1, How many islands are there in Singapore?
Singapore is a city-state, but it is also an island state, and this city-state has not only one island, but 63 small islands in addition to the main island.
The most famous of these is Sentosa, which means peace and tranquility in Malay.
It is an island located 500 meters off the southern coast of the main island of Singapore and covers an area of about 5 square kilometers.
Earlier, Sentosa Island was once a pirate's lair, so it was known locally as the Island of the Dead. Later, it became a British military fortress.
Today, the military fortress is gone, and the island has become a famous holiday destination.
2. The best English-speaking country in Asia.
Singapore has the highest level of English among Asian countries, in addition to its long history as a British colony, Singapore has adopted English as its official language after independence in order to better integrate into the global economy. As a result, Singaporeans are mostly proficient in English.
In 2022, an analysis of the English Proficiency Index (EPI) by the Swedish Education Corporation concluded that Singaporeans fall into the "very high proficiency" category, the only country in the Asian region to achieve this level.
Among all non-native English speaking countries, Singapore ranks second in the world after the Netherlands.
Among the major Asian countries, Japan has the lowest level of English, ranking 80th out of 111 analysed.
South Korea is strong, ranking 36th, up one place from the previous year.
The most surprising thing for the author is India, you must know that India has English as one of the country's official languages, logically speaking, English proficiency should be at the top, but I did not expect Indians to rank 52nd.
3. You can't eat chewing gum casually in Singapore.
Singapore once issued a law prohibiting chewing gum in the 90s of the last century, and violators are likely to be fined 500~1000 US dollars. Those who fail to change will be fined $2,000.
So why is Singapore so resistant to chewing gum?
The reason is that as early as the seventies and eighties of the last century, chewing gum has become a stubborn disease affecting the cleanliness of Singapore's cities, and the Singapore government has to pay 125,000 US dollars every year to clean the chewing gum stuck everywhere.
So, as early as the 80s of the last century, someone suggested to Lee Kuan Yew to enact legislation to prohibit chewing gum.
Then, in the 90s, there were regulations prohibiting chewing gum. At the same time, Lee Kuan Yew suggested that those who like to eat chewing gum are better to eat bananas instead.
Now the requirements are not so strict, if you want to eat chewing gum, you can buy it at the pharmacy.
4, Singapore once banned the construction of skyscrapers over 280 meters?
Logically speaking, as a city-state of more than 700 square kilometers, Singapore has a limited land area, and it should build more high-rise buildings to improve land utilization.
However, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Defense Science and Technology Authority impose strict restrictions on high-rise buildings in Singapore from commercial and military aspects, respectively. It is stipulated that the height of the highest building cannot exceed 280 meters.
However, this requirement has been broken in 2016.
Guoco Tower, completed in 2016, topped out at 283.7 meters, exceeding the previous height limit by 3.7 meters.
Then, the top three floors of the villa totaling 1961 square meters have been owned by James Dyson, the owner of the company. Dyson bought it for S$73.8 million. That is to say, the commanding heights of the city of Singapore belong only to James. Dyson alone.
5. How small is Singapore?
As a city-state, Singapore has a land area of only 728 square kilometers, the main island is 42 kilometers long, 23 kilometers wide, and the total coastline is only 193 kilometers.
If you cycle along Singapore's coastline at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, it will only take you more than 8 hours to get back to your starting point.
If you can reach the average Tour de France racer, you can ride around the main island of Singapore in just over three hours.
6, How rich is Singapore?
Don't look at Singapore, Singapore's wealth is definitely among the best in Asia.
Although Singapore does not have many resources, Singapore has taken advantage of its good location to provide supporting services for cargo ships.
That's awesome!
After decades of development, Singapore has become one of the world's top three refining centers, one of the three major ship repair centers, and is sprinting to the status of the world's top three financial center cities.
It is also the number one port in Southeast Asia, with a container throughput of 37.29 million containers in 2022.
The country's per capita GDP in 2022 is as high as 67,000 US dollars, and if calculated by purchasing power, it is as high as 108,000 US dollars, which belongs to the top developed countries.
However, because Singapore's population is too small, the domestic consumer market is not large.
The American film, "Avatar 1" once hit the highest box office ever recorded in Singapore before 2014, and the total grossing was only S$10.65 million, which is almost equivalent to $8 million.
Therefore, Singapore has positioned itself as a participant in global trade, not a leader, who can only adapt to change, but does not have the ability to change.
7. Why is Singapore called the Lion City?
In ancient Palembang, there was a prince named Sannyra Utama who once saw a beast near the island of Singapore, and he thought it was a lion, so he named the island "Singapura", which translates to "Lion City" in Sanskrit.
Of course, this place in Singapore is definitely free of lions, the local climate is hot, but it is very humid, and the jungle here is dense in ancient times, which is not suitable for the survival of lions.
The closest place to Singapore where lions live is thousands of kilometers away in India, so the prince is most likely not a lion.
This allusion has survived, even schoolchildren in Singapore know it, and it has become a synonym for Singapore.
8. Singapore is not only an official language.
In addition to English being the official language of Singapore, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia and Tamil are also the official languages of Singapore.
This is because Singapore is a country of immigrants and was almost uninhabited in the 17th century. By the time the British opened it as a port in 1824, the population was only tens of thousands.
With the development of trade and the needs of British colonization, people gradually migrated from other areas to this area, thus forming a prosperous port city.
The demographic composition of Singapore at that time was as follows:
The British were the least, but the British were the local top and were the rulers of Singapore.
There are the most Chinese, because as early as the moment Singapore became a port, it attracted a large number of Chinese merchants to trade here. With the Opium War opening the door of the Great Qing Kingdom, countless ordinary people in the southeast coastal areas went to Nanyang to seek a living, and many people came to the increasingly prosperous Port of Singapore.
Together with the Malays and Indians, a culturally diverse region was formed.
With the independence of Singapore, the British withdrew to the mainland, and a predominantly Chinese country was formed.
Then the Malays and Indians were also very numerous, and they also had a strong influence in Singapore.
As a result, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil became official languages. However, English and Mandarin are spoken most often in Singapore, and many young Indians and Malaysians no longer speak much Tamil and Malay.
9. Singaporeans are the fastest walking people in the world!
It stands to reason that a small country of only a few hundred square kilometers will not take long to get to any place, and people's pace of life should be relatively slow.
Singapore is an exception.
In 2007, the British Council ranked Singaporeans as the fastest people in the world to walk.
People from this association found on the streets of Singapore that Singaporeans can walk 18 meters of sidewalks in 10.55 seconds.
As a barren country, Singapore must operate everything with great efficiency, otherwise Singapore's status will be easily replaced by the surrounding ports.
It is precisely because other ports, including the Port of Malaysia, are far lower than Singapore in terms of operational efficiency, and are basically lying flat, which gives Singapore the opportunity to rise strongly.
10. It was once forbidden for men to grow long hair.
This happened in the 70s of the last century.
The thing is, in the fifties and sixties of the last century, the so-called hippie culture arose in European and American countries.
This culture is prevalent among young people, whose core idea is to live a maverick lifestyle away from mainstream society. In a word, it is contrary to the mainstream values of society, and the main focus of hippie culture is decadence.
After the popularity of this rebellious ideology in Europe and the United States, it gradually spread to Asia.
In the sixties and seventies, on the eve of Singapore's economic take-off, the Singapore government realized that hippie culture was very detrimental to Singapore's development and tried to resist it.
Since followers of hippie culture tend to have long hair, in order to limit the popularity of hippie culture in Singapore, special legislation has been enacted to prohibit men from growing long hair.
11. The only city-state in Asia.
Yes, Singapore is only the only city-state in Asia, as there are two more city-states in the world, both of which belong to Europe.
One is the Vatican, the smallest country in the world, with a land area of only 0.44 square kilometers, which is part of the broad Roman metropolitan area.
The other is Monaco, a European country, with a land area of 2.08 square kilometers and a population of 37,000.
As a country of more than 700 square kilometers, Singapore is already a behemoth compared to Monaco and the Vatican.
12. Defense policy studies Israel.
Singapore is too small compared to the surrounding countries, and it has a sense of crisis at the beginning of its founding. When formulating its defense policy, Singapore sent people to Israel to study, copying Israel almost entirely in many military fields.
For example, the country has an all-militia system, and since 15 March 1967, all male citizens and permanent residents of Singapore have been required to serve at least two years of military service, enter the reserve after discharge, and return to the army for training every year until the age of 40.
Singapore's all-in-one approach can ensure that in the event of an attack by a neighboring power, at least 500,000 relatively well-trained troops will be concentrated in a short period of time.
13. Do not expect to win the opponent, try to drag out until reinforcements arrive.
Because its land area is much smaller than Israel, Singapore does not even dare to imagine defeating its opponents on its own, like Israel.
According to Singapore's defense policy, after full mobilization, the purpose is to try to avoid being occupied by enemy forces in a short period of time, which can drag on day by day, and then wait for powerful countries outside the region to send troops to assist Singapore.
This is why Singapore adopts a policy of flexible diplomacy and does not offend any power with great influence in Southeast Asia. Ensure that when Singapore faces a national security crisis, other powers will not take the opportunity to weaken Singapore, if not help.
14, Singapore Changi Airport is one of the best airports in the world.
Changi Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, welcoming tens of millions of passengers every year. It is also one of the best airports in the world, with Changi Airport named the World's Best Airport for the 12th time in the 2023 Skytrax World Airport Awards rankings.
15, the highest peak in Singapore.
The highest peak in Singapore is Bukit Timah Mountain, located in the middle of the main island of Singapore at an altitude of 164 metres.
16, the first McDonald's in Singapore.
As we all know, McDonald's often causes a sensation when it first opens in a certain place, so what was the situation when the first McDonald's opened in Singapore?
The first McDonald's opened on Orchard Road on 10 October 1979, when most Singaporeans had never even heard of McDonald's.
For Singaporeans, who are used to eating at roadside stalls or hawker centres, the streamlined cooking pattern and the way of queuing up to receive food are novel.
So, McDonald's opening day caused a stir among the locals. In this restaurant, which can only accommodate about 100 people, 200~300 people gather. Outside the door, the line lined up from the restaurant to what is now Wheelock Square, and set a world record for serving the most burgers in a day.
It's also exciting news for McDonald's restaurant staff.
At first, the staff was paid $1 an hour, but seeing how successful the restaurant was running, the boss raised the salary to $1.50 an hour.
As of 2021, McDonald's has 132 stores and more than 10,000 employees in Singapore.
17, Singapore was kicked out by Malaysia.
In 1963, Singapore joined Malaysia from British rule.
But the political ideas of Singapore's leader, Lee Kuan Yew, have been resisted in Malaysia.
Lee Kuan Yew insisted on promoting equality among all ethnic groups in Malaysia, but the Malaysian authorities felt that it was necessary to insist on the priority of the Malays and suppress the local Chinese.
However, at that time, the proportion of Chinese in Malaysia was only 10% less than that of Malays, and the proportion of Chinese in Singapore was 60% more than that of Malays.
Although Singapore's population is much lower than Malaysia's, if the two places are merged, the ratio of Chinese and Malays will be similar.
Coupled with Lee Kuan Yew's promotion of ethnic equality, he will certainly be able to gain strong support from other ethnic groups, including Indians, and some Malays.
Then, Lee Kuan Yew will surely become the leader of Malaysia.
The Chinese, led by Lee Kuan Yew, would also have an advantageous position in Malaysia through equal competition, thus crushing the Malaysian authorities' Malay-first policy.
So Malaysia kicked Singapore out.
18, the lowest temperature recorded in Singapore.
The average temperature in Singapore is usually between 25~35 degrees, and the lowest recorded temperature in history was 19.4°C in 1934.
For many northerners, the temperature of 19.4°C is very comfortable. But don't forget that the humidity in this place in Singapore is about 80% all year round, and this humidity is easy to quickly lose human temperature, resulting in extremely low body temperature, which makes many people unbearable.
19. Why is Singapore's flag designed this way?
The flag of Singapore is red and white on the bottom, and the red pattern includes a white moon and 5 stars.
It was designed to be this way because it took into account the ideas of different ethnic groups in Singapore.
20, and the area difference of the world's largest country.
