ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the first Chinese municipal cemetery in Singapore that has, over the last decade, been progressively encroached upon through modern, state projects such as private house development and road construction. The more traditional Chinese practice to house and remember the dead, involving them with the living and the more “modern”, Western practice of keeping the dead in their place, away from the living. Hence, it helps to understand the space in the postcolonial context of Singapore. The chapter explains the contributions from established scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds like Archaeology, geography, history and law, as well as activists. It presents itself as having the agenda of conservation of Singaporean cemeteries through showcases cemeteries as spaces of historical, architectural and social merit through the writings and photo-journals of the authors. The chapter also presents the cemetery in mainly cultural and national terms, as sustaining social relations among the living.
