Home»PAPAN (Malaysia) : A deserted old mining town, Malaysia
Papan is a desetred old tin mining town resides near to Ipoh in the Perak state of Malaysia. Today Papan town is an abandoned town, the tin mining activities has stopped. Half of the town lies in ruins. Many have moved out after the decline of tin mining. Most of the young people has left the town, and what is left is old people, and may be some young people who are farmers. You can considered it a dead town but not ghost town, it is quite and peaceful but some activities still going on. The only annual activities when people are flowing into the town, is on the Cheng Beng festival where the residents will come back to pray to their ancestor. Most of the residents are Chinese Hakka, less than 1,000 people.
Sybil Kathigasu (3 September 1899 - 12 June 1948) once resided here, was a Malayan Eurasian nurse who supported the resistance during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. She was the only Malayan woman to be ever awarded with the George Medal for bravery.