Singapore's land area is 728 square kilometers, and the area of Russia, the world's largest country, is 17 million square kilometers, and the difference between the two countries is about 25,000 times.
21, Singapore has more tree species than the entire continental United States.
With an area of only 1.63 square kilometres, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is home to an extremely rich flora and fauna, with over 840 species of flowering plants and nearly 100 species of ferns.
A 2005 report in The Straits Times reported that 347 species of trees were planted in the two-hectare plant research institute in this small reserve. Today, years later, the number of tree species has risen to 567.
If you add the whole of Singapore, the number of tree species would reach 1,052.
In 1979, the USDA released a list of 748 native and exotic species of trees in the continental United States, including Alaska.
As a result, Singapore has more trees than the continental United States.
22, When did the image of the lion's head and the body of the fish come about?
Today, the symbol of Singapore is not a lion, but a half-lion, half-fish creature called a Merlion.
The concept of this Merlion, which combines Singapore's legend of lions, reflects the indissoluble bond between being a port city and fish.
What many people don't know is that although the Merlion is the symbol of Singapore, it was designed by British ichthyologist Alex Fraser-Brunner for the Singapore Tourism Board in 1964.
23. Flogging was not invented in Singapore.
This penalty was introduced from the British after Singapore became a British colony and then retained.
24, Singapore's area is constantly growing.
Through land reclamation, Singapore's land area has increased by 23% since 1965. According to the country's plan, it will increase by another 7%~8% by 2030.
However, relatively speaking, reclaimed land construction will produce a lot of settlement, which can persist for years on low-permeability soils, which is also common in Singapore.
But for Singapore, if it is not reclaimed and there is not enough land, it can only be used.
25, one of the world's largest importers of sand.
Places like Singapore are so poor that even sand is scarce. Therefore, when reclaiming land, only sand can be imported from neighboring countries.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, Singapore has become the world's largest sand importer since 2014, importing more than 10 million tons of sand every year.
26. Neighboring countries are reluctant to export sand to Singapore.
In 2007, Indonesia banned sand exports to Singapore. At that time, more than 90% of Singapore's sand was imported from Indonesia, which brought Singapore's construction industry and land reclamation projects to a standstill.
In 2009, Vietnam also enacted a ban on exporting sand to Singapore.
In the same year, Cambodia also issued a ban on exporting only sea sand, not river sand.
So now the Singapore government has refused to say where the sand they import comes from.
27, how to reclaim land without sand?
Singapore's ability to import sand from overseas is getting weaker, so it has had to find another way. Since 2016, the country has decided to use polders to reclaim land.
This method is the method of land reclamation in the famous lowland country of the Netherlands, and the technology is still relatively mature.
28. Australia has an overseas territory that was once administered by Singapore.
This place is Christmas Island, located in the northeastern region of the Indian Ocean.
The island has an area of 135 square kilometers, more than 5,000 kilometers from Canberra, the capital of Australia, and more than 1,300 kilometers from Singapore.
More than 2,000 people now live on the island, mostly Chinese, and the official language is English.
When Singapore was the capital of the British Straits Settlements, the island was also part of the Straits Settlements, so it came under Singapore's administration.
In 1958, the British saw that Singapore wanted independence, so they transferred the place to Australia and became an overseas territory of Australia.
29, more than 40% of foreign employees.
In Singapore, not only the construction industry is filled with a large number of foreign labor, but the proportion of foreign labor in the whole society has exceeded 40%.
For example, local energy trading company Sing Fuels has 57% of its Singaporean employees and 43% of its foreign employees.
This does not include newcomers who have Singapore nationality but are born overseas. If this is added, Singapore's locally born labour force is estimated to account for half of the total labour force.
30, ornamental fish export country.
Despite its lack of agricultural conditions, Singapore is one of the world's largest exporters of ornamental fish.
According to a 2021 figure, the world ornamental fish trade totaled $392 million. The largest exporter is Japan. Total exports amounted to $44.9 million; In second place is Singapore, with total exports of US$41.7 million.
The largest importer of ornamental fish was the United States, with $74.8 million imported; In second place was Germany, with imports of $31.1 million.
What else do you know about Singapore, welcome to share here.