Singapore craftsmen say traditions at risk

As Singapore prepares for Lunar New Year celebrations this weekend, some in the fast-changing city-state's older generation are concerned about who will take over traditions such as making costumes for the lion dance and baking niangao, which are New Year's steamed cakes.

Ham Wing Thong is working with 15 employees in Tai Chong Kok bakery, founded in 1935, to turn out niangao, a sticky rice flour cake.

"Keeping tradition helps us Chinese retain our culture," said Ham, 79, the son of the founder.

"Nowadays, society has changed with the new generation of people, so it is now on our shoulders, the older generation, to retain the tradition and pass it on."

Henry Ng, one of Singapore's few remaining makers of lion dance costumes, said interest in the craft spurred him to carry on the tradition, but his children show little interest.

"I think the market now is based more on technology and they are changing," he said.

Ng added that his children would do better to get jobs making use of their classroom learning.

He started in the trade in the 1990s, after tiring of his office job.

Ng makes all his creations by hand, from the bamboo frame that shapes the lion's head to intricately painted faces, producing about 60 to 70 heads for lion dancers every year.

Each costs about $880, roughly six times more than factory-made ones.

Each takes from five days to a few weeks to make.

With no one for the craftsmen to pass their skills down to, however, their patrons will eventually feel the loss.

"I've eaten at that niangao place for almost my whole life, so it brings back very nice memories," said a customer at the Tai Chong Kok bakery who gave her name only as Jane, a student in Australia who was back home for the holidays.