Old Singapore Quiz (11) - Answers

Fuzzoo, YG and Icemoon got one of two answers right, i.e. the photo is a shot of a building's ceiling. But nobody could identify the location of this building. (In this regard, I ought to apologise to Icemoon for saying that the 4 "dots" in the photo are not lights. At first I thought that they are water sprinklers but after taking a closer look at another photo, I think Icemoon was right after all - they are indeed lights - spotlights, specifically.)

So where is this place? Maybe you could tell after seeing the photo below:


Still can't? How about if I tell you that the bust is a 1973 work of Mr Wee Beng Chong? Or that the bust is that of Mr Tan Lark Sye (1897-1972)? Mr Tan was a prominent businessman and philanthropist from the Hokkien community. He was noted for his many contributions to education, not just in Singapore but in the region as well. However, his most outstanding contribution must have been the founding in 1953 of the Nanyang University or Nantah (now known as the Nanyang Technological University).


Singapore Chief Minister David Marshall accompanied by Minister for Education Chew Swee Kee and Minister for Labour Lim Yew Hock taking a tour of Nantah in the rain. David Marshall and the other ministers were met by Tan Lark Sye, Chairman of the organising committee. (Photo credit: Chinese Heritage Museum.)


Before the opening of the university, this Nantah landmark building served as an administrative office. Later, it was used as a library. (Photo credit: Chinese Heritage Museum.)


The building as it stands today.

By now, you should have an idea where I took this photo. Yes, it was taken in the Chinese Heritage Centre:


The shot was taken from the ground floor towards the ceiling, right in the middle of the octagonal air well:


The Chinese Heritage Centre is actually a museum. When I was there in early June this year, there was an exhibition titled "Chinese More Or Less - An Exhibition on Overseas Chinese Identity" running. The exhibition was supposed to answer these questions:

1. How Chinese am I?

2. In what sense am I Chinese?

3. What does it mean to be Chinese?


Did I walk away with the answers to the above questions? Er... sorry, I was more interested in taking photos.

The museum's opening hours are as follows:

Mon-Fri: 9.30am to 5pm
Sat & Sun: 10am to 5pm
Closed on Public Holidays
Admission is free

You can find out more about the Chinese Heritage Centre from the following links:

1. Chinese Heritage Centre website;

2. Visit Singapore - Chinese Heritage Museum

The "Old Smuggler's Trail"

In this post, Peter Chan describes an epic journey which he made with his friends to Haadyai 35 years ago. All of them had just turned 20 that year. Hmm... Haadyai? Could it be the men's rite of passage to turn them from boys into real men, something which National Service in Singapore had failed to do? Yes, it is the "S" word. However, it is not about sex this time. Read on to find out.

On my way to the Thai Immigration & Customs Checkpoint, I briefly conversed with Anan. After many decades, this would be the first time I was using my “pasar bahasa”. Anan is of ethnic Malay descent but holds Thai nationality**. He makes a living by fetching passengers on his 100cc Honda across the Malaysian-Thai border crossing at Padang Besar, Perlis.

Anan: “Kenapa awak mau datang ke-Padang Besar?”
("Why do you want to come to Padang Besar?")

Me: “O, macham ini-lah. Lebeh 35 tahun dulu, ada enam olang Singapore naik keretapi sampai ke-Padang Besar. Mereka nak pergi Thailand dari Padang Besar…….”
("O, it's like this. More than 35 years ago, there were 6 Singaporeans who boarded a train to Padang Besar. They wanted to go to Thailand from Padang Besar......")

Anan: “Berapa hari di sini? Sekarang nak chari apa? Ini tempat sangat sengep. Semua orang sini chepat tidor”
("How many days you plan to stay here? What are you looking for? This is a very sleepy town. All the people here go to bed early.")

Padang Besar is located at the north western corner of Peninsular Malaysia and happens to be an important border-crossing and rail connection between Malaysia and Thailand. I dare to make this trip after spending 2 years of planning, researching and analyzing the information. The background work faced many shortcomings because I relied on information from backpackers, Malaysians and Thais - people who visited Padang Besar but with very little knowledge of the 1970s era. I even turned to motoring road maps and street directories but none were available on this remote Malaysian town. Literatures from Tourism Malaysia were vague.

