How Zhenghua became Bukit Panjang New Town.

         Recently, I had two friends asked me the same exact question, "Do you know why Bukit Panjang (New Town) was called Zhenghua?"

When I was asked a second time, I said it couldn't have been a coincidence, could it?
So maybe it was time to pen a new article being that it's not too far from Princess Elizabeth Estate?

In a way, I can trace a personal connection to the origins of Cheng Hwa (hanyu pinyin: Zhenghua).
It was located on a road that was named after my father-in-law's uncle who was once the patriarch of the rather well-known Teo family of Bukit Panjang.

Bukit Panjang Village developed just like a typical Malayan highway town in those days, with most commercial shops straddling both sides of the main trunk road (i.e. Upper Bukit Timah Road 10 ms) while the small villages developed behind. It was colloquially known as Tenth Mile or Chap Kor.

The main market at Bukit Panjang was located at Jalan Teo Ngoh Thong. This region that centered around this market was also known as Kangkar to the mainly Teochew resident families, a throwback to the gambier growing days of the 19th century.

Jalan Teo Ngoh Thong was named after the head of the Teo family who were the prominent clan in the early days of Bukit Panjang Village.

Bukit Panjang in 1920. (Looking towards Bt Timah direction)
The 2-storey house with the white columns on the left was said to belonged to Mr Teo Ngoh Thong

This road, Jalan Teo Ngoh Thong,  was basically a rough gravel track that lead into the farmlands and hill areas further beyond, an area that was called Ya Swa Buay (Beyond the Coconut Hill). This area stretched all the way to the municipal water pipelines that carried water from Malaysia to Singapore's reservoirs.

In 1941, the Chinese community at Bukit Panjang set up a small Chinese public school for the education of children in the village. This school was named CHENG HWA CHINESE PUBLIC SCHOOL.
It was located further uphill along Jalan Teo Ngoh Thong, after the junction with Lorong Petir.

The Cheng Hwa Public School at Jalan Teo Ngoh Thong (1958)

In the mid 1960s (64/65), the road was gazetted as a public road and was renamed as JALAN CHENG HWA, named after the primary school that was the most prominent public building there. This was after government road works were completed to tarmac the track with bitumen and provided with street lamps. By then, the area was already well-known as "Cheng Hwa" by the locals over the years as a result of locality of the school.

Map of Bt Panjang (c. 1969)

In the early 1980s, the entire region around Cheng Hwa was acquired by the HDB, who proposed to build a New Town to be called Zhenghua New Town.  Zhenghua is the mandarinised translation of the Teochew dialect Cheng Hwa. It was at this period that the government was pro-actively converting dialects names into mandarin hanyu pinyin as part of the Speak Mandarin policy.

However, the rural community were dead set against the change of name and eventually the HDB conceded to the sentiments and protestations and the new town would revert to being called Bukit Panjang New Town. Prof Edwin Thumboo had a part to play in this resistance to the change, which tipped the balance in favour of keeping the legacy name.
(Nearby the CAICUOGANG New Town also reverted back to Choa Chu Kang New Town.)

Today at Bukit Panjang New Town, road names still bear  those of the old village tracks - Fajar, Senja, Pending, Petir and Gangsa. These were the village tracks that led to smaller kampongs within the Cheng Hwa precinct.

Cheng Hwa Chinese School closed in 1985 due to falling enrolment in favour of children attending government schools. In 1989, a government primary school was built in Bukit Panjang New Town and named Zhenghua Primary School. It claims to be a continuation of the original Cheng Hwa Chinese School of 1941.

Following photos are from the Lee Kip Lin Collection at the National Library, showing parts of Jalan Cheng Hwa and its environ. Two of my sisters-in-law studied at as they lived in the vicinity.

An aerial view of old Bukit Panjang Village @ 10ms.
Upper Bukit Timah Road runs across the picture towards Woodlands on the right.
Jalan Cheng Hwa is the road near bottom left from Upper Bt Timah Rd.
The Cheng Hwa Bt Panjang Market is the large rectangular roof on the left.

The Bt Panjang Market on the left along Jalan Cheng Hwa.

The junction towards Lorong Fajar

Heading uphill along Jalan Cheng Hwa just after the market.
The primary school is just off the picture to the right.

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Looking down from Jalan Cheng Hwa towards Upper Bukit Timah Road 10ms junction.

Upper Bukit Timah Road looking towards city direction.
The tall blocks at the end of the road is HDB Hillview Estate.
Right of picture is a tall block housing the Singapore Finance Co and the Sakura Beauty Saloon.
It was actually a 2-storey shophouse which was owned by my in-laws.
The structure is just a facade for the 2-storey shophouse but made it prominent along the road.

Related links:-

I found Bukit Panjang !
My great great grandfather founded Chua Chu Kang.

I found Bukit Panjang !

My recent few posts were about Bukit Batok and Bukit Gombak, the hills which tower over my old village Princess Elizabeth Estate. In fact, being located right in the central hilly region of Singapore, the estate was surrounded by more than just these two hills. Another two hills there are Bukit Timah and Bukit Panjang.

But, strangely, Bukit Panjang was the one hill that I have not been able to locate!
It had been on my mind for a long time, that for the life of me, I really didn't know where the hill was?
Of course, I knew where Bukit Panjang, the village, the New Town, the old BP kampong were, but where was the hill?

