Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng


Singapore Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng is a cultural organisation and columbarium based in Bishan, Singapore with beginnings since 1870. Located at Bishan Lane off Bishan Road, Peck San Theng presently operates a columbarium, two temples, and ancestral worship services tailoring towards the requirements as well as traditions, customs and beliefs of a cosmopolitan community. It presently belongs to 16 Cantonese and Hakka clan associations.

History

Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng was originally a cemetery in Singapore that was established in 1870 by Cantonese and Hakka immigrants largely from the three prefectures of Guangzhou, Huizhou and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province, China. The first words of the three prefectures, Guang-Hui-Zhao were the origins of the name, or transliterated as Kwong-Wai-Siew. Within a century, Peck San Theng became one of the biggest Chinese cemeteries in Singapore, holding more than 100,000 graves over of land.
In 1979, the Singapore government decided to acquire all its land to create the present-day Bishan Town. Many graves were exhumed and remains cremated during the 1980s. To enable Peck San Theng to continue with its tradition, the government leased of land to Peck San Theng for accommodating an office block, a Memorial, two temples and a columbarium. The columbarium houses some 100,000 niches which are available to the public irrespective of race, language and religion since 1980. It was and will continue to be a place for ancestral worship in Singapore.

Present Day

Peck San Theng is currently managed by a federation of sixteen clans of the Cantonese and Hakka communities in Singapore. The 16 Cantonese and Hakka clan associations are: