Shocking news: there’s a huge tiger on Fort Canning Hill!

Singapore may be a metropolis, but a wild tiger still hides in our concrete jungle…<

Singapore is one of the world’s most internationalized commercial hubs, and wild tigers have long disappeared from the island – or so you think, because we have a ferocious female tiger right in the heart of the city! This tiger often roams about in Fort Canning Park.

All right, all right – we’re only referring to the “tiger” formation described in feng shui. In landscape feng shui, Fort Canning Hill is shaped in a “Tiger on the Mountain” formation. It’s also the location of the head of Singapore’s “Central Dragon”. With both a tiger and a dragon in the premises, Fort Canning Hill is a terrain where the “dragons dance and tigers leap”. The visionary Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles called it Government Hill, and during World War II it became a strategic military ground. Such is the excellence of the feng shuihere.

Be it male or female, the mere presence of a tiger is enough to shake anyone’s nerves. During the early days of Singapore’s growth, the “tiger’s mouth” pointed right at the Singapore River. Perhaps because of this, the area was rife with gang fights, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities. From a feng shui perspective, the old Hill Street Police Station at the foothills of Fort Canning (now MICA Building) made a world of difference in bringing order to this place! Historical records show that the building of army barracks, police stations, or other legal entities can keep a “tiger” in check and even muzzle the tiger’s mouth. Once the Hill Street Police Station was built, the area became much more peaceful.

The old Hill Street Police Station successfully muzzled this ferocious “female tiger”, but the Singapore National Theatre relocated the tiger’s head! Built in 1963, the building’s exterior looks just like the bared fangs of a tiger’s mouth. The National Theatre existed for a mere 23 years (1963-1986), after which it was demolished for land redevelopment purposes. However, till today, this plot of land remains empty…

Where exactly is the tiger’s mouth now? If you have some time, take a walk around Fort Canning and see if you can find it!