Maiden Lin, Maiden Lei and Maiden Huang are local goddesses whose legends began in Singapore. Award-winning writer Ng Yi-Sheng dives into their origins and looks at their worship today.

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About the Guest

Ng Yi-Sheng is a poet, fictionist, playwright and researcher. His books include the debut poetry collection last boy, A Book of Hims and Loud Poems for a Very Obliging Audience, and the short story collection Lion City, which won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2020. He tweets and Instagrams at @yishkabob.

Resources

Ng Yi-Sheng, “Maiden Lim and Her Sisters: Taoist Folk Goddesses of Singapore,” BiblioAsia 18, no. 4 (2023).

William L. Gibson, “Unravelling the Mystery of Ubin’s German Girl Shrine,” BiblioAsia 13, no. 3 (2021).

Bonny Tan and Marsita Omar, “Keramat Habib Noh,” Singapore Infopedia, published by National Library, Singapore, 19 August 2016.

“Singapore Maiden Joins the Taoist Pantheon,” Straits Times, 27 May 1989, 22. (From NewspaperSG)

Credits

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Yi-Sheng for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.

Transcript