08/08/2021
Just.O wishes Singapore Happy 56th Birthday. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we have launched our Singapore River collection of our Featured Artists. The paintings in this collection are for sale. For enquiry of this special collection, feel free to contact us. Happy National Day!
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The Singapore River has been a flourishing hub of commercial activities ever since Singapore was established as a free port for entrepôt trade. Many traders benefited from the low port charges and customs duties when they brought in their goods for import and re-export. Such goods included silk, porcelain, tea and rice from China, coffee, pepper and other spices from the region, as well as textiles, machinery parts and other iron goods from Europe.
Most ships would anchor themselves outside the river mouth as they were too large to enter the narrow channel of the Singapore River, so their goods would be loaded onto lighters for transfer to the godowns situated along the river banks. Lightermen would stow cargoes from the ship onto their lighter, as well as help their land-based counterparts transfer the goods from their lighter to the godown and vice versa, running back and forth on the sloping wooden planks while maintaining their balance. Conditions were hazardous and the working hours were irregular, as the work was dependent on tides and the arrival of ships. The consigned goods had to be protected aboard the lighters, so many lightermen lived on board their boats.
After a long day of work, many of the labourers and lightermen would spend their leisure hours near the river banks to drink palm wine or listen to traditional storytellers. It became a place where they shared gossip and exchanged information. Occasionally, wandering Chinese opera groups would stop by and set up stage, and people would gather to watch the performance. A sense of community developed in the area.
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