• Since the founding years of Singapore, it has had many different Mandarin names, such as “星加坡” and “星岛”.
•  It is believed that the term “星洲” was first coined by Khoo Seok Wan from his alias “星洲寓公” (meaning “rich person living abroad in Sin Chew”).
• In 1898, Khoo Seok Wan referred to Singapore as “星洲” out of convenience in his writing in Thien Nan Shin Pao, which was founded by him, Lim Boon Keng, and others. Since then, “星洲” became one of the alternative names of Singapore.
• The term “星洲” is poetic. “星” is taken from the first syllable of “Singapore”, while “洲” refers to Singapore’s geography as an island nation.

In the early days, the term “星洲” was widely used in the newspaper industry. For example, Aw Boon Haw used “星洲” for the name of the daily newspaper he founded on 15 January 1929. Till today, Sin Chew Daily （《星洲日报》）still exists in Malaysia. In 1983, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh merged to form Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore.