Director's Note (July 2026)

It’s a good bet that not many people remember Tang Dynasty City but at one point in the 1990s, it was a big thing in the press. A unique combination of theme park and movie studio, it promised to transport people back to the golden age of China’s Tang dynasty. Sadly, it failed to move anyone to visit the theme park itself and had to shut down, but it was a brave attempt at doing something different.

Speaking of doing something different, it’s interesting to see that non-fiction graphic works are gaining ground in Singapore. I’m glad that Singaporean creators are finding new ways to tell Singapore stories.

One Singapore story that hasn’t really been told is about our various neighbourhoods. We tend to take these for granted, and except for old estates, we assume that the newer ones don’t have much of a history. That’s not true, of course. A spanking new town like Sengkang – once known as Kangkar – has a pretty interesting past based around a fisheries port that used to be there.

Changi, on the other hand, is a place that a lot of people think they know about, especially when it comes to the war. Mention Changi and you’ll think of Changi Prison, Changi Chapel and Museum, and the prisoners-of-war incarcerated there during the Japanese Occupation, but few people will think of concerts. Our piece on musically inclined civilian internees in Changi spills the tea on how they held regular concerts there and will hopefully give you a new perspective on an old story.

Tea, by the way, is also the focus of one of our stories. Chugging bubble tea is a modern fad, but tea-drinking has much older roots. If you read our piece, you’ll find a fascinating story about how tea culture in Singapore has changed over the decades.

These are just some of the highlights in the latest issue of BiblioAsia. We shed (red)light on the history of Geylang, we have a piece on the evolution of Singapore’s coat of arms and we have Lee Kuan Yew's account of the days leading up to 9 August 1965, as he himself experienced it. The last two are particularly good reads for National Day!

Alicia Yeo
Director
National Library