aircraft at the vast grass plain.
Shocking Crime
Durian plantations were once abundant off Old Holland Road; there were several cases of thefts of durians reported on the newspapers in the eighties. A horrific crime, however, shocked Singapore on 22 May 1985 when 18-year-old Catholic Junior College student Winnifred Teo Suan Lie (张碹丽) went missing while jogging near the exhumed cemetery. Her body was discovered naked and lying in the bushes along Old Holland Road the next morning, with six fatal slashes on her neck. The murderer was never caught.
Changing Landscape
The Hakka columbarium, completed in 1991 and tucked at the corner of Holland Plain and Holland Link, off Old Holland Road, has enjoyed undisturbed peace and serenity for the past two decades. In the last three years, however, the columbarium started to experience changes in its surroundings. Like other parts of Singapore affected by the construction frenzy, private development are now slowly engulfing the former graveyard that has been vacated and forgotten over time.
Almost a forgotten place in Singapore, the Fung Yung Thai Association Columbarium receive few visitors in any days other than Qing Ming or other special occasions. Before 2011, its main ancestral hall was accompanied by a large garden, with a main tomb that probably buried a significant or wealthy Hakka figure of the past. Few would have expected these to vanish within two years.
By April 2013, the latest private property project in the highly sought-after District 10 is almost ready. Named Eleven @Holland, the brand new strata-titled semi-detached houses are located such a short distance away that a tall circling wall has to be built around the columbarium, probably to prevent the new residents from facing its ghastly neighbours. The vanished garden and main tomb of the columbarium had become part of the premises of the new housing project.
An Old Hakka Association
The history of Fung Yun Thai Association (丰永大公会) dated back to the 19th century, when the early Hakka immigrants from the three counties of China (Fung Shoon 丰顺, Yun Teng 永定 and Tai Po 大埔), arrived at Singapore.
By the late 19th century, there were about 6,000 Hakkas settled at the areas around present-day Commonwealth and Buona Vista, a relatively small number compared to the three major Chinese dialect groups in Singapore. According to a population census conducted by the Straits Settlements government in 1881, the strength of the Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese groups ranged between 15,000 and 25,000 each.
In 1888, for the price of 300 silver dollars plus an annual tax of 50 cents, the Hakkas purchased parcels of land off Holland Road from the Straits Settlements government for their ancestral temple (Sanyi Ci 三邑祠) and cemetery (Fung Yun Thai Cemetery 丰永大坟山, also known as Yu Shan Teng 毓山亭), with Fun Yun Thai Kongsi (丰永大公司) established to manage the properties.
The kongsi was re-registered as an association in 1906 in order to run the temple, cemetery and small surrounding clusters of Hakka villages effectively. In the fifties, the ancestral temple also functioned as Nam Tong School (南同小学) to provide elementary education for the Hakka children who lost their opportunities to study during the Japanese Occupation.
Acquisition of Cemetery
This lasted until 1977, when the entire cemetery hill was acquired by the Singapore government. Nam Tong School was discontinued, while the Hakka villagers were resettled elsewhere. A compensation of $1 million and a small 6.38 hectares of land, including the site of the temple, was reserved for Fung Yun Thai Association. Exhumation was then carried out four years later. In 1991, a columbarium was constructed within the designated area to house the exhumed ashes.
Together with another Hakka cemetery Ying Fo Fui Kuan, Fung Yun Thai Cemetery was one of two earliest burial grounds in Singapore to be acquired by the government for redevelopment purposes. It was rumoured that Lee Bok Boon, the great-grandfather of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, was previously buried here, and the move was to demonstrate to other Chinese dialect clans that, should their cemetery hills be also acquired for redevelopment, they would have no reasons to object.
A large canal called Bukit Timah Diversion Canal, constructed in the early seventies, makes its way behind the columbarium. Half a century ago, this was a long stream, with farms and fish-rearing ponds on its either sides. Today, the long canal runs through the vicinity between the Bukit Timah Road Canal and Sungei Ulu Pandan, serving as a reminder of the olden days.
