新加坡河总长约3.2公里,源起于新加坡岛的中部,向南流入新加坡海峽。自从1819年来自英国的莱佛士爵士在新加坡河口登陆之后,便开始拓荒,把新加坡发展为自由贸易港口,这河的两岸就开始迅速地蓬勃发展成为商贸中心。咱们来自中国的先辈商家们在两边的河岸上建起一排又一排的店屋与货仓,利用木制的驳船转载停泊在附近海域的货轮所卸下之货物,运送到河岸两旁的货舱与商店,就地买卖,除了本岛的客户还有来自东南亚各地的商贾。
溧花这幅精致典雅的油画作品描绘的是上个世纪五六十年代新加坡河的历史景观,景中那陈旧的店屋和许许多多的大小木船,早已不复存在,因此可以说这是一件不可多得,富有历史价值的艺术文物 !

The Singapore River is one of the major rivers on the island with a total length of 3.2 km, originating from the middle of the Island, flowing down south into the Strait of Singapore. Ever since Sir Stanford Raffles from England landed on the river bank not very far away from the sea in 1819, Singapore was developed as a free trading port, it became a busy commercial centre rapidly. Our great ancestors from China built rows and rows of shop houses and warehouses on both sides of the riverbank, wooden barges were used to transfer goods unloaded from international freighters moored at the sea nearby to the warehouses and shops on both sides of the riverbank. In a short period of time the commercial hub at Singapore River became a centralized market place for traders from numerous places in the South East Asian region.
This exquisite oil painting by Lay Hua that captured the historical scene of Singapore River between 1950s and 1960s has became a rare and historically valuable piece of artistic relic, as most of the old shop houses and those wooden boats in the scene were no longer around after the river gone through the major cleaned up operation in 1980s.

