Cathay known China under names similar to "Cathay", that country was known to the peoples of South-East Asia and India under names similar to "China" (cf. e.g. "Cina" in modern Malay). Meanwhile, in China itself, people usually referred to their nation state based on the name of the ruling dynasty, e.g. "Da Ming Guo" ("the kingdom of the Great Ming"), or as the "Middle Kingdom" ("Zhongguo" 中國); see also Names of China for details. When the Portuguese reached South-East Asia (Afonso de Albuquerque conquering Malacca in 1511) and the southern coast of China (Jorge Álvares reaching the Pearl River estuary in
Cathay Organisation lanes at SAFRA Yishun and 22 lanes at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Cathay Bowl became, at that time, Singapore's largest bowling centre operations with 8 bowling centres and a total of 178 lanes. To promote the sport, the Cathay Bowling Academy was established with structured training programmes by qualified bowling coaches. Also in 2001, Cathay opened two Mega Pavilion Cinemas in Penang; a four-screen cineplex at Prangin Mall and 5-screen cineplex at Island Plaza. In 2002, Cathay Bowl opened 24 lanes at THE CHEVRONS club while Cathay Cineplexes introduced its drive-thru ticketing kiosk at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, a self-service automated ticketing