Old Tao Nan School
Encyclopedia
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...
, located along Armenian Street
Armenian Street
Armenian Street is a street in Central Singapore located in the Museum Planning Area. The street covers a short distance that starts from Coleman Street and ends at the junction of Stamford Road and Waterloo Street...
in the Museum Planning Area
Museum Planning Area
The Museum Planning Area is an urban planning area in the Central Region of Singapore. It is located in the area known as the Civic District. The area plays a "bridging role" between the Orchard Street area and the Downtown Core, which necessitates proper transport networks for vehicles,...
, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
. The building was a wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum
Asian Civilisations Museum
The Asian Civilisations Museum is an institution which forms a part of the three museums of the National Museum of Singapore. It is one of the pioneering museums in the region to specialise in pan-Asian cultures and civilisations...
. The other wing of the museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
is located at the Empress Place Building
Empress Place Building
The Empress Place Building is a historic building in Singapore, located on the north bank of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. The building is currently the second wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum...
on the north bank of the Singapore River
Singapore River
The Singapore River is a river in Singapore with great historical importance. The Singapore River flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean...
. It is now the Peranakan Museum
Peranakan Museum
The Peranakan Museum is a museum in Singapore specialising in Peranakan culture. A sister museum to the Asian Civilizations Museum, it is the first of its kind in the world, that explore Peranakan cultures in Singapore and other former Straits Settlements in Malacca and Penang, and other Peranakan...
.
History
Tao Nan SchoolTao Nan School
Tao Nan School , is a co-educational primary school in Singapore. One of the five Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan schools, along with Ai Tong School, Chongfu Primary School, Kong Hwa School and Nan Chiau Secondary School, Tao Nan School is among the 30 most popular primary schools listed by the...
was set up by three local Chinese
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...
philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
s of the Singapore Hokkien Association
Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan
Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan 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 immigrants of Chinese descent in Singapore and throughout Southeast Asia.-Educational...
(Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan) in 1906 and founded the ideal of preserving Chinese culture and heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
. It had premises first at Siam House on North Bridge Road
North Bridge Road
North Bridge Road is a road in Singapore north of Singapore River, that starts at the junction of Crawford Street and ends before Elgin Bridge, which the road becomes South Bridge Road. The road is one of the oldest roads in Singapore and was outlined in Raffles' 1822 Town Plan...
. When it relocated to Armenian Street
Armenian Street
Armenian Street is a street in Central Singapore located in the Museum Planning Area. The street covers a short distance that starts from Coleman Street and ends at the junction of Stamford Road and Waterloo Street...
in 1912, the school switched its medium of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
from Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
to Mandarin, an unprecedented event in Singapore at that time.
Tan Kah Kee
Tan Kah Kee
Tan Kah Kee was a prominent businessman, community leader, and philanthropist in colonial Singapore, and a Communist leader in the People's Republic of China.- Early years :...
, a wealthy Chinese leader, was one of the 110 founding members of the school. He served for 12 years as the school's president. He received a good amount of his funding from Oei Tiong Ham, a sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
tycoon, whose donation of $10,000 paid for the plot of land on which Tao Nan School was built. Tan Kah Kee himself contributed much money to the school as well as other Chinese schools.
Tao Nan School has produced many remarkable Chinese leaders, among them Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian
Lee Kong Chian , was a prominent businessman and philanthropist and the founder of The Lee Foundation in Singapore. He was one of Southeast Asia's richest men in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son-in-law of philanthropist Tan Kah Kee.-Early life:...
, a prominent businessman, philanthropist and patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
of education.
During the Japanese Occupation
Japanese Occupation of Singapore
The Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II occurred between about 1942 and 1945 after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. Military forces of the Empire of Japan occupied Singapore after defeating the combined Australian, British, Indian and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore...
(1942–1945), the school was closed. It reopened in October 1945 after 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...
. Its student population increased rapidly and by the following year, two separate sessions of classes were necessary. In the mid-1970s, however, the school's population declined as families moved out of the city
Downtown Core
The Downtown Core is a 266-hectare urban planning area in the south of the city-state of Singapore. The Downtown Core surrounds the mouth of the Singapore River and southeastern portion of its watershed, and is part of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district...
to new suburban housing estates
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
.
In 1976, the Singapore Hokkien Association decided to move the school to its present home in the suburb of Marine Parade
Marine Parade
Marine Parade is a town and an urban planning area in Singapore directly to the east of the Central Area, Singapore's central business district.-Location:...
. In 1982, Tao Nan School started operations at its new campus in Marine Parade, where it still resides today.
The Old Tao Nan School building was gazette
Gazette
A gazette is a public journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper.In English- and French-speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name The Gazette.Gazette is a loanword from the...
d as a national monument
National Monuments of Singapore
National Monuments of Singapore are buildings and structures in Singapore that have been designated by the Preservation of Monuments Board as being of special historic, traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic value....
on 27 February 1998.
Architecture
The Old Tao Nan School building, built between 1910 and 1912, was designed in the Neo-classical style with features of the French RenaissanceFrench Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
. A grand central entrance way leads into an atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
topped with a skylight. Symmetrical staircases on either side of the atrium lead up to galleries and corridors on the second and third levels. To accommodate the tropical climate
Tropical climate
A tropical climate is a climate of the tropics. In the Köppen climate classification it is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above...
, large wide verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
s were built at the front of the building; pitch
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
ed flat interlocking clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
s were used, and high ceiling
Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above....
s were erected for better ventilation
Ventilation (architecture)
Ventilating is the process of "changing" or replacing air in any space to provide high indoor air quality...
.
This area, now part of Singapore's commercial centre
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
, was at one time a quiet, peaceful environment and many schools were built there. By today's standards, schools such as the Old Tao Nan School seem somewhat cramped; they certainly lacked the spacious green playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s and fields of schools built in the post-war years. Yet architecturally the Old Tao Nan School building evokes the serenity of its era in its arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
ed verandahs, symmetrical arrangement and dignified proportions, fashionable in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the nineteenth century.
Present
Today, the Old Tao Nan School building houses the Peranakan MuseumPeranakan Museum
The Peranakan Museum is a museum in Singapore specialising in Peranakan culture. A sister museum to the Asian Civilizations Museum, it is the first of its kind in the world, that explore Peranakan cultures in Singapore and other former Straits Settlements in Malacca and Penang, and other Peranakan...
which was opened in April 2008 by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The Museum explores the main themes of Peranakan life in ten permanent galleries. Displays include the twelve day Peranakan wedding and the role of the Nyonyas (female Peranakans).