This Chinese New Year (CNY) 2026, it’s a quiet, slow and low key celebrations for me due to the passing of my 姑姑 (paternal auntie, my Dad’s youngest sister) about a week before CNY 2026, missing her big smile, warmest and caring personality. Besides that, balancing a caregiver role for my Mum over the past few months took a mental and emotional toll on me.

Instead, I took this CNY 2026 period to take more time to rest while I am still finding a balance point in caregiving, running my photography business and other different areas of writing/work. Meanwhile, I am getting myself back in action, stepping up the gears and kickstarting the journey ahead in the Year of the Horse.

In most of my previous CNY greetings, I would usually publish it on CNY Day 1 of Day 2, for this year, I posted in on CNY Day 9, a special day for the Hokkien community, 天宫诞, 敬天公，求平安，愿顺顺利利一整年!

Once again, I would still like to wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year! As the Horse runs free and strong, may you charge ahead with courage and unstoppable momentum this year! 祝大家新年快乐，万事如意，身体健康，心想事成！马年大吉，万事如意，愿你新的一年马到成功！

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祝你新年快乐，万事如意，生体健康，财源滚滚，步步高升！

Wishing everyone great health, happiness, luck and prosperity in the Year of the Tiger! 

Thank you all for your support over the years, in my photography (commercial and personal), visual story telling, history, heritage, culture and preservation, travel photography and travel writing.

This global pandemic has caused a lot of disruptions, impacts and changes to our work, daily living, emotional and mental health. Lunar New Year 2022 doesn’t feel the same, it’s quiet and subdued due to the safety measures/restrictions in place. Let’s take this time to cherish our family and loved ones, as well as with our relatives and friends. 

May the Year of the  Tiger be the year whereby we can truly and surely lift ourselves up from this global pandemic situation and embark on a route to economic recovery and a more normal way of living. 

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It was with great honour that I was invited by National Heritage Board (NHB) to follow along with them in their Heritage in Episodes projects. My exploration, documentation and photographing of Old Places in Singapore led me to discover, learn and share more about heritage, history, conservation and preservation topics in Singapore. The art and culture of traditional trades and businesses soon became part of my interest with the knife sharpening profession that I went along to photograph and documented, a part of a dying professional trade in Singapore.

Along with the staff from National Heritage Board, reporters from Straits Times and Lianhe ZaoBao. We visited People’s Park Complex, tucked away at a corner on the second floor, there was a unit where we learnt the art, history and profession of knife sharpening. We were greeted by Mdm Lee, who was very kind, humble and friendly, whom was more than happy to share with us her stories, how she got started in knife sharpening, her experiences and memories over her knife sharpening business. Mdm Lee’s knife sharpening caters to hairstylists, seamstress, hawkers and homemakers, with her business trade spanning over 40 years. Mdm Lee was very well liked by her customers whom many were loyal return customers. When customers went to her shop and picked up their goods, they shared their wonderful and thoughts about Mdm Lee’s knife sharpening business. The testimonials by her customers are a testament of her professionalism and enthusiasm in her knife sharpening profession.

The dilemma and challenges facing Mdm Lee today is succession and passing on of the knife sharpening trade/skills/business. The art and profession of knife sharpening may not be able to carried on into the future generations of Singapore. With the coverage and publicity by National Heritage Board, local press stories and history enthusiasts like myself, we hoped that Mdm Lee would be able to Pass-It-On her art and skill of knife sharpening. Do check out both our local newspapers Straits Times and Lianhe ZaoBao wrote excellent in-depth detailed reports of Mdm Lee and her knife sharpening business.

There were a few things that I was able to struck a chord deeply with Mdm Lee’s knife sharpening, that is the art and skill of knife sharpening. I would not be able to know the operations and business management of a knife sharpening trade/business, however, I knew how Mdm Lee felt when she was sharpening the knifes on the grinder and honing stone. This was because I was once a Boy Scout and Venture Scout, I had to learn the skills of sharpening my small swiss army knifes, dagger, parang (machette) and axe. Mdm Lee’s grinder was machine/motor operated while the grinder that I learned was manual turning with one hand while the other hand held my knife/parang/axe. When I saw how Mdm Lee sharpening the knifes on the sharpening/honing stone slab, splashing water on the stone slab and knife while sharpening, these actions brought me back many memories to my Scouting days, it’s exactly the same skill and actions!

I had a great chat with Mdm Lee, sharing with her how I used/sharpened my knife, parang and axe (Those were the rugged outdoor adventure days) during my Scouting days. It was fated that I was able to meet a professional knife sharpener and able to share together why we sharpen our knifes for our various purposes, for Mdm Lee, a professional service provision, for me, my Scouting outdoor adventure! If you ever need a skillful professional to sharpen your knifes, scissors etc etc, you can find Mdm Lee at People’s Park Food Complex, #02-1040! Let’s help to spread the awareness of a knife sharpening art and profession in Singapore and we might find this traditional knife sharpening trade and business can be Pass-It-On!

I would like to say a Big Thank You to National Heritage Board and Madam Lee for giving me this opportunity to photograph, document and share the story of knife sharpening.

This blog entry is written in support of the “Heritage in Episodes” project under the Heritage Institutions Division of NHB which seeks to document traditional trades and businesses, and to promote public awareness of these trades and businesses through NHB’s social media platforms. The knife sharpener will be featured in an upcoming episode of the “Heritage in Episodes” project and video clips of traditional trades such as rattan weaving and Chinese lantern painting have been uploaded on NHB’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/yesterdaysg.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

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