After being left vacated for more than three decades, the grass plain and greenery of Old Holland Road may soon be giving way for more private residential development.
Published: 09 April 2013
Updated: 13 April 2013
Remember Singapore 
Cool. Went there recently for qing ming too. Thanks for the information! 🙂
Thank you for the very interesting article.
Thank you for the article.. I was looking at it on google map a while ago wondering what was on those open spaces previously…
By the way, Fung Yun Thai Association has nothing to do with Thailand.
The “Thai” in its name refers to Tai Po 大埔, where my Hakka ancestors came from. It should be “Tai” instead of “Thai”, not sure why there’s a H added 🙂
Hi,
Thank you so much for such an informative article and I now know so much more about my neighborhood.
The large piece of exhumed cemetery land is left empty, but the new project Eleven was built. I assume project Eleven is also sitting on exhumed cemetery land. Do you know why they allow the project ?
Cool place …. even now. I remember riding thru the `old’ Holland Rd in the 80’s. It was one of the best roads in Singapore.
Thanks for the pictures, bring back memories of my early years. We used to stay in villages just next to the cemetery.
I remember on kite fighting along th e canal of the last picture ….. 40+ years ago
Discovered a small hidden track off Holland Road (see map below). It’s Lorong Terigu, which runs along the former KTM railway tracks and ends at the other stretch of the big Bukit Timah Diversion Canal.
According to http://pictures.nl.sg/, there used to have small villages with zinc-roofed houses at Lorong Terigu, but were probably abandoned by the early nineties.
Thank you for the article on Old Holland Road and for remembering Winnifred Teo Suan Lie. She and I were pen pals in the 1980’s.
Rest in Peace Winnifred…from a college junior, a decade on….
I feel your pain Janet…
I was Winnifred’s neighbour in Maryland Drive. I was still in P6 and ride bike with her brother Gerald. in 1985, I came home from school and passed by their house surrounded with police cars, and didn’t realize till I saw it on SBC 5 news. I was shocked and didn’t dare to ride Old Holland Road again.
Sorry to hear that Janet…
It’s really grave injustice that the murderers got away scot free
Janet, I noticed Winnifred’s younger sister passed on a year later (9 yrs old)…I see it on the pictures when you google Winnifred’s name. What happened to her sister….must have beent raumatic for the family.
Old Holland Road. Go there on a saturday and you will see lots of RC enthusiasts flying their expensive helis and planes. If you are lucky you might see a crash or two!
Holland Road 1964
(Photo Credit: Facebook Group “On a little street in Singapore”)
When I was a kid in the 1960s Qing Ming was one of the few family gatherings, My grandfather and uncle were buried there. I remember when we arrived at the grave site my late grand mother would shout for the caretaker in Hakka, a lady called “Wan Soe”, losely translated is sister in law “Wan”. Wan Soe will appear from the tall lallang, to clear the over growth at the graves and collect her annual caretaking fee at the same time.
I used to work for an engineering company at 881A, Bt Timah Road and I ride my RX 100 on Holland Road. One of my colleague (Linda) lived in the kampong near the cemetery. I think Lien Yin Chow (the OUB boss) also stayed somewhere around Ewart Park? It was a big house on a hill.
My parents are Tai Po 大埔Hakka. They lived in Singapore for over 60 years. My parents both die in Australia and both of them are now rested in Fung Yuan Tai columbarium. I am glad to read this article. I was told about the news that in 1997 Singapore government acquired the land. I believe the purpose of the acquisition was to use for government road redevelopment. The compensation was of $1 million and a small 6.38 hectares of land. I do not know what was the actual size of land acquired by the government. After the acquisition, I was told that the land was not wholly be used as the original propose of road redevelopment. From this article, the land is now subdivided for residential development presumably sold by the government. Under Singapore Law, if the land acquired by the government for certain purpose and subsequently the government do not need the entire land anymore, should the government return the rest of the land to the previous owner? The land now is surely worth more than $1 million.