It really seem so strange that no one has it on their directories, maps or even just a indicator where Bukit Panjang hill is sited.
There were lots of hills at Gali Batu, Woodlands and the Mandai region. Could Bukit Panjang be located somewhere there? After all, it stands to reason that it would be somewhere in the 'Bukit Panjang' area. Perhaps it was levelled during the construction of the Bukit Panjang New Town?

Most people I asked didn't know as well. I presume some of you may know where it is but I really didn't have a clue despite living near this area for so many years.

So I dug and I researched, but quite frankly, I found that most statements about Bukit Panjang, tended to repeat the same 'fact' which I felt was a self fulfilling circle. Somebody said this... and 'this' was picked up by somebody else... and when it was repeated often enough eventually 'this' became fact, albeit without any basis.

What most statements say stems from the translation of the Malay name Bukit Panjang which means 'Long Hill' or perhaps meaning a ridge. The commonly found explanation is that the name comes from the series of long ridges found from Mandai up to and ending at Bukit Timah.
This is where everyone appear to accept that reason simply because it was mentioned by 'somebody' else. This really riled me.

I was very sure that this CANNOT be a logical reason for it being called Bukit Panjang.
And why was it that no one has ever pinpointed a specific spot, hill or even which ridge?

After all, how can the entire range from Mandai to Bukit Timah be called Bukit Panjang when there are Bukit Gombak, Bukit Batok as well as Bukit Timah within it? How can they be part of Bukit Panjang ridge? It just didn't gel with me.

Surely, there must be a hill top that should be called Bukit Panjang as part of a ridge.

Then today, quite by accident, as I was looking at some unrelated data, I came across a topographic map that showed the exact location of Bukit Panjang.
I whooped for joy and I had to do a double take to make sure it was correct.
The topo map was dated 1978 and it showed a hill clearly marked and surrounded by quarries.

Eureka! I FOUND BUKIT PANJANG the hilltop .
It's not a ridge as most people presume but an actual peak at 132 metres.
No, the hill was not removed by any land development and is actually still there.

You will be surprised, as I was, when I reveal to you now where Bukit Panjang lies.
Here is a composite map I made from an actual photo and a current road map of the area.
Bukit Panjang ridge is outlined and the peak marked with a white triangle.

Photo on the left is an aerial reconnoissance picture from 1958.

I guess the reason why nobody could identify Bukit Panjang nowadays is that it was 'absorbed' into  Gombak Ridge and was treated as part of the ridge. Most of us know the entire ridge as Bukit Gombak.

In fact, in the blog I wrote about Bukit Gombak just a few days ago, I mentioned as trivia the fact that the Gombak Ridge has TWO peaks, one at 139m and the other at 132m.
I now know that this lower peak is Bukit Panjang!

Life is full of surprises.

This is the hilltop of Bukit Panjang today. (seen from Boys Town)
The building is MINDEF. (see comments below)

Related blog: Bukit Gombak

Bukit Gombak Hill

Princess Elizabeth Estate was built on the slopes of Bukit Gombak.
Bukit Gombak is the second highest hill in Singapore at 139m (437 feet) and used to house the British Royal Air Force radar station in the 1950s & 1960s.

Today, almost the entire ridge of Bukit Gombak, from Choa Chu Kang to Hillview, has been fenced off as a restricted military zone. In fact, Bukit Gombak is the location of the Ministry of Defence in Singapore and therefore one of the most secured areas here.

However, when the RAF were based at Gombak, they only occupied the summit and the hillsides around Gombak were squattered by hundreds of kampong houses all round.
The main areas for squatters and their kampongs were at Bukit Panjang beside the KTM railway tracks, around Chua Chu Kang Road near the British Army BOD (British Ordnance Depot), and at Jalan Perang which ran around Bukit Gombak on the Choa Chu Kang/Jurong side.

Closer to Princess Elizabeth Estate, the entire Chinese kampong that was at  Lorong Taluki and Lorong Seburut were also built at the base of Gombak.

Here is a montage sketch of the Bukit Gombak ridge. I think there's TMI (too much info!) in it but I think you get the idea. (click on the sketch if you really want to see a detailed view)

There were 3 major quarries on the western side of Gombak ridge along the old Jalan Perang. Only the smallest today is conserved as the Little Guilin Park.

When Singapore took over from the British and converted Gombak into a military zone, all the kampongs and squatters around Gombak were resettled.

The demolition of the kampongs and squatter housing around Bukit Gombak.

The above 3 photos are taken from PICAS, the Heritage Board photo archive.

My blogger friend Lam Chun See had just posted a series of 12 photographs in his blog he received from his British friend who was based in Singapore in the1960s. I am prompted by his posting of the photos to write this post.

Photo from Lam Chun See's blog Good Morning Yesterday.
Taken from the top of Bukit Gombak, it shows the Dairy Farm Quarry (right)
with the Union Carbide factory at Hillview (white building).
The large green patch (left centre) beside the quarry is the old Dairy Farm meadow.

I recommend you visit Chun See's blog to see alll the pictures of Gombak ridge, read his comments and those from his readers about Bukit Gombak. His blog is at this link  click here.

Related link: Exploring Bukit Gombak