The break-though came about three months earlier when an important parcel arrived from England. It contained a 1: 63,360 topographical map of the Padang Besar area prepared under the direction of AD Survey, Far East Land Forces and revised by the Survey Department of Malaya. This excited me because “Survey Department of Malaya” was something I could connect with. Back in the 1980s, I had worked for an American IT vendor which supplied the software mapping package to the Survey Department of Malaysia, now called JUPEM. JUPEM is responsible for land surveying, mapping and aerial photography. Why didn’t I think of this “Malaysian Kawan” right from the start?

Photo 1: Left - Topo map of PD vicinity (circa 1960). The black line across the map is the Butterworth to Bangkok railway track. The old Padang Besar Station is the black rectangular box below “2102”. Center - In the background is the border which is shared between Malaysia and Thailand. In the foreground and right of the track is the old Padang Besar Station which was completed in 1957. The future new railway station would be to the left of the Padang-styled roof. Photo courtesy of Chayaphiwat . Right – The border areas between Malaysia and Thailand were closed between 6pm and 6am as shown by these border security signboards (circa 1970s). This explains our predicament at the Padang Besar Station which housed both the Malaysian and Thai immigration & customs facilities.

The topo map corrected any previous perceptions which I had of the landscape and the relative positioning of prominent landmarks such as the old railway station, the railway siding and the “bukits”. When the topo map was superimposed over Gogglemap, I could see that the entire landscape has radically changed. For example, an important building, the old Padang Besar Station has disappeared to inside the inland KTM Bhd. container-yard. The railway siding is now the roundabout. Some landmarks did not change: the single railway track across the border, the Chinese temple in Pekan Siam, and the highway to Sadao. The new landmarks that appeared included the semi-concrete security fence, a PETRONAS gas station, Bazaar Padang Besar, and of course the new Padang Besar Station - entirely in a new position carved from the former hilly terrain.

So why do I attach so much significance to this trip?

There were six of us who made the trip on July 20, 1974. All of us turned 20 that year and so a trip to Haatyai was meant to be a celebration. Of the six who went, Michael Chua passed away in 2000 due to terminal illness. It was sad to hear of his demise but the spirit has to continue because of a pact we made; that by the time we reach our golden years, we would come back for a reunion and make a commemorative trip for old time sake. You see we all knew that we would part ways after NS. We were also aware that each of us had to pursue a career and possibly even settle down with families. That would have meant we would never “talk shop” or do things like we once did as “young cocks”. Only See Kit and I kept in touch; each time we met he would ask for the others; Rennie Wee, Mohan Raj and Teo Wee Kiang. Thirty-plus years is a very long time and the fear is whether people and places change. So in a way it was my “baby” to make sure our forthcoming commemorative trip at the end of this year will turn out well. Today this trip was a reconnaissance mission. Now I like to share with you on the legacy of this project.

Photo 2: The group of six with the late Michael Chua as the camera man. We stood in front of the newly opened Sukhontai Hotel (now Novotel Centera Haatyai). We travelled with the Nam Ho Travel bags and a shared Samsonite suite-case. Besides the Sukhontai Hotel, the other top-rated hotel in Haatyai at that time was the Montien.

1974

About 8pm we arrived at the Padang Besar Railway Station in a hired taxi from Butterworth. It was certainly the wrong time to come because the Thai and Malaysian immigration counters inside the railway station area were closed for the day and there was no way we could cross the international border nor find hotel accommodation in Padang Besar because it was an “ulu town” (and it has ever been since thy kingdom come). We were dejected until a dark tanned figure appeared and told us he could take us into Thailand the very same evening for a fee of M$10 per person. Anan is the modern version of that dark tanned figure of 1974 except for one major difference. He does it with official approval from the Thai and Malaysian authorities. Unlike foreigners, Anan does not need a passport or show letters to cross the checkpoints. Incidentally, Anan was once a runner fetching people across the border in the 1970s.

It can be very difficult for me to explain the route we got into Thailand. Firstly there was no moon that night and no street lights, secondly no map and thirdly no camera to take any photos; if we did we had no camera-flash. However there was something good which has stood the test of time – our memory.

“Face the Padang Besar Station’s main entrance from the main road, kekanan pusing and chepat jalan 250 meters until you come to a concrete-paved open space. Walk in a 1 o’clock direction and cross a railway track. Belok kanan until 2 o’clock position and walk for 100 meters before reaching a fence with plenty of shrubs and lallang. Get down on all fours and crawl through the hole in the fence. Bediri dan chepat jalan 150 meters, then berhenti.”

How does this look on a map? Let’s examine Fig 1 closely.

