The ger, a traditional dwelling created by nomadic Mongolians, is specifically designed to fit their way of life. Its semi- sphere shape helps the ger endure storms and tempests. It has solutions for heat control and ventilation. It is flexible in terms of size and design, and it is portable and lightweight. At the same time, it is also comfortable to live in and easy to build and dismantle. Moreover, the ger is used as a measure for time and directions.

A wide range of festivals are held in Uzbekistan to generate public interest in intangible cultural heritage. This includes the recent International Bakhshi Art Festival, which was held for a week from 5 April in the ancient city of Termez. Bakhshi is a multi-genre art form that brings together singers, musicians, and performers of Doston, a Central Asian oral epic. Teams from seventy-five countries took part in this festival, which featured not only a wide range of performances but also an enlightening international conference.

The National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) launched an open call for design proposals on 22 July 2021 under its new “Craft X Design” scheme which pairs local traditional craft practitioners with designers or design studios to co-develop and produce new and innovative products using traditional craft techniques and materials.\n\nThe scheme seeks to raise public awareness of local traditional crafts; revitalize and “modernize” the products produced by local traditional craft practitioners; help these practitioners gain access to new markets; and contribute to the long-term sustainability of traditional trades and crafts.\n\nAs part of the scheme, NHB has partnered four local traditional craft practitioners comprising a traditional Chinese lantern-maker; a craftsperson skilled in weaving cases for ketupat (a rice cake wrapped with coconut leaves); a rangoli (a traditional Indian art form involving the creation of a multi-colored floor decoration) artist; and a Peranakan beadwork and embroidery craftsperson.\n\nUnder the open call for design proposals, interested local designers or design studios can attend a workshop conducted by NHB and the four local traditional craft practitioners, and have until 1 October 2021 to prepare and submit their design proposals. Once selected, the successful designers or design studios will have four to five months to work with the local traditional craft practitioners they are paired with to produce a prototype product or a range of products.\n\nThe four local traditional craft practitioners and the successful designers and/or design studios will each receive an honorarium of SGD6,000. Each pair of practitioner and designer can also be reimbursed up to SGD2,000 for materials and/or other costs associated with the production of the prototype product.\n\nThe collaboration will culminate in the production of a prototype product or a range of products from each pair of practitioner and designer/design studio, which would be displayed at a public showcase in April 2022.\n\nThe scheme is part of NHB’s ongoing efforts under Our SG Heritage Plan, Singapore’s first five-year (FY2018-FY2022) masterplan for the heritage and museum sector, to organize public showcases for Singapore’s traditional trades and crafts, and in doing so, to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage.\n\nTo find out more about Singapore’s “Craft X Design” scheme, please visit: https://go.gov.sg/craftxdesign2021.\n\nPhoto 1 : Mr Jimm Wong, a traditional Chinese lantern-maker © National Heritage Board of Singapore\nPhoto 2 : Ms Vijaya Mohan, a rangoli artist © National Heritage Board of Singapore

Singapore’s Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) organizes Lintas Nusantara, an annual dance festival that serves as a platform for dance masters and troupes from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries in the region to showcase their work and capabilities and to facilitate cultural exchanges among the countries involved.\n\nTo commemorate the tenth anniversary of the festival, MHC will be launching a publication entitled Lintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music in October 2021. The publication will provide a visual record of all the dances performed at the festival and include several essays that aim to provide a deeper understanding of the various dance forms as well as their origins, development, and evolution.\n\nIt will cover a total of twenty-three Malay dance forms performed in Singapore, different states in Malaysia, and different regions of Indonesia. These dance forms include Zapin Sungai Kallang from Singapore; Mak Yong and Tari Asyik from Malaysia; and Pajaga Makkunrai (Bugis), Tari Golek Menak (Yogyakarta) and Tari Gending Sriwijaya (Palembang) from Indonesia.\n\nAs part of the publication’s aim to foster more extensive research into dances from the Malay Archipelago, it will feature twenty-seven essays by academics and researchers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, and the Philippines. These essays will cover topics such as preserving dance and community traditions; spirituality in dance and movement; forging cultural and community identity through dance; cultural borrowings as expressed through music, costumes, and movements.\n\nLintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music will also include reflections regarding the importance of cultural exchanges in the growth and evolution of dance and music as well as the development of a dynamic Malay dance ecosystem from musicians Thow Xin Wei (Gamelan Singa Nglaras) and Fadhli Ramlee (aluNada Muzik) as well as an interview with Mr. Osman Abdul Hamid, a dance practitioner renowned for his artistic contributions to the Malay dance scene in Singapore since the late 1970s.\n\nThrough this publication, MHC hopes to provide an overview of the wide spectrum of Malay dance forms, contribute to existing research and documentation on Malay performing arts, and promote greater cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of the diverse dance forms from the Malay world.\n\nLintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music is a bilingual publication written in both English and Malay, and interested parties can send their inquiries to Jamal_Mohamad@nhb.gov.sg.\n\nPhoto 1 : Dancers from Guntur Mataram Dance Company (Jakarta) performing the Tari Golek Asmaradana Bawaraga. Photograph courtesy of Malay Heritage Centre\nPhoto 2 : Artist Seni Budaya (Singapore) performing the Tari Gending Sriwijaya with dancers from Universitas PGRI Palembang (Indonesia). Photograph courtesy of Malay Heritage Centre

The National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nThe National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) recently published the first issue of a two-part series of MUSE SG that focuses solely on Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). MUSE SG is NHB’s outreach magazine that features museum and heritage related articles and is distributed to museums, schools, libraries, and public institutions free-of-charge.\n\nFor the two-part series on Singapore’s ICH, NHB has partnered with History Society students from the National University of Singapore (NUS HISSOC) to conduct research and co-create content. The partnership is part of NHB’s youth engagement efforts to interest the younger generation in different aspects of Singapore’s heritage.\n\nThe first ICH issue of MUSE SG introduces readers to the different categories of ICH as defined by UNESCO and explains how the ICH elements in these categories have become an integral part of Singapore’s multicultural identity. The issue is part of NHB’s continuing efforts to promote greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH.\n\nVats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore\nIt also features articles on selected ICH elements including traditional Malay dance, traditional Eurasian cuisine, traditional crafts such as effigy making, the production of soya sauce, the practice of rearing songbirds, the ancient healing practice of Ayurveda, and local practices in the commemoration of Easter.\n\nThe second ICH issue of MUSE SG, to be published in January 2021, will focus on the practices and rituals of Jewish Passover by the local Jewish community and the Zoroastrian faith as practiced by the Parsi community in Singapore.\n\nIt will also cover dondang sayang (a poetic art form associated with the Malay and Straits Chinese communities in this region), traditional Chinese music, traditional Nanyang breakfast (comprising toast with kaya spread, half-boiled eggs and a cup of hot tea or coffee) and the craft of Indian goldsmithing.\n\nTo access the first ICH issue of MUSE SG, please click on the following link: https://www.roots.sg/learn/resources/publications/education-and-community-outreach/MUSE-SG-Volume-13-Issue-01\n\nPhoto 1 : Muse Cover © NHB\nPhoto 2 : Vats containing soy beans undergoing fermentation in the production of soya sauce at Tai Hua Food Industries, 2020. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as defined by the 2003 UNESCO Convention encompasses the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, which communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. In the case of Singapore, ICH is important as it represents the diverse practices, knowledge, and living traditions of Singapore’s multicultural society.\n\nIn recent years, the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) has embarked on a concerted drive to document and safeguard Singapore’s ICH elements as well as to work with public and private sector partners to facilitate the transmission of ICH elements.\n\nPrior to these efforts, NHB studied the best ICH safeguarding practices in various countries, including Hong Kong, South Korea, France, Japan, and Malaysia (Penang). NHB noted that effective ICH safeguarding requires the community involvement and that ICH elements should be allowed to evolve or even disappear with time.