Bishan
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Bishan is a small neighbourhood of the city-state of Singapore situated in the Central Region, measuring approximately three by three kilometres. Primarily a housing estate, Bishan houses the upper-middle classes and flats there are relatively more expensive than in other estates due to its central location. As of 2006, the current Members of Parliament for Bishan is Wong Kan Seng and Zainudin Bin Nordin.
Etymology
Bishan derived its name from the large Cantonese burial ground, known as peck san ting (in pinyin is bi shan ting), which used to cover the area.Transportation
Bishan is connected to the rest of Singapore via the Central Expressway. In addition, it has its own Mass Rapid Transit station, the Bishan MRT Station, on the North South Line. The station will also serve as an Interchange Station for the Circle Line which will be completed in 2008.
Bishan also has a bus interchange, with SBS Transit services 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 and 410. Bus services 13, 88,156 and 162 runs along Bishan Road.
Education
As of 2005, in Bishan there are eight primary schools, six secondary schools, and two tertiary institutions that are part of Singapore's education system. These are: Bishan Park Secondary School, Catholic High School, Guangyang Secondary School, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, Raffles Institution, Whitley Secondary School, Raffles Junior College and ITE Bishan, Central Campus.It is also the site of the Ministry of Education Language Centre (MOELC), a place for officially learning foreign languages and getting credit for them in Singaporean education system.
Shopping Centres
Bishan currently has 3 shopping centres, namely: The Junction 8 Shopping Mall, which is run by CapitalLand, is situated at Bishan Central above the MRT train station and beside the bus interchange. The Bishan North Shopping Mall is an old non-airconditioned wet market style mall, a place where residents can get most of their fresh produce from. The other mall is Thomson Plaza on Upper Thomson Road.Bishan New Town
Full article: Bishan New Town
Urban Legends
Bishan has also quite a bunch of urban legends and ghost stories mainly because it used to be a large cemetery. Bishan MRT also has people reportedly seeing ghostly figures after the last train.Reference
- Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 9812102051
External links
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