Fig 1: My mental map of Padang Besar reinforced by fresh inputs from topo maps and street-level photographs. The orange colour indicates the route taken by us from the railway station through the border fence. Inside Thai territory is the Pekan Siam to Sadao Highway which we traveled to get to Haatyai. This is the same highway which connects to Danok and Batu Kayu Hitam.

After emerging from the other side of the fence, technically we were on Thai territory. The unmistakable sound of the percussion instruments and someone singing “Lol Lol Krathong” was the evidence. It didn’t strike us that we were doing the wrong things because the runner had assured us everything was above board. We thought it wise to organize ourselves just in case something unexpected was to happen. Walking in a section battle formation of “1-Up”, we walked down a narrow track, lallang on one side and trees on the other. The further we walk; the lights in Padang Besar became smaller and dimmer. We came to a wooden hut and waiting for us at the steps was another tanned-looking fellow (only this time he was a fat one) dressed-up in a sarong and white Chinaman singlet. Our runner whispered into his ears and on his signal, we handed-over six Singapore international passports to him with M$10 neatly tucked inside. Our passports were returned to us. There was something unusual about our passports; the passports were not rubber-stamped but carried hand-written signatures and the date of entry. Of course we were suspicious but language difficulties prevented further probing. A short while later a big beige 1960s Chevrolet appeared which took us for a 1.5 hour drive to Haatyai. We did talk about it in the car, whether the endorsements in our passports would be valid on our return trip into Malaysia but the long journey up from Singapore – by train and taxi - simply drained all our energies. That issue was the last thing on our minds. Whilst one or two of us kept awake, the others fell asleep. An hour and the half drive would not be considered long by any standard but in southern Thailand and the only car on the road at this hour of the night did give rise to concerns. What happens if we were kidnapped? Can the Thai driver be trusted – he was always so polite and laughing? He didn’t speak English, we didn’t speak Thai. The only light was the car’s headlights beaming weakly into the dark.

We (honestly) didn’t know that we were on the “Old Smugglers Trail” when we crossed the border. It is only after much reading and getting comments from others that we know what we did 35 years ago. Some commended us on our courage. Smuggling along the Thai-Malaysian border was very rampant in the 1970s, comprising rice, fuel, sugar, fire arms, cigarettes and the vice trade. You can imagine the consequences if we were detained by the authorities or worse still by the smugglers. Beside the smugglers, there were also fear of the Communist Terrorists (CTs) and armed bandits. Today, Malaysian Rangers from the 8th Infantry Bde are deployed on the Malaysian side of the common border because of militant secessionist movements.

2009

Now try and guess where did we enter Thailand in today’s context?

Photo 3: (A) 2.4 meters high border fence beside the railway track. (B) The empty plot of land on the Thai side of the border viewed from a passing train heading into Malaysia. We came through the gap between the two parked trucks and continued walking to the tree on the right. Behind that tree is now a metalled road and a row of 2-storey houses. (C) The view of the parked truck and the border fence from the metalled road. Behind me on my right is the Chinese temple. (D) The road beside the railway track where container trucks enter/leave Thailand for the KTM inland container-yard. This container-truck is heading back into Thailand.

Photo 4: (E) The semi-concrete security fence when it was under construction (2002). Photo courtesy of Jasa Kepada Rakyat Malaysia. On the left of the fence is Malaysia, the building right of the fence belongs to the Thai Immigration & Customs. The “Bukit” in the background is at the spot height of 660 feet. The security fence begins from Wang Kelian in Perlis to Rantau Panjang in Kelantan. (F) The same Thai Immigration & Customs building today. (G) The Maybank branch was the spot where a road led to the old Padang Besar Station.

Photo 5: Left - Anan brought me to this location to see a recently discovered secret “smugglers trail”. Grey colored markings on the rubber trees and tree trunks buried in the sand serve as direction indicators. After its discovery by the Malaysian authorities, this trail was shut-down. What is the clue to this location? Look out for places (along the border) with rubber cultivation. Right – A typical hole in the fence. Notice there is no concrete wall below the fence unlike today’s border fence.

The next time when you visit Padang Besar, look out for those places I have mentioned. Just picture this as a young adult’s adventure which only can happen once a life-time. On the other hand should you think that is inappropriate, try to imagine then as a “Then & Now” thing; i.e. you are into heritage trail stuff. Next time I might consider writing the next episode of our return journey from Sadao (Thailand) to Changloon (Malaysia).