\n\nNHB also noted that effective ICH safeguarding involves measures such as research and documentation efforts, recognition schemes for ICH practitioners, the creation of a national inventory, education, and outreach programs, as well as financial grants.\n\nIn November 2016, NHB launched its first nationwide ICH survey to identify key elements of Singapore’s ICH. The survey will be completed by the end of 2018. It will document more than a hundred ICH elements through oral history interviews, research, photography, and videography.\n\nMore recently, NHB announced the development of Our SG Heritage Plan, which is the first masterplan for Singapore’s heritage and museum sector. The masterplan outlines the broad strategies and initiatives for the sector over the next five years (2018 to 2022) and beyond.\n\nOne of the key strategic pillars for Our SG Heritage Plan focuses on ICH and presents the following recommendations:\n\nNHB will develop an ICH inventory to promote public awareness and facilitate public access to ICH information. The inventory will be updated with input from heritage experts and community groups.\nNHB will introduce a new scheme to recognize ICH practitioners who are dedicated to promoting and transmitting different aspects of Singapore’s ICH.\nNHB will step up efforts to research and document Singapore’s ICH and continue to promote research in ICH through research grants.\nNHB will leverage on museum exhibitions, festivals, and programs such as talks, workshops, and showcases to create greater public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s ICH and ICH practitioners.\nNHB will work with the relevant agencies to ratify the 2003 UNESCO Convention in 2018 and explore possible ICH inscription onto the UNESCO Representative List.\nIn developing the ICH strategies and initiatives, NHB conducted eight engagement sessions involving close to 190 ICH practitioners between November 2016 and September 2017 to solicit views and seek feedback.\n\nAs part of NHB’s public engagement efforts for Our SG Heritage Plan,1. the institution is presently consulting the wider public about the ICH strategies and initiatives through a dedicated website (oursgheritage.sg) and traveling exhibitions.\n\nFrom December 2017 to February 2018, close to 20,000 people have visited the exhibition, and the website has received more than 14,000 visitors. In addition, more than 5,500 people have submitted their views through onsite and online polls.\n\nThrough its efforts to document, safeguard, and facilitate the transmission of Singapore’s ICH, NHB hopes to strengthen the Singaporean identity because it believes that ICH provides links to Singapore’s past, facilitates community involvement, and fosters cultural understanding within and across ethnic communities.\n\nPhoto : The NHB’s traveling exhibition on Our SG Heritage Plan © National Heritage Board of Singapore

Ramadan is the ninth month on the Islamic calendar and the holiest month of the year for Muslims all over the world. During this period, Muslims fast (referred to as puasa in Malay) from sunrise to sunset every day throughout the month. Muslims will have their breakfast before sunrise (sahur) and they will break the fast after sunset (iftar).\n\nPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslims in Singapore visited mosques for their daily prayers and were encouraged to take part in an extra session of night prayers known as terawih during Ramadan. Muslim families as well as Singaporeans would throng the streets of Geylang Serai and Jalan Bussorah to enjoy outdoor street markets selling a wide variety of Malay culinary delights, gifts, and clothes.\n\nDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, mosques in Singapore are closed until further notice, and all Singaporeans are encouraged to stay at home. As a result, the Muslim community is unable to breakfasts together at the mosque and/or visit one another during Hari Raya Puasa, a celebration that marks the end of the fasting month.\n\nIn view of the above, the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) and the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) decided to collaborate on the #RamadanTogether campaign which seeks to connect the Muslim community through digital platforms and to educate the non-Muslim community on the intangible cultural heritage practices associated with Ramadan.\n\nThe month-long campaign comprises three key components: “Iftar Together,” which encourages Muslims to break the fast together online; “Masak Together,” which shares recipes on how to make traditional Hari Raya dishes at home; and “Concert Together,” which features “live” performances from local artists and arts groups.