Long Ya Men
Encyclopedia
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
outcrop
Outcrop
An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. -Features:Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be...
, formerly stood at the gateway to Keppel Harbour
Keppel Harbour
Keppel Harbour is a stretch of water in Singapore between the mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa. Its naturally sheltered and deep waters was to meet the requirements of British colonists attempting to establish a Far East maritime colony in that part of the world, and...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. The Long Ya Men served as navigational aids to ancient mariners sailing through the swift waters of the narrow channel between them. The rocks were documented in a navigational map belonging to Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
's Admiral Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
(郑和), and also in Wang Dayuan
Wang Dayuan
Wang Dayuan was a traveller from Quanzhou, China during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century. He made two major trips on ships. During 1328-1333, he sailed along the South China Sea and visited many places in Southeast Asia and reached as far as South Asia, landing in Sri Lanka and India...
's historical maritime annal, Wu Bei Zhi (武备志). The Long Ya Men's unique features assisted Zheng He in navigating the waters around Singapore during his seven maritime voyages to the west between 1405 and 1433 AD. The rocky outcrops were subsequently destroyed by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1848 to widen the channel for larger vessels to sail through. In 2005, a symbolic replica was erected by the Singapore government
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
near its original site to mark the role it played in Singapore's maritime history.
History
Long Ya Men was known locally by the MalaysMalay race
The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach , and classified as the brown race. Since Blumenbach, many anthropologists have rejected his theory of five races, citing the enormous complexity of classifying races...
in earlier times as "Batu Berlayar" ("Sailing Rock") near the present site of Labrador Park, off Pasir Panjang Road. Another rock outcrop used to stand on the opposite shore of Tanjong Rimau on Sentosa
Sentosa
Sentosa, which translates to peace and tranquility in Malay , is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by some five million people a year...
Island. These two rock outcrops once formed a gateway at the western entrance to Keppel Harbour
Keppel Harbour
Keppel Harbour is a stretch of water in Singapore between the mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa. Its naturally sheltered and deep waters was to meet the requirements of British colonists attempting to establish a Far East maritime colony in that part of the world, and...
. British sailors named the more prominent Batu Berlayar, "Lot's Wife" in reference to the biblical story of the wife of Abraham's nephew. She was transformed into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed divine orders not to look back at the destruction of Sodom
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
while fleeing from the city.
Wang Dayuan
Wang Dayuan was a traveller from Quanzhou, China during the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century. He made two major trips on ships. During 1328-1333, he sailed along the South China Sea and visited many places in Southeast Asia and reached as far as South Asia, landing in Sri Lanka and India...
, is said to have sailed through this passageway. In his travelogue
Travel journal
A travel journal, also called road journal or travelogue, is a record made by a voyager. Generally in diary form, a travel journal contains descriptions of the traveler's experiences, is normally written during the course of the journey, intended on updating friends or family on the journey...
, he recorded that the Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
mariners knew about these two rock outcrops as Long Ya Men, because they reminded them of the two pegs at the bow
Bow (ship)
The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...
of their ships. These two pegs were known to the mariners as "Dragon's Teeth".
The Keppel passageway was used by Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
and early European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
sailors and traders for hundreds of years to sail past Singapore. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He made seven voyages to more than 30 countries, travelling in fleets of up to 300 ships to the South Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The admiral travelled on the order of the Chinese Emperor
Emperor of China
The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
to establish trade relations with countries west of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He is believed to have sailed through the waters off Labrador Park in Pasir Panjang, though whether he landed in Singapore is uncertain. In the 17th century, the passageway was abandoned in favour of the wider and more open Main Straits, that lies south of Pulau Satamu, where Raffles Lighthouse
Raffles Lighthouse
Raffles Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the Straits of Singapore, about 14 kilometres south of the main island of Singapore....
stands today.
Sir Stamford Raffles
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is often described as the "Father of Singapore"...
of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
did not know of the "Lot's Wife", or the deep water harbour it led to when he landed in Singapore in January, 1819. William Farquhar
William Farquhar
Major-General William Farquhar was an employee of the East India Company, and the first Resident of colonial Singapore.-Early life:Farquhar was born at Newhall, Aberdeenshire, near Aberdeen in 1774, and joined the East India Company as a cadet when he was 17...
, the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore, wrote to Raffles on 2 September 1819 that he had founded a new harbour west of the settlement. The two rock outcrops were subsequently blown up by the Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
Surveyor, John Thomson, in August 1848 in order to widen the entrance to the new harbour.
Commemoration
In July 2005, a 6m high stone replica of Long Ya Men was put up near its original site by a joint collaboration involving the Singapore Tourism BoardSingapore Tourism Board
The Singapore Tourism Board is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry.-History:...
, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Singapore Government.-History:The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore was established on 2 February 1996 by the MPA Act of...
and the National Parks Board
National Parks Board
The National Parks Board is a statutory board of the Singapore Government.The National Parks Board is responsible for providing and enhancing the greenery of Singapore. NParks manages around 300 parks, the park connector network and the roadside greenery in Singapore...
. This was part of a three-month-long celebration of the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden voyage, which began in Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
, China. A storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
telling Long Ya Men's significance to Singapore and Zheng He's story, was also put up next to the replica.
The authorities had initially planned for the replica to replace the red Berlayer Beacon. However, the Singapore Heritage Society was against the decision, saying the beacon was itself a heritage site and should not be destroyed because the beacon has been at Labrador Park since the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The replica was finally built just meters away from the beacon. The authorities hope the symbolic replica can serve to preserve the memory of Long Ya Men, which is an important part of Singapore’s maritime history, for future generations and visitors familiar with the historical voyages of Zheng He.