我不曾在牛车水生活过，对牛车水的记忆，主要是中学时期农历除夕夜逛年货市场时的摩肩接踵，以及刚出社会工作那几年到牛车水大厦购物用餐的琐碎片断。之后好长一段时间鲜少踏足牛车水，重访时，已是人事几番新。
I have never lived in Chinatown, so my main memories are of rubbing shoulders with the crowds at the market on Lunar New Year’s Eve. This was during my secondary school days, but there are various other episodes from the first years of my working life, when I would shop and eat at Chinatown Complex. Afterwards, I went for a long time without frequenting Chinatown. When I revisited it, it had completely transformed.

《“江山”如此多娇》 Lovely are the “rivers and mountains”

从芳林苑遥望这一片新旧相融，回教堂、印度庙及佛寺于同一条街上和谐共存的景致；再回想建国初期的一穷二白、风雨飘摇；虽然没有大江大山，我心里还是不禁浮起“江山如此多娇”这词句。正因为今天社会安定、种族和谐、吃饱住好，我才能有闲情逸致登高望远，抚今思古。
From Hong Lim Park, one can observe a panorama of the new and old living in accord – a vista where a mosque, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple coexist peacefully on the same street. Recalling how impoverished and tumultuous the post-independence era was, the idiom ‘lovely are the rivers and mountains’ springs to mind, even though there are no mighty rivers or vast mountains. It is precisely because our society today is stable, with the different races living in harmony, and ample food and housing for all, that I have the leisure to gaze at the landscape below, and contemplate the past and present.

这些年的努力让我们得到很多，却也舍弃了不少。我们的文化与自然遗产原本就单薄，但愿我们在继续全力发展经济的同时，能多关注人文和环境所遭受的冲击；避免因“经济增长”和“社会进步”两者失衡而引发社会问题。
We have gained a great deal from the labours of the past decades, but we have also sacrificed much. We did not have much of a cultural heritage to begin with, nor a very rich ecosystem, but hopefully, as we throw ourselves into developing the economy, we can also pay more attention to the damage suffered by our culture and natural environment, so as to avoid social problems triggered by a failure to balance economic development with social progress.

《此景可待成追忆》 This scene can be a form of memory

三月初某个傍晚经过达士岭看到这副布条时，有感于一个时代即将终结，我带着伤感按下了快门。
In early March, when I passed by Duxton Hill and saw this banner, it felt like the end of an era was approaching. I pressed the camera shutter with some sorrow.

我们心目中的强势领导形象，不知不觉中已变成睿智长者。过去外人诟病的严刑峻法，造就了今天治安良好的新加坡。虽然自己曾两次因乱过马路而被罚款，却从来没有因为受外人嘲笑我们是个“Fine” City而认为被罚得冤枉。另外，那些年的全民运动如：清洁运动、礼貌运动、交通安全运动、守时运动等等，成了我记忆中的国民教育。全民运动与严刑峻法的双管齐下，构筑了我们这代人的集体记忆，也培养了我们的价值观。
The image we hold has gradually changed from being one of an authoritarian leader to that of a wise elder. The severe laws that foreigners used to disparage has resulted in the highly safe Singapore of today. I have been fined twice for jaywalking, but although we are mocked by foreigners for being a “Fine” city, I have never felt this was unfair. What’s more, I have come to think of the national campaigns of past years – the Keep Singapore Clean Campaign, the National Courtesy Campaign, the Road Safety Campaign, the National Punctuality Drive – as a form of citizenship education. The twin prongs of national campaigns and strict laws have shaped the collective memories of my generation, as well as cultivating our values.

岛国有今天的成就，是在领导人和团队及国人的主动奉献，以及不同群体在多方面（方言的舍弃，城市重建下的逼迁等等）的被动牺牲下取得。前辈们的奉献与牺牲给我们留下了丰盈的果实，而我们又将给下一代留下什么呢？
Whatever our island-state has achieved today has been due to the initiative and dedication of leaders, organisations and citizens. These successes were obtained also through the various sacrifices different groups were forced to make (the discarding of Chinese dialects, forced resettlement due to urban redevelopment, etc.). We have reaped richly from the dedication and sacrifices of past generations, but what will we leave the next generation?

