Sin Ming

Sin Ming has its own MRT stations when Bright Hill MRT station and Upper Thomson MRT station on the Thomson–East Coast MRT line, opened on August 28, 2021.[4] This line links to Sin Ming with the Central Business District of Singapore.[5]

The campus of Ai Tong School, a Special Assistance Plan primary school established in 1912 and affiliate to Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, is located in the Bright Hill Drive area of Sin Ming.[6] It relocated its campus from its previous campus in Ang Mo Kio to its current location in Sin Ming in 1992 to cope with rising student enrollment.[7]

The permanent campus of Eunoia Junior College, the 20th junior college in Singapore, is located in Sin Ming.[8][9]

Sin Ming is home to many companies related to the automotive industry.[2] Examples include the Vicom Vehicle Inspection Centre,[2] one of the authorized vehicle testing and inspection centres in Singapore,[10] and an Independent Damage Assessment Centre (IDAC),[2] an independent centre that assesses vehicles that were damaged in accidents for insurance purposes.[11] The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) has a branch office in Sin Ming which houses its Vehicle and Transit Licensing division.[2] The offices of Citicab and Comfort taxi companies, both under ComfortDelGro group, are also located in Sin Ming.[2] It also has an NEA North East Office. Thomson Combined Temple and Tian Leong Keng are two united temples that also located in Sin Ming.[12][13]

Sin Ming is one of the few places where funeral-related services are available.[14] The Bright Hill Crematorium and Columbarium, located within Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery,[15] provides crematoria services and facilities to store ashes of the deceased.[14] The other crematorium and columbarium are located in Tse Tho Aum Temple, another Buddhist temple along Sin Ming Drive.[16] In 2007, the government announced that it would construct a purpose-built funeral parlour in Sin Ming.[17] This plan was met with fierce opposition by nearby residents, since local superstitions associate death and dying with bad luck.[17] Residents were also concerned that the value of their properties will decrease as a result of the funeral parlour.[17] In response, the government promised that the area would not become a "funeral parlour hub" and that the parlour would be located in the industrial area and thus away from the residential estates.[18] Despite the negative associations of living near a columbarium, a study of property prices of properties in Sin Ming by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange found that a flat near the columbarium fetched a higher price as compared to a larger flat of similar age that was further away from the columbarium.[14] The study concluded that the effects of the columbarium on housing prices in the area was offset by the presence of amenities like popular schools.[14]

Sin Ming is home to many free-ranging chickens.

A National Parks Board investigation in March 2022 showed there were 69 chickens in the area, up from 50 in 2017. [19]

A task force was created to control the chicken population, using strategies like relocation to avoid culling the chickens, which led to outcry when conducted in 2017. [20]