Hai Lam Sua: The Hainanese community’s cemetery

The Hainanese community used to have a cemetery known as “Hai Lam Sua” or “Kongsi Sua”. Every Hainanese person knew where it was located, and the name would come up repeatedly among the community during Qing Ming Festival. Dating back over 100 years, Kongsi Sua — along with all matters relating to it — was managed by Hainanese organisation and temple Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong.

Families would flock to the cemetery during the Qing Ming Festival each year, leading to traffic congestion. Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong had to request police assistance for three days before and after the festival to manage the traffic. When cars arrived at the junction of the cemetery, workers would follow the visitors to the respective plots to mow the grass, a service for which they were paid a few dollars. The Hainanese usually brought chicken and rice balls as offerings, which they would then eat on site after paying their respects.

Old and new Kongsi Sua

There used to be two Kongsi Sua, and both were located along Upper Thomson Road. The old Kongsi Sua sat right next to MacRitchie Reservoir, near where Lakeview Shopping Centre used to be. Most of the buildings there have since been demolished, leaving only three blocks of Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) flats.

The new cemetery, also known as the new Hai Lam Sua, was at the fifth milestone along Thomson Road, near Sin Ming Road. The entire piece of land used to be filled with graves of varying sizes: those belonging to wealthy families were several times larger than regular tombs, and were often surrounded by flowers and plants.

In the past, most Hainanese kept ancestral tablets in their homes. But with many surname-based community organisations now providing designated spaces to house ancestral tablets, some households have moved theirs to these places, which they would visit during special occasions to pay respects to their ancestors.

During the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945), activities at Kongsi Sua came to a standstill. For three years and eight months, it saw no visitors. Things returned to normal only after the Japanese had surrendered. By 1948, both the new and old cemeteries had fallen into disrepair — roads were severely damaged and graves were overgrown with weeds. Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong began repairing the roads, and Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery was invited to join the project and share its cost.

As many attap houses had sprung up illegally around the cemeteries, Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong duly reported the situation to the authorities. It also hired surveyors to map out boundaries and set land area limits. With the updated measurements, Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong was able to manage the cemetery more effectively.

Remembering Kongsi Sua

Kongsi Sua, also known as Yu Shan Ting or Yushan Pavilion, had been known to exist since 1862. An old stone inscription, which is still kept at Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong and Hainan Hwee Kuan, details the cemetery’s history: “According to this stone inscription erected jointly by Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong and the clan association on 22 December 1972 to record the relocation of Yu Shan Ting, the original Yu Shan Ting was located at the fifth milestone along Thomson Road where the old Hai Lam Sua was. The cemetery was collectively purchased in 1862 by our forebears, including Liang Yaguang, Chen Yachun, Chen Yawen, Huang Yaxin, and Huang Yafeng, as a resting place for those who had passed away on this land. In 1890, an additional 20-odd mu (more than 1.3 hectares) of land adjacent to the cemetery was bought by Zheng Zhibing, Chen Ruzhen, Zhou Jifeng, Lin Shudong, and others as the property of Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong, for the use of offering sacrifices to our ancestors. The cemeteries had to be relocated as the land was to be requisitioned by the government for housing development and road expansion. After several negotiations, an agreement was reached in the fall of 1970 to transfer all 5,828 graves to Choa Chu Kang Cemetery. In accordance with social customs, a commemorative pavilion, named Yu Shan Ting, was built after the move was completed.”

More than 5,000 sets of cremated remains were later relocated to the fourth floor of Block 1, Choa Chu Kang Columbarium. Today, council members of Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong pay their respects at the columbarium every year during the Qing Ming Festival.