Merlion.html



The Merlion is one of the most well-known tourist icons of Singapore.

The Merlion on Sentosa.

The Merlion on Mount Faber.

The Merlion (simplified Chinese: 鱼尾狮; pinyin: Yúwěishī; Tamil: கடல்சிங்கம்) is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of the words "mermaid" and "lion". The fish body recalls of Singapore's ancient name when in was once a fishing village — Temasek — meaning "sea town" in Javanese, while the lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" in Sanskrit and Malay.

It was designed by Mr Fraser Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (now known as the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997.¹ The Merlion continues to be its trademark symbol since 20 July 1966. Although STB has changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol.² Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion appears frequently in STB-approved souvenirs.

Merlion statues

Only all five of the Merlions in Singapore are STB-recognised¹:

• The original statue at Merlion Park
• The two-metre tall cub statue standing behind the original statue
• The 37-metre tall gigantic replica — with Mouth Gallery Viewing Deck on the ninth storey, another viewing gallery on its head and The Merlion Shop — at Sentosa Island
• The three-metre tall glazed polymarble statue at Tourism Court (near Grange Road) completed in 1995
• The three-metre tall polymarble statue placed on Mount Faber's Faber Point in 1998

Original statue

On 15 September 1972, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew officiated the installation ceremony of the Merlion statue.¹ The original Merlion statue used to stand at the mouth of the Singapore River, at the tip of the current The Fullerton Waterboat House Garden with Anderson Bridge as its background.

It was conceptualised by the vice-chancellor of the University of Singapore (now known as National University of Singapore) then, Kwan Sai Kheong. Made from November 1971 to August 1972 by the late Singapore craftsman, Mr000 Lim Nang Seng³, it measures 8.6 metres high and weighs 40 tonnes.¹⁴ Its body is made of cement, skin from porcelain plates and eyes from small red teacups. The project costed about S$165,000.¹

The statue spouts water out of its mouth into the river in a smooth arc until its water pump malfunction in 1998.

Relocation of original statue

In 2002, the statue and its cub were relocated 120 metres to the current Merlion Park that fronts Marina Bay. It stands on the newly-reclaimed promontory in front of The Fullerton Hotel. The completion of the Esplanade Bridge in 1997 blocked the views of the Merlion from the Marina Bay waterfront.¹

Another solution considered to raise it on a pedestal at the same location was deemed unsuitable as its view will still be blocked by the bridge. Moreover, that location is no longer the entrance of Singapore River.¹ Other possible relocation sites were Nicoll Highway Extension Bridge, Esplanade Park, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a promontory at Marina Centre (near where Singapore Flyer is located now), a promontory site at Bayfront (near the tip of Marina Bay Sands integrated resort) and Kim Seng Park. However, they were either unsuitable or not feasible technically.¹

The relocation on 23 April 2002 was completed the unprecedented feat on April 25. This carefully-engineered journey involved one barge, two DEMAG AC1600S cranes of 500 tonne lifting capacity and a team of 20 engineers and workers on site. The entire statute was hoisted onto the barge and sailed to the installation site at the current Merlion Park, near the mouth of Singapore River. Along the voyage, the statue had to be hoisted over the Esplanade Bridge from and back onto the barge as it was too tall to pass underneath it. The mission and four-time-larger new site costed S$7.5 million.⁴ Exactly 30 years after it was officially launched, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew returned on 15 September 2002 to launch the Merlion again — this time at the new site.

With a viewing deck that stretches over the water, allowing visitors to pose for a photograph with a front or side view of the Merlion, and a new city skyline backdrop, the sculpture was aligned to face the east — the most auspicious feng shui position advised.⁴ The statue started to spout water out of its mouth again after stopping since 1998 due to a water pump malfunction. The relocated Merlion has a new two-unit water pump system. The units work alternately, while its partner is always on standby.

