Until recently, Bishan was an MRT station like any other. But recently, with the opening of the first segment of the Circle Line, it became an interchange and it’s now possible to connect to Serangoon station on the North-East line. So where does the name Bishan come from? It stems from the Cantonese burial ground that was established in the area by Cantonese immigrants in 1870, named Peck San Theng in Cantonese, written as 碧山亭 (bìshántīng) meaning “pavilions on the green”. So the name Bishan (碧山/Bìshān) is the Mandarin transcription of the Cantonese name of a burial ground. Makes you look with at the area with different eyes, doesn’t it?
There is a village in China that is also called Bishan (碧山), situated just outside of the metropolis of Chongqing in central China.
By the way, we work together with a language school in Bishan, Singapore. See here for a listing of the Chinese courses that you can take at this school.