\n\nTo complement NHB’s digital offerings, MHC will also be producing a series of digital programs hosted on its social media platforms that feature community contributions. These include cooking and baking tutorials by well-known Malay personalities who will showcase family recipes for breaking the fast as well as traditional Hari Raya dishes. Videos and animations on traditional Hari Raya attire such as the baju kurung (a traditional loose-fitting outfit) and the kebaya (a traditional women’s dress) will also be produced.\n\nMHC’s #OnXOnRayaFest campaign will also involve a callout to members of the public to contribute user-generated content on how Hari Raya was celebrated in the past and how it is celebrated during these COVID-19 times to document the impact of the pandemic on intangible cultural heritage as practiced in the homes of the Muslim community in Singapore. Photo submissions from members of the public will be put up on MHC’s social media platforms and creative submissions will stand a chance to win attractive merchandise.\n\nIn addition, as part of its ongoing education and outreach efforts, MHC will also provide a glossary of terms associated with Ramadan and Hari Raya Puasa, offer bite-sized information focusing on Malay heritage and culture, and share traditional pantun (rhyming quatrains) greetings. MHC will also be working with local arts groups to produce Hari Raya music videos that will be filmed from home, to reach out to the community and lift up their spirits during the COVID-19 period.\n\nTo find out more about NHB’s #RamadanTogether campaign and MHC’s #OnxOnRayaFest campaign, please click on the following links: www.roots.sg/ramadan. and Malay Heritage Centre’s www.facebook.com/malayheritage respectively.\n\nPhoto : RamadanTogether Campaign ⓒ NHB

Kampong Gelam is an historical precinct that was originally conceived by Sir. Stamford Raffles to be a settlement area for the Malay, Arab, and Bugis communities in Singapore. In 1989, the core area of Kampong Gelam was gazetted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Today, the historical precinct continues to retain a strong Malay and Muslim identity with both traditional and modern trades attracting locals and foreign tourists alike.\n\nLocated at the heart of Kampong Gelam is the Malay Heritage Centre, a heritage institution managed by the National Heritage Board. The center serves as a showcase of Malay heritage and culture in Singapore, as a focal point for the Malay community in Singapore and a place-maker for the historical precinct. It also presents exhibitions and programs that showcase the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of the various sub-communities within the wider Malay community.\n\nIn 2011, the Malay Heritage Centre conceptualized and introduced its signature program known as Neighbourhood Sketches. Neighbourhood Sketches is a series of regular outdoor performances held within Kampong Gelam. The program brings the rich and diverse ICH art forms of the Malay community closer to the public through regular street performances outside the walls of the center.\n\nSince the introduction of the program in 2011, the Malay Heritage Centre has presented a total of 126 performances that have attracted more than 23,000 participants. The different types of ICH art forms showcased in these performances included Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theater), Dondang Sayang (performance involving the exchange of Malay quatrains set to music), Angklung (ensemble performance using instruments made from bamboo), Gamelan Melayu (ensemble performance using predominantly percussive instruments), Dikir Barat (Malay choral singing), Silat (Malay martial arts), and Kuda-Kepang (Javanese horse dance).\n\nWhen curating performances for Neighbourhood Sketches, the Malay Heritage Centre makes a conscious effort to showcase a broad range of ICH art forms practiced by and associated with the Malay community. In addition to staging performances, the center ensures that key characteristics of each art form are shared with the audience during every performance and, where applicable, interactive segments involving audience participation are also included.\n\nIn addition, the Malay Heritage Centre records performances staged as part of Neighbourhood Sketches as a means of documenting the ICH art forms presented. The centre also leverages on technology to promote the performances to raise public awareness and uses social media platforms such as Facebook Live to broadcast these performances so that they are able to reach out to a wider audience.\n\nThus far, Neighbourhood Sketches has received an overwhelmingly positive response, and the majority of the audience members surveyed requested more performances as well as certain other ICH art forms to be presented. In addition, 95 percent of the audience members agreed that watching the performances contributed to a better understanding and appreciation of Malay arts, culture, and heritage.