Philip Wu
Hi Philip, I’m not a legal expert, but here are some info and history of the Land Acquisition Act:
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/1f669eff-bc82-49d1-a27c-2624e4cab8c6.html
Yes it’s not really fair. Another similar case is the former Lakeview estate at Upper Thomson Road
Thank you.
I try to find the said Act.
I wish to find out is there a clause in the Act that deal with cases where the land was not use and how to deal with that land by the government.
Any Hakka lawyer out there can comment on the Law?
Philip Wu
Loved your post! great pictures from the past!
The Sanyi Ci in 1978… It was in a bad shape until its upgrading in the early nineties
(Photo credit: National Archives of Singapore)
Meanwhile, in our neighbouring country….
Hakka village to be built in Penang
It will mark Chinese dialect community’s arrival in Malaysia in the early 18th century
The Straits Times
Published on Oct 20, 2013
A mosque that looks like a Chinese temple in Ipoh, Perak, and a Moroccan-style garden in Putrajaya are some of the foreign-flavoured landmarks that Malaysians are proud of. Now the Federation of Hakka Associations of Malaysia wants to up the ante by building an entire Hakka village in Balik Pulau, in the south-west of Penang island.
The landmark will be a massive, circular building modelled on one in the famous Tulou village in Fujian province, China. It will be the first to be built outside China.
Traditionally a large communal residence for Hakkas, the tulou, which means “building made of earth” in Mandarin, is synonymous with the community’s culture.
Some of the structures in China have been around for 700 years, built as a dwelling place for a group of people who left their homeland in northern China to settle in southern China. These people are known as Hakkas, which mean “family of guests” in Mandarin.
That is why the association wants to build something similar here, said Dr Cheah See Kian, deputy president of the Hakka federation.
“We want to commemorate the Hakkas’ arrival in Malaysia since the 18th century,” he told The Sunday Times in a phone interview recently.
Ever since a group from Taiwan identified Balik Pulau as the earliest Hakka settlement in Malaysia, he said, “it has been our dream to build a tulou”.
Penang may be well known for its Hokkien community, but Balik Pulau, which means “back of the island” in colloquial Malay, saw the first Hakkas arrive in the early 18th century, before the British colonial era. Later, more Chinese Hakkas were brought in by the British to work, mainly in tin mines scattered across Malaya. Some Hakka communities also live in Sabah and Sarawak and many still speak the dialect today.
Dr Cheah, who is the chief planner of the Hakka village, said an investor has donated an 8ha piece of land to house the tulou in this idyllic part of Penang, which is well known for its durian plantations. Another group of anonymous businessmen from Kuala Lumpur is funding the construction, estimated to cost RM20 million (S$7.8 million). The tulou, which will be ready in three years, will include a hotel, restaurant and a museum showing the history of Balik Pulau and the Hakkas in Malaysia.
Hakkas make up about 20 per cent of the Chinese Malaysian population of seven million. They are one of the largest Chinese dialect groups in the country. Across generations, the Hakka community has branched into business, and at one point in time, was known for opening Chinese medicine halls. Some found their fortune in tin mining.
“As most Hakkas were tin mine workers, they were among the first to live in and develop tin mining towns across the country, and some of these towns have now become Malaysia’s most prominent cities,” Dr Voon Phin Keong, director of the Institute of Malaysia and Regional Studies at New Era College in Kajang, Selangor, said.
Perhaps the most famous Hakka is Yap Ah Loy, a tin mining tycoon who transformed Kuala Lumpur from a village into a commercial and mining centre in the 1800s. That entrepreneurial spirit that the Chinese Hakkas are known for is still visible today.
Ms Maggie Fong, 45, originally from Johor, runs a Hakka-themed homestay in Balik Pulau, where guests sleep in traditional wooden houses and eat Hakka dishes. Since its opening in December last year, Ms Fong said, she has had about 1,000 visitors every month to her restaurant and homestay.
“I want the world to know of Balik Pulau’s history,” she said. “After all, the Hakkas have historically been treated well as guests and so it is in our blood to be hospitable to others as well.”
