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- 1 & 3. Photo by Koh Nguang How
- 2. Head of Dragon Kiln. Photo by Patsy Chua, Sam Mui Kuang Pottery
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Music and Sound Design by Dr. Corrina Bonshek
Feel free to walk around the park while listening to this track. When it ends, make your way to the exit nearest to Block 121.
Hwi Yoh is a Teochew term meaning pottery kiln. Jalan Hwi Yoh was named after the pottery businesses in the area, appearing on survey maps around the early 1950s. It is one of the few roads in Singapore named after a trade.
This area used to be mostly rubber, pineapple and coconut plantations. Other small cottage businesses within the vicinity included rope-making, tropical fish farms, pigsties, vegetable farms, and pottery kilns – including the well-known Sam Mui Kuang Pottery (三美光陶艺).
The owner, Mr Chua Eng Cheow, was a Teochew from Fengxi in Guangdong province. He brought his knowledge of porcelain-making and set up the dragon kiln, working the readily available buff clay from the vacant land nearby.
Sam Mui Kuang Pottery was one of the first dragon kilns when it opened in 1938, and the longest in Southeast Asia at 50 metres.
During the war, the family was forced to make sake bottles for Japanese soldiers, and the solid brick dragon kiln was even used as an air raid shelter.
121 serangoon north ave 1, singapore 550121
Darma Muneeswaran Temple
Opening Hours:
6.00am to 12.00pm
Walk along the length of Block 121 to the top of the slope till you see Serangoon North Ave 1. Begin listening at this vantage point, as you take a walk towards the Indian temple on your right.
Or click the map for Google Maps, which will show a longer route.