Notes:

** There is a difference between an ethnic Thai Muslim and an ethnic Malay Muslim of Thai nationality.

Further readings:

The Smugglers' Express

The Dragon Is Spewing Fire Again

Remember my visit to the Thow Kwang Dragon Kiln last year? Well, I have good news for you - the dragon is spewing fire again!

Seize this rare opportunity to witness another firing this National Day weekend, i.e. 7th-9th August 2009. You can check out the firing schedule here. I've got reliable "inside info" that the best part of the firing is on Saturday night (8th) when they open the stoke holes. Hope you will not pass up this chance - you'll never know when the dragon spews fire (if ever) again. As a bonus, you can also do some firefly watching at the shrubs nearby. Admission is free. What more can you ask for? Alright, maybe a free map as well?

A Stressful And Hectic Time

The past week has been a stressful and hectic time for 12-year-olds in Singapore and their parents alike. I am of course referring to the release of the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) results. The results were released at around noon on 20 November 2008 (Thursday). The pupils had to collect their result slips personally from their schools.


You could see the anticipation and nervousness on their faces just a short while before the moment of truth.


With such an attractive teacher, I am sure that if it was the "O" levels, my boy would have fared badly because of the distraction in class. Luckily this was only the PSLE and his male hormones had not fully developed yet. :p

In the end, I think he did well enough to qualify for one of the following schools:


1. Catholic High School;


2. Victoria School;


3. Anglican High School; and


4. Chung Cheng High School.

So Thursday afternoon was spent shuttling from one school to another, sort of like Chinese New Year visiting. It was tiring and time-consuming.

Among the 4 schools, Catholic High made a deep impression on me. What I saw on its school grounds reassured me that my son would be getting a well-rounded education.

Catholic High School seems to have a bit of everything.


Arts - There are many sculptures. This prominent one is aptly titled 爸爸的手 ("Father's Hands").


Nature - These are real toucans (not clay models).


Politics - No explanation needed for this poster.


Humour - Also self-explanatory.


It even has its very own Speakers' Corner.






History - A mockup of Singapore's very first landmark 1959 General Elections, complete with authentic-looking election vehicle and posters. Singapore People's Alliance and Liberal Socialist Party were two political parties that contested the 1959 elections. Both parties had long since been dissolved. Hmm... the last picture (with the cross) seemed to caution against mixing religion with politics. ;)

And so does this two pictures:



Heritage - There are many miniature models on Singapore's heritage but this one caught my eyes:


And for good reason too - it also quoted my blog article on the ice ball man.



I am so proud of my son and myself.

A Visit To The Firing Thow Kwang Dragon Kiln

This hot lobang (rare opportunity)* came last week from Mr Kevin Lim who is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Communication at the University at Buffalo. It was a private invitation to visit Thow Kwang dragon kiln which was fired last weekend after a long hiatus of 5 years.

Kevin was actually conveying a private invitation to a rare firing of the Thow Kwang dragon kiln happening over 48 hours from 14th (Fri) to 16th (Sun) of November 2008. His fellow graduate student Carolyn Lim (blog here and photos here) is a member of a local pottery group involved in the firing. This is the third time the kiln was fired by the potters group. The kiln was first fired in 2001 after being dormant since 1994. In 2002, the potters received an NAC grant to carry out kiln repairs, to experiment with local clay, some glazes and salting effects in a wood-fired environment. This was followed with two firings in 2003 (March and November).

It was during one of their monthly breakfasts (around July or August this year) that they decided to do the firing. Somehow after 5 years of inactiveness, everything gathered momentum. One of the reasons for the long firing interval is that it is labour intensive, back-breaking work.

Pottery making is one of the most ancient arts. The earliest known ceramic objects were dated to 29,000-25,000 BCE while the earliest known pottery vessels were probably those made around 10,500 BCE found in Japan. The main processes of pottery making are shaping, glazing/decorating and firing. It is only after firing that the article can be called pottery. Pottery are commonly fired in a a kiln which is like an oven. Kilns may be heated by burning wood, coal and gas, or they could be powered by electricity. You can read more about pottery making from this Wikipedia entry.

Pottery production is not only a nostalgic activity but could be a sensual one too as those of us who have watched the 1990 movie Ghost (starring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze) would know.



Thow Kwang has a very kampong feel to it. There is a pond:





There is even a kampong house, complete with a guard dog (not made of clay):


There is no doubt that pottery making is a dying art. Nowadays, many objects are made of plastic. They are cheap to produce and will not shatter on impact. Have you noticed that even small flower pots which are traditionally made of clay are now made of plastic?

