Chinatown is an estate located largely in the Outram area in the Central Region of Singapore.1 In his 1822 master Town Plan, Sir Stamford Raffles allocated the whole area west of the Singapore River for a Chinese settlement known as the Chinese Campong (kampong in Malay means “village”), envisaging that the Chinese would form the bulk of future town dwellers.2 Singapore, the new land of opportunity then, had attracted many immigrants from China, who expanded the original boundaries of this economically and culturally vibrant, self-contained town.3 Today, Chinatown is Singapore’s largest Historic District, and an important and unique ethnic quarter Singaporeans fondly call “our Chinatown”.4
History
Long before the arrival of Raffles in 1819, a small immigrant Chinese population had already settled in Singapore, cultivating gambier and pepper. When Singapore’s free port was established, more Chinese and other immigrants flocked to its shores.5 For easy administration, Raffles grouped various immigrant communities into ethnic quarters. In his 4 November 1822 letter to the Town Committee (also illustrated in the 1828 Town of Singapore Plan published in London), the area from the “Boat Quay southwest bank of the Singapore River” was designated a Chinese Campong.6 This self-contained kampong or community settlement became the home of many Chinese immigrants, and a transit point for coolies (unskilled labourers) going to Malaya.7 By 1824, there were 3,317 settlers, almost one-third of the total population at that time.8 That kampong and Chinese centre grew, eventually becoming Chinatown.9
Description
The original kampong was divided into zones, a sector for each Chinese community of the same provincial origin and dialect group.10
Different trades were confined to specific areas, so each street took on its own identity. From delicacies to death-houses, there were businessmen, traders, craftsmen, hawkers and peddlers to provide all of the peoples’ needs. A familiar sight was the outdoor emporium of hawker stalls jamming the streets with every conceivable item, from cooling tea to imitation antiques. The town was complete.11
Chinese dialect-group sectors
Soon after settling in Singapore, the people built temples that were not just for worship, but also centres of dialect-group activities, before their respective clan associations were established.12 Traditionally the Cantonese occupied Temple Street. The Hokkiens were located in Telok Ayer Street and Hokien Street, while the Teochews were settled in South Canal Road, Garden Street and Carpenter Street.13
Growth and developments
Chinatown’s physical development began from 1843, when more land leases and grants for homes and trade were awarded – particularly around Pagoda Street, Almeida Street (today’s Temple Street), Smith Street, Trengganu Street, Sago Street and Sago Lane. In John Turnbull Thomson’s 1846 map, this ethnic quarter expanded to the area demarcated by Telok Ayer Street, Singapore River, New Bridge Road and Pagoda Street. Developed areas by this time included Upper Macao Street (today’s Upper Pickering Street), Upper Hokkien Street, Upper Chin Chew Street, Upper Cross Street and Mosque Street.14 However, as the Chinese population grew rapidly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, overcrowding became a problem.15 People lived in sub-divided rooms called cubicles that created more living space, but were crammed, unhealthy and unsafe.16 Inevitably, slums developed.17
The August 1918 survey by the government’s Housing Commission reported much overcrowding and congestion in Chinatown.18 In the mid-1960s, urban renewal schemes started, and residents were re-housed in resettlement estates.19 Major upgrading of shophouses and new developments took place at the end of 1983, after the street hawkers were housed in Kreta Ayer Complex.20 Contrary to its name, Chinatown was not exclusively Chinese. There were small communities of Indian traders around the junction of South Bridge Road and Upper Cross Street; Indian temples and Muslim mosques can be found in the area too.21
Today
Chinatown is Singapore’s largest Historic District. Its four sub-districts – Bukit Pasoh, Kreta Ayer, Telok Ayer and Tanjong Pagar – were given conservation status in the late 1980s.22 Much of the town has changed, but fortunately, remnants of its colourful past are still present and old traditions have endured. During festivals such as the Lunar New Year, and the Mid-autumn Festival, there are celebrations and festive shopping.23 Always dressed for the occasion, Chinatown would be colourful, lit up and abuzz with activity, attracting not just the Chinese but other locals as well as tourists.24
Timeline
1822: Raffles’ Town Plan is drafted by Lieutenant Philip Jackson.25
1843: Physical development of the area, with Pagoda Street, Almeida Street (now Temple Street), Smith Street, Trengganu Street, Sago Street and Sago Lane being leased or granted for homes and trade.26
1864: Gas lamps are lit for the first time.27
1876: Cheang Hong Lim presents $3,000 for an open-space that bears his name today – Hong Lim Park.28
3 May 1886: Steam trams commence operations and ply South Bridge Road.29
1892: Thong Chai Yee Say (renamed Thong Chai Medical Institution) moves into its Wayang Street (now Eu Tong Sen Street) premises.30
1905: Singapore Electric Tramways Company No. 2 tramway passes through South Bridge Road.
