Old Chinese temples are scattered throughout Chinatown, often in totally redeveloped areas like this one. These temples date back to Singapore's colonial times. For those of you that may be curious, here are a few details about Singapore: Area: 636 sqkm; Population: 2.9 million; Languages: Chinese(Mandarin), English, Malay, Tamil. English is the principal language of education and is widely spoken. Economy: Singapore was one of the first four of Asia's 'dragons', the Asian economic boom countries. Singapore's economy is based on trade, shipping, banking, and tourism. It has also a major oil-refining capacity. The population composition is as follows: Chinese: 77.7% Malays: 14.1% Indian:7.1% Others:1.1% Malays are native to the region. Malays in Singapore are Muslims. Islam was brought to the region by Arab traders in the 15th century. Chinese traders first came to the region in the 14th century but most Chinese immigrated en mass in the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. They came mostly from Southern China. The British became interested in the Straits of Malacca in the 18th century when the British East India Company set out to establish a post to secure and protect its trade from China to the colonies in India. In January 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles landed on Singapore and founded a settement. In 1826 Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements with Penang and Malacca. In April 1864 the Straits Settlements became a British Crown Colony. Singapore became an independent republic in 1965. The Indian immigration dates from the mid 19th century when the British recruited labour for the plantations of Malaya. About 60% of Indians are Tamil. The majority of Indians are Hindu, but a large number are Muslim, with others being Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists. Decendants of the British and other Europeans are mostly Christians. This picture was taken in January 1996 and later scanned. Thank you for viewing and commenting on my uploads and a special 'Thank you' to those that may have added some of them to their favorites, Sig....