\n\nIt is worth noting that the ICH practitioners who participated in Neighbourhood Sketches have also enjoyed being part of the program. In fact, many of these ICH practitioners were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their craft to a wider audience and informed the Malay Heritage Centre that they felt a stronger sense of pride as ICH bearers after participating.\n\nBesides showcasing the cultural expressions, practices, and art forms of the Malay community, the performances of Neighbourhood Sketches also serve to educate and entertain visitors to Kampong Gelam. In doing so, they contribute to the overall cultural vibrancy of the historical precinct by activating its streets by presenting performances that are engaging and reflective and respectful of the precinct’s identity, culture, and heritage.\n\nPhoto : Wayang Wong (traditional Javanese theatre) performance by Kesenian Tedja Timur in the historical Kampong Gelam precinct. ⓒ Malay Heritage Centre

The rich folklore of the Kyrgyz people is an important historical and cultural phenomenon developing over many centuries and spiritually and artistically valuable. As an inexhaustible source of people’s wisdom, it reflects the history, life and social, political and spiritual ideals of the people. The oral folklore is the basis of our unique cultural heritage. Due to the harsh conditions of the nomadic life, endless clashes with enemies and invaders, and long distances of migration, the Kyrgyz people have not preserved their spiritual culture in the stone monuments of architecture, papyrus or clay writings but have preserved it in their memory for more than two thousand years of history. Memory proved to be good enough for keeping millions of lines of epic songs and works, which have been passed from generation to generation and reached the present day.

Singapore launched its second series of Street Corner Heritage Galleries for traditional trades and businesses on 22 April 2021. The scheme invites qualifying traditional trades and businesses with at least thirty years of history to collaborate with the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) to co-curate heritage galleries to be hosted within the premises of these traditional trades and businesses.\n\nThe second series of heritage galleries showcases the rich and diverse heritage of traditional trades and businesses in the historical Kampong Gelam precinct, their products as well as their respective intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements through mini mobile galleries featuring a write-up and the display of historical documents, photographs, objects, etc.\n\nUnder the scheme, NHB will partner qualifying traditional trades and businesses to carry out research and co-curate the mini galleries. NHB will also provide training and funding support for these trades and businesses to develop and offer heritage programs and to feature these programs in national and/or precinct-level festivals.\n\nThere are a total of seven traditional trades and businesses featured in the second series of NHB’s Street Corner Heritage Galleries. They include four food and beverage outlets, one perfumery shop, one Islamic products and perfumery shop, and one haberdashery store.\n\nThe scheme is part of NHB’s five-year master plan, Our SG Heritage Plan, which seeks to display heritage in everyday places to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of heritage. The second series of Street Corner Heritage Galleries follows the first series, which was launched in 2020 and featured five traditional trades and businesses within the Balestier precinct.\n\nNHB will be extending the scheme to showcase more traditional trades and businesses in Little India in 2021 followed by Chinatown and Geylang Serai in 2022. Overall, NHB hopes to roll out the scheme to cover five different precincts and to co-create a total of thirty Street Corner Heritage Galleries across these precincts by the end of 2022.\n\nThrough the Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme, NHB hopes to encourage traditional trades and businesses to document and showcase their heritage; develop a network of “mini-museums” across different precincts; and create surprising heritage encounters for visitors to each precinct as part of NHB’s placemaking efforts.\n\nTo find out more about the second series of Singapore’s Street Corner Heritage Galleries, please click on the following link: https://www.roots.gov.sg/stories-landing/stories/street-corner-heritage-galleries-kampong-gelam\n\nPhoto 1 : The family-run haberdashery shop, Sin Hin Chuan Kee, which sells zippers, thread, buttons, lace, and other assorted accessories. Courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore\nPhoto 2 : The family-run restaurant, Warong Nasi Pariaman, which specializes in nasi padang dishes. Courtesy of National Heritage Board, Singapore