1906: Roads are lit by electricity.
6 Jun 1917: In the worst fire in Chinatown’s history, 10 people jump to their deaths when a four-storey shophouse at the corner of Trengganu Street and Temple Street catches fire.31
1927: Tien Yien Moh Toi Cantonese Opera Theatre is built by Eu Tong Sen. It is later converted into a cinema and renamed Queen’s Theatre (today’s Majestic Theatre).32
1929: Trolley bus operates through South Bridge Road.33
11 Feb 1942: During World War II, crowded tenements of Chinatown are death traps in continued air raids by the Japanese air force, until the fall of Singapore.34
9 Aug 1966: Singapore’s first National Day Parade takes place. For the first time, Singapore’s own military troops proudly march through heavily-populated Chinatown and are warmly greeted with cheers from packed crowds of people on roadsides, balconies and bridges along South Bridge Road.35
24 Dec 1966: People’s Park Market is destroyed by fire.36
1968: People’s Park Centre is completed.37
1970: Opening of People’s Park Shopping Complex, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.38
1972: “Walking Tour” of Chinatown by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her official State visit to Singapore.39
7 Jul 1989: 1,200 buildings are given conservation status.40
1998: The Singapore Tourism Board’s $97.5-million plan to revitalise Chinatown is announced, sparking public debate about whether the revamp would retain Chinatown’s authenticity.41
July 2002: The Chinatown Heritage Centre is opened. It occupies three restored pre-war shophouses at Pagoda Street and introduces visitors to Chinatown’s history. It features reenactments of opium-smoking dens, a prostitute’s parlour, and the communal living spaces in old shophouses.42
Key features
Various centres of worship were built in Chinatown, including the Fu Tak Chi Temple (1820), Wak Hai Cheng Bio (1820), Al-Abrar Mosque (1827), Nagore Dargah (1830), Thian Hock Keng Temple (1841), Jamae Mosque and Sri Mariamman Temple (1843).43
Around Pearl’s Hill were some important early institutional buildings, such as the Seaman’s Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Pearl’s Hill Prison.44
Tien Yien Moh Toi Cantonese Opera Theatre (1927) is today’s Majestic Theatre,45 while People’s Park Shopping Complex is a popular landmark for locals and tourists.46
Variant names
In Singapore, Chinatown is commonly known in Mandarin as Niu Che Shui (牛车水).47
Gu Chia Chui (in Hokkien), and Ngow Chay Shui (in Cantonese) – which both mean “bullock water-cart” or “bullock-drawn water-carriage” – are two other names given to Chinatown, even though they actually refer to one of its sub-districts, Kreta Ayer.48
Author
Vernon Cornelius-Takahama
References
1. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area: Planning Report 1995 (Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995), 4. (Call no. RSING 711.4095957 SIN)
2. Charles Burton Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1984), 83 (Call no. RSING 959.57 BUC-[HIS]); Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown: An Album of a Singapore Community (Singapore: Times Books International, 1983), 9–11. (Call no. RSING 779.995957 CHI)
3. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 6–7; Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 20.
4. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District (Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995), 15. (Call no. RSING 363.69095957 CHI)
5. C. M. Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 1819–1988 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989), 5, 12–13. (Call no. RSING 959.57 TUR-[HIS])
6. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 9–11; Buckley, Anecdotal History of Old Times, 83.
7. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 15–16; Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 83; Song Ong Siang, One hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1984), 22–24. (Call no. RSING 959.57 SON-[HIS])
8. Song, One hundred Years’ History of the Chinese, 23
9. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 15
10. Turnbull, History of Singapore, 1819–1988, 20; Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 10–11.
11. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 20, 27, 42–43, 64–65, 74–75, 95, 97, 104.
12. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 19.
13. National Heritage Board, Discover Singapore Heritage Trails (Singapore: National Heritage Board, 2006), 61. (Call no. RSING 915.95704 DIS-[TRA])
14. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 14–16.
15. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 15–19, 23; National Heritage Board, Discover Singapore Heritage Trails, 58.
16. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 54–55.
17. Steve Neoh, “They Live in the Shadows: Home Is a Damp Cubicle,” Singapore Free Press, 14 August 1954, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
18. “Cheaper Houses & Plenty of Them,” Straits Times, 29 May 1937, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
19. Wong Tai-Chee and Yap Lian-Ho Adriel, Four Decades of Transformation: Land Use in Singapore, 1960-2000 (Singapore: Eastern University Press, 2004), 17. (Call no. RSING 333.73095957 WON)
20. Rebecca Chua, “Chinatowners’ Last Words,” Straits Times, 12 October 1983, 2. (From NewspaperSG)
21. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 6.
22. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 7.
23. “Chinese New Year Light-Up,” Straits Times, 31 January 1999, 40; Jessica Lim, “16,800 Lanterns to Light Up Chinatown for Mid-Autumn,” Straits Times, 12 September 2012, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
24. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 158–59.
25. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 15.
26. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 14.
27. Walter Makepeace, Gilbert E. Brooke and Roland St. J. Braddell, One Hundred Years of Singapore, vol. 2 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991), 590. (Call no. RSING 959.57 ONE-[HIS])
28. Victor R. Savage and Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Toponymics: A Study of Singapore Street Names (Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2003), 150–51. (Call no. RSING 915.9570014 SAV-[TRA])
29. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 34.
30. “It All Started in a Shophouse in 1867,” Straits Times, 16 August 1995, 3; “Bringing Traditional Chinese Medicine to the Community,” Straits Times, 22 September 2012, 10/11. (From NewspaperSG)
31. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 98.
32. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 140.
33. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 6.
34. Turnbull, History of Singapore, 1819–1988, 181.
35. “Tramp, Tramp in South Bridge Road,” Straits Times, 10 August 1966, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
36. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 139.
37. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 7.
38. Ray Tyers and Siow Jin Hua, Ray Tyers’ Singapore: Then & Now (Singapore: Landmark Books, 1993), 185. (Call no. RSING 959.57 TYE-[HIS])
39. “Joy as Premier Lee Presents Her with Flowers,” Straits Times, 20 February 1972, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
40. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 7.
41. Evelyn Yap, “$97.5M Plan to Revitalise Chinatown,” Straits Times, 10 September 1998, 3; “Chinatown Revamp was a Talking Point,” Straits Times, 10 December 1998, 51; “Chinatown: The Debate,” Straits Times, 8 February 1999, 35. (From NewspaperSG)
42. “New Heritage Centre,” New Paper, 8 April 2002, 6. (From NewspaperSG)
43. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Chinatown: Historic District, 17; Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 6.
44. Urban Redevelopment Authority (Singapore), Outram Planning Area, 7.
45. Archives and Oral History Department, Singapore, Chinatown, 140.
46. Tyers and Siow, Ray Tyers’ Singapore, 185.
47. Kwok Kian Woon, C.J. Wee Wan-Ling and Karen Chia, eds., Rethinking Chinatown and Heritage Conservation in Singapore (Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society, 2000), 4, 63. (Call no. RSING 711.4095957 RET)
48. Savage and Yeoh, Study of Singapore Street Names, 88, 228.
Further resource
Awang Sudjai Hairul & Yusoff Khan, eds., Kamus Lengkap (Petaling Jaya: Pustaka Zaman, 1977), 426. (Call no. Malay RCLOS 499.230321)
The information in this article is valid as at January 2020 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
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