Little Guilin
Coordinates: 1°21′21″N 103°45′18″E / 1.355912°N 103.754880°E
Bukit Batok Town Park is a nature park located in the precinct of Guilin in the town of Bukit Batok, Singapore. The park was created from a disused granite quarry. As such, it has a resemblance to the granite rock formations in Guilin, China. Hence it is also known as Little Guilin or Xiao Guilin (Chinese: 小桂林) among the locals.
Together with the neighbouring Bukit Batok Nature Park, Bukit Batok Town Park occupies 77 hectares of land in Bukit Batok planning area, which covers the subzones Bukit Gombak, Hong Kah, Brickworks and Hillview. The park was a granite quarry for extracting a form of norite called Gombak norite. The name of the area, Bukit Batok, which means "coughing hills", was derived from the sounds of quarrying activities.
When the granite had to be extracted below sea level and could threaten the ecology of the area, the government closed down the quarries in Bukit Batok and made arrangements to purchase granite from Indonesia instead. As a result, the quarry became abandoned and rainwater filled it up over time, turning it into a mini lake. In 1984, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) wanted to fill up the quarry and build a road over it. However, after seeing that the existing quarry had rugged granite outcrops and a contrasting backdrop of green hills that gave it a pleasant look, the HDB converted the quarry into a park instead. They also beautified the surroundings and improved accessibility by placing granite blocks on the retaining walls, as well as adding footpaths, lights and seating. The park was called "Little Guilin" or "Xiao Guilin" by the locals because the granite formations resemble the mountains in Guilin in China's Guangxi Province.
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