Wayangs and sugar candy

Posted by noelbynature under Buildings and Monuments, Food, Heritage Sites and Trails
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Because development takes place at such a breakneck pace here, we sometimes forget about the buildings that used to stand where we now walked - for example, I can’t remember what Ngee Ann City (and the rest of Orchard Road) looked like before the building went up. In a few years, people will remember when the Ion at Orchard used to be a green field where migrant workers would gather every Sunday on their day off. Philip Chew remembers two buildings in the Joo Chiat Landsacape that are no longer there - a Chinese Temple and the adjoining wayang stage.

The temple and wayang stage were once situated along Tembeling Road at the junction of Joo Chiat Place. Philip also shares another fond memory of the wayang stage, which was the candy sold at such events:

During school days I went to the Chinese wayang not to see the performance but to mingle with other kids watching Chinese artists making sugar art figurines and dough art figurines. For sugar art figurines, moulds were used to make the required shapes like gold fish, rabbit etc. As for dough art figurines no mould was needed. The artist made characters from Chinese stories such as Journey To The West, The Three Kingdoms as well as animals. They were very colourful too. The cheapest one was the figurine of a cockerel because it was the easiest and fastest to make. The sugar figurines were edible. The usual way was to lick it like an ice cream. It could not be kept as it would melt or attract ants and insects.

Read more about the the candy sold at the wayang, and these old sites at My Chew Joo Chiat Story. What makes recollection of such past places special? In Philip’s case, it’s also the physical memory of candy. Makes you want to step back into some of the old places of your lifetime that aren’t there anymore - who knows? It might trigger a long-forgotten memory.

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