Cathay language, the word Cathay was sometimes used for China, although increasingly only in a poetic sense, until the 19th century when it was completely replaced by "China". A person from Cathay (i.e., a Chinese person) was also written in English as a Cathayan or a Cataian. However the terms "China" and "Cathay" have histories of approximately equal length in English. The term is still used poetically. Cathay is more prevalent as proper noun in names, such as Cathay Pacific Airways or Cathay Hotel. The flagship airline of Hong Kong is called as such because the founders envisioned that one day,
Cathay Building consisted of the Cathay Cinema, a restaurant and the dance hall on the ground floor, as well as a roof garden above the cinema and a residential storey block with a penthouse. The first part of the Cathay Building was opened on 3 October 1939 with the 1,300-seat Cathay Cinema, the dance hall and the Cathay Restaurant. In 1 July 1940, the 11 storey residential block was opened for occupancy, with the owners Mrs Loke Wan and Loke Wan Tho occupied the eleventh floor. The building was the first and tallest skyscraper in Singapore and in Southeast Asia, at a