《童真》 Childlike innocence

近年到牛车水，我总有一种“故乡疑似他乡”的疏离感。陌生的口音，让我觉得也许需要另一代人的时间来加强和巩固国家和国民认同。另一方面，虽然明白商业化是市场经济不可避免的自然趋势，偶尔却又有自己是过路游客的错觉。
When entering Chinatown in recent years, I always feel a kind of alienation, as if my hometown has become a unfamiliar land. The foreign accents make me feel that perhaps it will take another generation before we can strengthen and consolidate our sense of national identity. Then again, although I understand that commercialisation is inevitable and natural for a market economy, occasionally I feel as disoriented as a tourist.

牛车水，它能传承给下一代的文化遗产是什么呢？这群国家未来的主人翁长大后，回想起小时候的牛车水之旅时，除了遥远的先辈故事、琳琅满目的旅游纪念品、华族节庆的璀璨灯饰之外，还将有些什么回忆？
Chinatown – what cultural legacy can it bequeath to the younger generation? When the future leaders of this nation are adults recollecting their childhood trips to Chinatown, what other memories will they have of it, beyond their elders’ vague stories, lavish displays of souvenirs, and the dazzling lights of various Chinese festivals?

《薪火相传》 Passing the torch

草根书室内的这小小空间，同时进行着多项活动：卖书、莫弼理的“八十年代牛车水”摄影展，以及由陈志锐主讲的“让文学穿过影像找到微笑”座谈会。在中文相对式微的岛国，这样的场景让我感受到有心人士的自强不息。
Many activities happen at once in the tiny space of Grassroots Bookshop: bookselling, an exhibition of Billy Mork’s photographs of 1980s Chinatown, as well as the forum, ‘Let literature find a smile through images,’ presented by Dr. Tan Chee Lay. In a nation where Mandarin is diminishing in importance, such events remind me of the unstinting dedication of those who care about the language.

独立书店业者为了心目中的理想，是挣扎求存，也是自立更生。草根的进驻，为今日的牛车水增添了商业化以外的另一道风景。
For the sake of their ideals, independent booksellers struggle to survive, yet are also self-reliant. In the commercialised Chinatown of today, the founding of Grassroots is a breath of fresh air.

我是为摄影展和座谈会而来的。已多年没逛书局的我，疏于阅读不知有多少岁月了？这满室的书香，勾起了我中学时代星期六上完半天课外活动后就往书局跑的回忆。
I came for the photography exhibition and panel discussion. For how long have I been cut off from reading, after years without browsing in bookshops? The scent of books filling the shop evokes memories of my secondary school days, when I used to scurry to the bookshop every Saturday after finishing my extracurricular activities.

座谈会尾声，陈志锐博士循众要求，朗诵了一首他当时还未正式发表，以牛车水为题的诗作。牛车水是我国华族社会的缩影，虽然没有在牛车水生活的经历，我还是对这首诗产生了共鸣。
As the panel discussion drew to a close, Dr. Tan gave in to popular demand and recited an unpublished poem he had written about Chinatown. Chinatown is the symbol of the Chinese Singaporean population; although I have never experienced living there, this poem still resonates with me.

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牛车水 – 陈志锐 2015
必也牛乎
不仅水也
曾经一牛车一牛车
载来生命之泉
连水也在此扎根
根深得
连舌头也灿开
福建人的香铺在广东话的豆腐街
自在地烧香添油点灯求签圣杯
拜着语言天才的神明

我们用福建话买
你们用潮州话卖
还是吃到一盘声色俱佳的
地道海南鸡饭

说着说着
瘄就老了
听着听着
方言的耳朵
也老了

会不会有一天
只能用一种语言点海南鸡饭福建炒面广东饮茶客家酿豆腐潮州粥
即使
在牛车水

再后来
连最夯的政府组屋
也到此扎根
不再平民的平民住宅
连景色也要收费

最后的牛车水之后
还有没有
水车牛的后缀

牛车水呵牛车水
再牛
也牛不过
半杯历史之水
一车时代之薪

只是
我的老家曾经在那里
我的味蕾还停留在那里
我方言的口语习得
还稀稀刷刷流利在那里
我的童真还懵懵懂懂
根植
在
那
里
那里
还在我们
心底