It is not known how long more the dragon kiln will be around as Thow Kwang is occupying the land on temporary lease. Places like this are a rare find in Singapore. If Thow Kwang moves, it certainly could not move the dragon kiln along with it. Therefore, I urge you to visit this last vestige of a very ancient art in Singapore before it is gone forever. The year-end school holidays have just started. It is a good and beautiful place to bring the children to. I believe they will enjoy the visit as much as I did. Thow Kwang is located at 85 Lorong Tawas (off Jalan Bahar), Singapore 639823.

* - Note: Since the firing kiln looked like a flaming hole, I have called it a hot lobang. ("Lobang" is Malay for "hole" or "opening". Hence it is also a commonly used colloquial word for "opportunity". A "hot lobang" would mean a "rare opportunity".)

Below (text in blue) are transcripts of the explanatory notes at Thow Kwang's Dragon Kiln:

About the Dragon Kiln

Thow Kwang proudly welcomes you to visit the dragon kiln, the one and only working dragon kiln in Singapore.

Built in 1940, the dragon kiln is a wood-fired cross-draught kiln capable of firing up to 5000 individual pieces of ceramic work in one session. The dragon kiln has been cared for and operated by the Tan family of Thow Kwang ever since 1965. Thow Kwang invites you to walk through, learn and relive some of the past and present glories of the dragon kiln - a heritage of Singapore's ceramic industry and an outstanding example of ceramic kiln technology.

Within the belly of the dragon contains many tales and memories. The dragon kiln stands as a lasting testament to a centuries-old tradition of wood-fired kiln technology originally developed by potters in China. Its presence today in Singapore is a reminder of the entrepreneurial spirit of Singapore's migrant forefathers. The dragon is a perfect legacy of a family trade started by Tan Kin Seh and now managed by the second generation headed by Tan Teck Yoke. In the over forty years under Thow Kwang care, the kiln has produced different kinds of earthenware and consumer pottery ware. Its changing production is a reflection of the changing state of industry and consumer taste in Singapore as well as internationally.

Where Did The Dragon Kiln Get Its Name?

Where did the dragon kiln get its name? Does it breathe fire like the imaginary dragons of legends and folklore?

Head of dragon kiln /front firing chamber

The main chamber

If you look closely at the kiln, you would see much similiarity between the kiln and the dragon, the mythic serpentine animal with a lengthy, graceful body. The dragon kiln was probably named so for its resemblance to the dragon. The Thow Kwang dragon kiln is 40 metres in length and 5 metres in width and contains three main parts - a front firing chamber, the main chamber where ceramic pieces to be fired are placed and a chimney at the tail end where smoke is emitted.

Image taken from explanatory notes found at Thow Kwang

The dragon kiln has 17 holes throughout the entire length of its body called stoke holes which the kiln operator uses during firing for observation and feeding of wood fuel. Its head is 1.2 metres tall and its tail rises to 2.6 metres tall, giving it the posture of a crouching dragon. Such a kiln design uses rising hot air to keep the top part of the kiln hot and dry and ensures that moisture from pieces to be fired is removed.

Thow Kwang's dragon kiln was built in 1940 and bought over in 1965 by Mr Tan Kin Seh, Thow Kwang's founding father who hailed from Fengxi in ChaoZhou Guangdong, China. When the kiln is fired up, deep rumbling and crackling sounds can be heard. Flame and smoke escaping from the expansion cracks of the kiln illuminate and emphasise its shape, giving it the impression of a raging flame-blowing dragon.

People and Stories of Thow Kwang's Dragon Kiln

The dragon kiln is not only a traditional kiln technology; the memories and tales of it are also the stories of its builder and the people who work together to bring the dragon flaming alive.

Image taken from explanatory notes found at Thow Kwang

Work on the kiln is never an individual effort. A team with many pairs of hands is required to load the kiln, cart timber, stoke the fire and patch the kiln walls during each firing process. And even before the firing is done, teams of potters would already have been working hard with their hands, pinching, pulling and shaping clay into all manners of shapes and sizes to be ready for transformation into finished ceramic work within the belly of the dragon kiln. When Thow Kwang was producing ceramic works in the earlier decades with the dragon kiln, labour was organised around the extended family with the founder-patriach, Mr Tan Kin Seh at its helm.