Maintenance of original statue

From 5 June till 10 July 2006, the Merlion at Merlion Park underwent maintenance. The last one was right after its relocation. Pressure washer were used to remove dirts and stains, and deteriorations on the statue were mended.⁵

During that period, visitors were greeted with illustrated hoardings and canvases covering the safety nets and scaffolding. The illustrations were designed by Miel, an award-winning senior artist at The Straits Times. The illustration on the canvases made them look like shower curtains, with the Merlion sticking its head out with the shadow of its tail behind the curtain. The illustration on the hoardings shows the Merlion scrubbing himself with a brush and showering using a Merlion shower head that is spouting water on it. The Merlion says "EXCUSE ME WHILE I TAKE A SHOWER…" in a speech bubble.

Other Merlion statues

Due to the influence of overseas Singaporeans, Singapore investors and friends of the country, variations of the Merlion statue can be found in Japan and China.⁴

Merlion souvenirs

A wide variety of Merlion souvenirs are sold at tourist areas in Singapore. Some form of Merlion souvenirs include:

• Display model, with smaller ones doubling up as paperweights
• Soft toys
• Mini soft toy keychains or mobile phone charms
• Refrigerator magnets
• Picture frames

The Merlion in art and popular culture

Edwin Thumboo's poem on display beside the Merlion statue.

• Edwin Thumboo cemented the iconic status of the Merlion as a personification of Singapore with his poem Ulysses by the Merlion in 1979. Due to Thumboo's status as Singapore's unofficial poet laureate and the nationalistic mythmaking qualities of his poetry, future generations of Singaporean poets have struggled with the symbol of the Merlion, frequently taking an ironic, critical, or even hostile stand - and pointing out its artificiality and the refusal of ordinary Singaporeans to accept a tourist attraction as their national icon. The poem "attracted considerable attention among subsequent poets, who have all felt obliged to write their own Merlion (or anti-Merlion) poems, illustrating their anxiety of influence, as well as the continuing local fascination with the dialectic between a public and a private role for poets, which Thumboo (as Yeats before him, in the Irish context) has wanted to sustain as a fruitful rather than a tense relation between the personal and the public." Among the poems of this nature are "Merlign" by Alvin Pang and "Love Song for a Merlion" by Vernon Chan.

• The Merlion was featured – or, depending on point of view, not featured – during the 2005 Venice Biennale in the controversial work "Mike" by artist Lim Tzay Chuen. He had proposed taking the sculpture in the Merlion Park to the Singapore Pavilion at the exhibition,⁶ but was refused by the authorities.

• The Merlion has appeared in a number of films and television series, becoming a visual cliché representing Singapore.

• It appears in some Singaporean legend as a spiritual entity. It is thought that the origin of this legend was from myths of a witch in the early 1700s. It is thought that this witch, Yi Hui, was bad spirited for those who came in close proximity.

• It appeared in the anime Cowboy Bebop, where its appearance in an ancient home movie offered amnesiac bounty hunter Faye Valentine a clue to her true origins.^{citation needed}

• A merlion can be seen on the Crest of the 8th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps.⁷

• There is a famous restaurant in Gainesville Florida named for the Merlion, which serves vegetarian food from Singapore.

• The Merlion featured heavily in Hajime Satō's (佐藤　肇, Satō Hajime) reimagining of Shinjuku in the 2005 Anime Karas.

• The Merlion can also be seen in the popular video game Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Gamecube as a decoration.

Other similar statues

• The carp statue, in front of Chenghuang Temple (城隍廟; Chénghuáng Miào) in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.⁸

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Merlion

• Official Merlion FAQs on Singapore Tourism Board website
• Merlion Takes a Time-Out for a shower
• Brief guide to reponses to Thumboo's nation-making poetics by later authors
• Merlion park video
• Individual collector of the Merlion
• Reflections on the comparison between Copenhangen's Little Mermaid and the Merlion
• Signification and Icons as Myths in Singapore Biennale 2006

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Coordinates: 1°17′13″N 103°51′17″E / 1.28694, 103.85472