Performed by singers in rural areas of the greater Mymensigh region and greater Dhaka region, Pala Gaan is a theatrical experimentation using a combination of indigenous references and timely rhetoric. Typically the shows begin with Guru Bandana (an artistic expression of showing respect to God and then to the mentor from whom the Bayati learned the performance). It is followed by Ashon Bandana (an artistic expression that pays tribute to the audience).\n\nThe lead singer of Pala Gaan is called bayati, who narrates stories, tales, and legends through music incorporating dance and dialogues. After a short musical prelude, the bayati starts narrating the tale. A group of choristers helps the bayati in the entire performance. During the narration, the bayati enacts different characters such as king, queen, prince, rural maiden, ghost, and animal using limited props. Pillow and scarf are typically seen as the props used by the bayati. Dohar, a member of the choir, helps the bayati by giving cues during the act. In an open stage performance, the bayati singer takes the center of the stage while the choir sits aside.\n\nIn Pala Gaan, the narrative is thickened by improvisation to make it relatable, giving the audience a time to think through it. As a result, a tale may have multiple versions depending on the taste of who performs it. Though ancient texts are central to Pala Gaan narratives, serious issues such as love, position of women in a patriarchal society, discrimination, and oppression can also be addressed. And when a show is held for an urban audience, urban issues, even the ones taken from global politics, can also be artistically twisted. Charming narrations and realistic portrayals of characters are special features of Pala Gaan, enriching the use of dialects and folk rhythms.\n\nPhoto : Islamuddin Palakar from Mymensingh, presents a Pala Gaan © Mumit M

Singapore launched its Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme for traditional trades on 7 March 2020. The new scheme will involve the National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) collaborating with qualifying local traditional trades and businesses with significant history in selected precincts to co-curate “street corner heritage galleries” that will showcase the history of their respective shops, trades, and products as well as other intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements through displays of historical documents, photographs, and artefacts.\n\nUnder the scheme, NHB will also provide training to owners of these traditional trades and businesses in the areas such as the development and delivery of heritage programs. NHB will also provide funding support to these street corner heritage galleries to encourage them to develop heritage programs and to participate in NHB’s signature events such as Singapore Heritage Festival, CultureFests, etc. as showcases of Singapore’s living heritage.\n\nAccording to Mr. Alvin Tan, Deputy Chief Executive (Policy & Community) of NHB: “Through the scheme, we hope to identify existing heritage resources and perform ‘urban acupuncture’ by introducing small-scale interventions to showcase these resources and in the process, revitalize the precinct through street-level heritage.”\n\nThe scheme is aligned with NHB’s five-year masterplan, Our SG Heritage Plan, which seeks to showcase heritage in everyday places to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of heritage in our midst. NHB will be piloting the scheme with the traditional trades and businesses within the Balestier precinct, and they include a traditional pastry shop, a traditional bakery, a traditional coffee powder shop and more.\n\nFollowing its launch, NHB will be identifying other traditional trades and businesses and partnering with the relevant community stakeholders to roll out the scheme on a precinct-by-precinct basis starting with Balestier and Kampong Gelam in 2020 followed by Little India and Chinatown in 2021, and finally Geylang Serai in 2022. Overall, NHB hopes to co-create a total of twenty-five street corner heritage galleries with traditional trades and businesses across the different precincts.\n\nThrough the Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme, NHB hopes to facilitate stronger stakeholder participation and ownership of different aspects of Singapore’s heritage; equip traditional trades and businesses with the necessary basic competencies in the areas of heritage documentation, promotion, and conservation; activate public spaces through a stakeholder-centric and participatory approach; and create a network of community-championed “mini heritage galleries” in different parts of Singapore.\n\nPhoto 1 : The owners and staff of Loong Fatt, the oldest surviving traditional coffee shop in Balestier known for its signature traditional flaky pastry filled with green bean paste, standing around the shop’s street corner heritage gallery © National Heritage Board, Singapore\nPhoto 2 : The owners of Loy Kee, a shop selling traditional Hainanese chicken rice in the Balestier area since 1953, standing next to their street corner heritage gallery © National Heritage Board, Singapore