Thank you very much for this article. I do not remember much of the visits to my grandfather’s tomb during Qing Ming. My memory was mostly at the columbarium.
Very interesting information. The ancestral tablets of my great grandparents are housed in the temple and annual visits are made with the Char Yong Associatoon or Lam Clan Association. Always wondered why the land is not developed despite the graves being exhumed for over 3 decades, unlike the cemeteries of the other dialect groups, such as Peck San Teng.
For your information, the columbarium is being surrounded with a wall to transform it into a traditional Hakka tulou (earth or round building). The new building will house a heritage centre on Hakka history and culture. Looking forward to it!
Dear Lester,
When you mentioned development, what type of development you have in mind? Is there a committee exist governing the future of the association?
Philip Wu
A Hakka tulou for Singapore
02 August 2015
The Straits Times
Singapore’s Hakka community is celebrating its culture and heritage in a big way this year and has a new landmark for its activities. A month-long Hakka Cultural Festival kicks off today with the opening of an $18 million complex at the Chinese dialect group’s former burial ground in Holland Link.
Called San Yi Lou, the circular, two-storey structure is a replica of the tulou, the Hakka earthen buildings found in China’s Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces since the 17th century or earlier. The tulou in China provide communal living quarters for clans of up to 800 people. Hundreds of them are still found in the provinces and are tourist attractions. The replica in Singapore was built by the Fong Yun Thai Association, an umbrella body for three Hakka clans – Char Yong (Dabu) Association, Eng Teng Association and Foong Shoon Fui Kuan.
It will be opened by Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo this morning.
There are more than 200,000 Hakkas here and they are the fourth-largest dialect group after the Hokkiens, Teochews and Cantonese. The Hakkas are known for running pawnshops, traditional Chinese medicine shops and optical shops. Fong Yun Thai Association president Ho Kiau Seng, 70, told The Sunday Times that the tulou replica here marks a milestone in its efforts to preserve and promote Hakka culture, especially among the young.
“We are planning to set up a history and culture museum in the building which we hope can become a cultural activity centre where events such as art exhibitions, seminars and cultural performances are held,” said Mr Ho, who is also president of Foong Shoon Fui Kuan.
Char Yong’s heritage committee head Ho Phang Phow, 75, said the tulou symbolises Hakka resilience and unity, as their forefathers who moved from northern China to the south faced unfriendly hosts, intruders and bandits. They built the tulou to protect and defend their communities. Each building has compartments for food storage and living quarters, and would even have an armoury.
Eng Teng vice-president Chan Cheok Kai, 74, said the association wants schoolchildren to visit the new Hakka landmark.
“Many people have not seen what a tulou is like and this is an opportunity for them to see one,” he added.
The cultural festival is organised by Char Yong with the support of the Eng Teng and Foong Shoon clan associations. A Hakka food fair will be held at the new building today from 11am to 2.30pm. From tomorrow, a pictorial exhibition on the history of tulou, the Fong Yun Thai Association and the Hakka community in Singapore will be held in San Yi Lou and will be open to the public daily between 1pm and 5pm till Aug 25. A seminar on Hakka culture will take place at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre on Aug 21. Char Yong will celebrate its 157th anniversary with a gala dinner there on Aug 22. Other highlights include Hakka cultural performances at the Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre on Aug 23 and 24 featuring troupes from Singapore, China and Taiwan.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/a-hakka-tulou-for-singapore
Hey, thanks for this informative article and pretty pictures! I’m pretty sure what you’re referring to is officially called the Hock Seng (or sometimes “Hock Eng Seng”) Cemetery, though. Fung/Fong Yun Thai was simply the Hakkan/Khek clan association that owned the cemetery. In fact, the majority of the graveyard (130 out of 142 acres) was first acquired by the government on behalf of PSA in 1971–2, not 1981, for an inland depot, after a lot of tussle, as can be seen in these two articles: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newnation19710326-1.2.45.aspx http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newnation19720104-1.2.62.aspx
The graves were then exhumed in 1975: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newnation19750820-1.2.10.12.aspx
The remaining 12 acres on the former Lorong Panchar/Pancha were then given a notice of exhumation in 1996: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19960419-1.2.35.23.6.2.aspx
Let me know if you have any evidence that shows otherwise! Thanks and hope this clarifies.
