Teochew Building is a historic building on Tank Road in Singapore. Completed in 1963, it jointly houses the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan and the Ngee Ann Kongsi.
Teochew Building is a historic building on Tank Road in Singapore. Completed in 1963, it jointly houses the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan and the Ngee Ann Kongsi.
The land on which the building stands was previously the Tuan Mong High School. [1] The building's construction, which cost millions, began in June 1961 and was expected to be completed by the middle of the next year. The ground floor of the building would be occupied by offices for the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan and the Ngee Ann Kongsi while a large hall and stage with a maximum capacity of 1,000 people could be found on the second floor. The upper three floors was to house the 45 classrooms of the Tuan Mong High School. A $16,000 master clock, which would control the clocks in the classrooms, was to be installed in the central part of the building. The "Peking-style" building was designed by prominent local architect Ng Keng Siang. [2]
On 26 May 1963, the Ngee Ann College was officially opened within the building by Yong Nyuk Lin, then the Minister for Education. Chief Justice of Singapore Wee Chong Jin, Speaker of the Federation of Malaya Parliament Mohamed Noah Omar and Minister for National Development Tan Kia Gan attended the ceremony, while Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew later attended a reception. [3] The college moved to a larger premises in Clementi a few years later. [4]
In 1995, it was announced that the building was to undergo a $10 million renovation, after which the ground and first floors would be occupied by the Teochew cultural centre. The centre was to be used for various cultural activities, including art exhibitions, displays of Chinese and Teochew artifacts and the staging of Teochew operas. [5] Renovation works had begun by September and were to be completed by 1997. [6] In 1998, the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre private institution, formed through a partnership between the Ngee Ann Kongsi and the University of Adelaide, was opened in the building. The centre stopped accepting new students on 18 July 2016 after the university decided to end the partnership. [7] The Ngee Ann Kongsi Heritage Hall was established within the building in March 2003 to "commemorate the entrepreneurial and sacrificial spirit of the pioneers of Ngee Ann Kongsi." The hall displays several artifacts and archives detailing the history of the Ngee Ann Kongsi. In April 2004, the Ngee Ann Kongsi Collections Gallery, an art gallery, was opened in the building. [8]
In 2017, the Ngee Ann Kongsi requested the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan to vacate the building to allow for a $40 million redevelopment that was to begin on 1 July 2018. However, the Huay Kuan refused to do so and the ensuing dispute between the two organisations led to the redevelopment being delayed. Both organisations then began filing lawsuits against each other. On 7 December 2023, it was announced that the dispute had come to an end, with both organisations having come to an agreement. [9] As a result, it was decided that the plans for redevelopment, which would involve the building's rear being demolished and replaced by a newer building, would be going forward. [10]
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Ngee Ann Secondary School (NASS) is a co-educational government-aided autonomous secondary school in Tampines, Singapore. Founded in 1994 by the Ngee Ann Kongsi, a Teochew clan foundation, Ngee Ann Secondary School is a successor to the now defunct Tuan Mong High School. The school offers secondary education leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level or Singapore-Cambridge GCE Normal Level examination.
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Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan (SHHK), or the Singapore Hokkien Association in English, is a cultural and educational foundation. It was established in 1840 to promote education, social welfare and the preservation of the Chinese language and culture among Chinese Singaporean and other Overseas Chinese groups in Southeast Asia. As of 2014, the SHHK, which has 5000 members, is the largest clan association in Singapore.
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Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan is a Teochew clan association in Singapore. Poit Ip, which means eight districts in the Teochew dialect, stood for the eight Teochew districts in the province of Guangdong, China. Huay Kuan means "clan association". On 12 December 1928, there was a temporary committee convened a meeting at the Tuan Mong School in preparation of the formation of the Huay Kuan. On 20 March 1929, British colonial authorities exempted the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan from registration, and it was formally established.
Major China Dato' Tan Hiok Nee, also known as Tan Yeok Nee, was the leader of the Ngee Heng Kongsi of Johor, succeeding Tan Kee Soon in circa 1864, he transformed the Ngee Heng Kongsi of Johor from a quasi-military revolutionary brotherhood, based in the rural settlement of Kangkar Tebrau, into an organisation of kapitans, kangchus, and revenue farmers, based in the state capital of Johor Bahru. His grandson Tan Chin Hian, was the chairman of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Singapore Teochew Poit It Huay Kuan and Ngee Ann Kongsi Singapore for many years.
Ngee Heng Kongsi of Johor was a Teochew secret society that founded the earliest Chinese settlement in Johor. However, it did not have a clandestine image and has instead been accorded a respectable place in the history of the Johor Chinese. The term kongsi generally refers to any firm or partnership, and has also been used to refer to any group or society in a very broad sense. Ngee Heng is the Teochew name for the Ghi Hin or Ghee Hin, its name in Hokkien. The name identifies it as the Teochew offshoot of the Tiandihui secret society.
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