Bishan

Names
English:	Bishan
Chinese:	碧山
(Pinyin:	bìshān)
Malay:	Bishan
Tamil:	பீஷான்

Bishan is a small neighbourhood of the city-state of Singapore situated in the Central-North, 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.

Origin of the name

Bishan is located at what was formerly known as Kampong San Theng, also known as Peck San Theng (碧山亭), which means Green Hill Pavilion. It used to be a burial ground established in 1870 by immigrants who largely came from the three prefectures of Kwong Fu, Wai Chow Fu and Siew Heng Fu in Guangdong Province, China. The full name of this burial ground is called Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng (广惠肇碧山亭). This is because the burial ground was intended to cater solely to the Cantonese community in the early days.

In 1979, the Singapore government decided to acquire all its land to create a new town. All the existing graves were exhumed and the remains cremated during the 1980s. The new town was named Bishan, which is the same as Peck San except the former is in Hanyu Pinyin and the latter is in Cantonese.