Hi, I enjoyed reading this very informative article. Today at the end of 2019, an upgrading of the canal has been completed, and the planned South and West Holland roads seem to be on their way to completion. A park is now constructed alongside the canal (and I think there is going to be a park connector up to King Albert Park station as well). The upgraded canal is really really deep and wide! Nearby, the Green Corridor is also being renovated.
I frequently cycle through this area on my way to the Orchard shopping belt. Looking forward to the rejuvenation of Old Holland in the future!
What is the opening hour of Fong Yun Thai Association 三邑祠?
Should be 8am to 4pm daily.
I have just contacted the person in charge today and has been informed that the columbarium will be CLOSED from today till 30th Apr in light of the COVID19 outbreak..it was very shocking to me as it is now the Qing Ming festival whereby many will be planning to go there to pray and show respect to their ancestors. However as part of the safety precautionary measures, we all have no choice but to accept it. It seems that their official website has been inactive for a while as I did not find any updates on the praying arrangement for Qing Ming. Have also highlighted to the lady that I have spoken with (I have forgotten to ask her name) that the association should announce such important information on their official website, so people would not keep calling them to ask the same questions repeatedly, she agreed and said she will bring it up to their management.
Thanks Kim for the info!
Need to make appointment for this cny prayer
A 1967 aerial photo of the Old Holland Road area and the Chinese Hakka cemetery
(Photo credit: National Archives of Singapore (British Royal Air Force collection))
Amazing! Thanks!
Thanks for this interesting article. I always wondered why there was such a big open space at Old Holland Road.
The area was cleared to make space for a container depot which was never built:
“One of the early transport decisions was the building of an inland
container depot at 6 mile Holland Road, at the junction of the Malayan
Railway lines from Tanjong Pagar and Jurong. To be completed
in 1971, the proposed depot was for the stuffing and unstuffing of containers before they were loaded onto the ships, and it would
be connected by rail to Tanjong Pagar Terminal, Jurong Industrial
Estate and West Malaysia.125 The proposed development was met
with strong opposition from the Hakka Fong Yun Thai Association as
130 acres (52.6 hectares) of the 180-acre (72.8-hectare) site was an
ancestral cemetery sacred to the community. PSA’s offer of $1 million
as compensation for the land was rejected by the community, who
took the case to then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and suggested
alternative sites.126 However, the decision to proceed with the land
acquisition was made at the Cabinet level, where Lee, Howe and then
transport minister Yong Nyuk Lin, all of whom were Hakkas, overrode
the community’s protests in view of the economic importance of
port infrastructure, and even threatened to dissolve the association.127
The acquisition of the entire cemetery hill was eventually completed
in 1977, allowing the construction of the new depot to proceed at
the Holland Road/Bukit Timah Road junction. The following year,
excavated material from the site was used as reclamation fill for
Sentosa Island.128,129 When Lim Kim San took over as the second
Chairman of PSA in 1979, the plan for the inland container depot was
shelved due to a policy shift to consolidate PSA’s investments and
a change in the nature of container operations.130 Specifically, there
was a trend towards full container load, where the cargo could be
delivered directly to consignees, thus reducing the need for depots
where loose cargo could be stored before being sent to consignees.131
Furthermore, the area was primarily residential, and the resulting
heavy vehicle and container truck traffic would worsen traffic
congestion along trunk roads such as Bukit Timah Road.132 Eventually,
the depot was built at present-day Keppel Road.”
Source: >>Port and the City: Balancing Growth and Liveability<<
Click to access rb162799-mnd-uss-bk4-seaports-final.pdf
For more information why the area was cleared, see: Port and the City: Balancing Growth and Liveability, p.28/29
Click to access rb162799-mnd-uss-bk4-seaports-final.pdf