This family-oriented labour organisation had been the basis of village life and economy in which Mr Tan Kin Seh grew up a part of in the region of Swatow in Guandong Province. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards to the outbreak of World War II in Singapore, a large number of Teochew migrants from the present-day prefectures of Swatow and Chaozhou made journeys to seek a better life in the region south of China known as Nanyang in which Singapore was a major port centre destination. As a young man of 15, Mr Tan Kin Seh made the Nanyang voyage, sent by his family down south to assist an uncle who had earlier made the journey and had established a pottery factory in Malacca. After having gained a better understanding of the operations of a ceramic factory working for his uncle, he started his own pottery factory in Johore in 1946. Unfortunately due to the unfavourable political circumstances that prevailed, he was forced to close down the business there. He moved to the newly-independent Singapore having bought over ownership of the dragon kiln in 1965.

Alongside various places in Yio Chu Kang, Sungei Road and Serangoon Road, the Boon Lay area had excellent clay deposit suitable to be processed for ceramic production. When Mr Tan established Thow Kwang in the area, there were already eight or nine families organised around dragon kiln ceramic production, all operating on the basis of family labour, in the cottage tradition of ceramic production back in their home villages in southern China. These kilns were producing latex cups, flower pots and water jars for the Malayan market. When the Singapore land development and public housing authorities began developing residential and industrial facilities in the Jurong area in 1985, many of these family-owned ceramic businesses were forced to close down. Only Thow Kwang and Guan Huat Porcelain Factory were spared eviction because of their relative more remote location. Since then, Guan Huat's dragon kiln has ceased operations as its succeeding generation has moved away from ceramic production.


The persistent possibility of being evicted, coupled with a production process that was increasingly unable to match Chinese and Taiwanese export ceramic in terms of price if not quality prompted Mr Tan Teck Yoke who had taken over the business upon his father's demise to refocus the family business onto the import and export of ceramics. In 1987, Mr Tan started to import ceramics from his ancestral village. Some of the ceramic products were re-exported to England and America. In 1993, Mr Tan established a factory in Fengxi, Guangdong to directly manufacture ceramics for export to Singapore and elsewhere internationally.

In the process, the dragon kiln here in Thow Kwang breathed with lesser intensity. Even so, the dragon kiln has been fired numerous times in the last decade. It remains a perfectly functioning kiln representative of a long-established and well-refined kiln technology passed on to the present generation from migrant forefathers.


Products Of The Kiln

Ever since Thow Kwang's founding father, Mr Tan Kin Seh bought over the kiln in 1965, it has played witness to much changes in local and international ceramics demand as a result of changing industry and consumer taste. The dragon kiln certainly has seen more productive days but it is by no means a legacy of the past.


The initial products of the Thow Kwang dragon kiln were water jars and latex cups, unglazed earthenware vessels used for the collection of rubber tree sap in plantations up and down the Malayan Peninsula. Whereas latex cups were sold to plantations, water jars met the demands of the local consumer market as they serve multiple purposes including the storage of bathwater and fermented vegetable and even the rearing of fishes. Even though the kiln's products primarily served plantation and household needs, pottery figurines were also made and sold as toys to children.



Demand of latex cups went into decline in the 1970s as a result of a significant shift in the domestic economy. The young Singapore government was actively promoting the establishment and growth of orchid farms in the Lim Chu Kang, Choa Chu Kang and Boon Lay areas whereas the rubber industry entered a decline. Thow Kwang became an important part of this rising industry when it began production of pots of various sizes to be sold to local farm owners cultivating orchid plants.

Firing took place as frequently as every fortnightly when demand for these locally produced earthen and ceramic pottery ware was the highest.


From 1974 onwards into the 1980s, the dragon kiln began to turn out a greater variety of consumer pottery ware - planting dishes, ornamental vases, hanging pots, lamp-stands etc. After Mr Tan Teck Yoke and the rest of the Tan siblings and their spouses took charge of Thow Kwang in 1980 upon the demise of their father, production for the consumer market continued to grow and so did the import and export of ceramic ware. This new aspect of Thow Kwang's business was a response to the uncertainty of lease for the plot of land that Thow Kwang is standing on today.

Even so, the dragon kiln continued to turn out consumer pottery ware like burial urns and souvenir pottery for hotel and tourists. In the mid-1980s, Thow Kwang also pioneered a series of flower pots with a distinctive textured and unglazed surface fired in the dragon kiln. Through the 1980s, Thow Kwang made headway into the Australian and New Zealand pottery market with decorative earthenware produced by the kiln and also purchased from households in Singapore for the purpose of re-exporting. The past two decades has seen the emergence of export ceramic production from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Burma. Since then, Thow Kwang has moved into the import of decorative pottery ware from these places.