大世界、新世界、繁华世界-eResources-NationalLibraryBoard.PDFVIP

ARTICLE The Three Worlds (大世界、新世界、繁华世界): Great, New and Happy by Kong Kam Yoke, written on 26 June 2012 National Library Board, Singapore When life was a lot simpler—when there fewer vehicles on the road, no television and sporadic city lights—amusement parks provided families of all races and social milieu with hours of entertainment. In some way, the modern shopping malls of today have their roots in these amusement parks. Find out more about the love affair locals had with amusement parks through these wondrous “worlds”. The New World Amusement Park (新世界) was the very first of the three famous amusement parks (or the three ―worlds‖, as they was more commonly known) to be built. Set up in 1923 by two Straits Chinese brothers, Ong Boon Tat (王文达) and Ong Peng Hock (王平福), it was built at Jalan Besar and became a prominent landmark at that time. The park was eventually bought over by the Shaw Brothers who jazz ed the place up and introduced some Shanghai-style attractions. Soon business was booming. Competing for a slice of the action was the Great World Amusement Park (大世界) located along Kim Seng Road. It was developed by Lee Choon Yung (李春荣) in 1931 but it, too, was sold to the Shaw Brothers in 1940. The third amusement park was Happy World ( 快乐世界). It was located between Mountbatten and Geylang Road and set up by George Lee Geok Eng (李玉荣) in 1936. Its name was changed to the Gay World (繁华世界) in 1964 when Eng Wah took over its ownership. These parks boasted of entertainment facilities such as retail shops, cinemas and restaurants, all of which were later moved indoors into multi-storeyed complexes that eventually became the ubiquitous shopping malls of today. Despite their similarities, each park had its own niche. In the days before the war, Happy World was frequented by families wi