Chinatown (Singapore)
The Chinatown of Singapore is a subzone and ethnic enclave in the district of Outram in the central area of the city-state. The Chinatown area has distinctly Chinese cultural elements and a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population.
The district has a significant historical and cultural importance in the development of today's city-state Singapore. Large parts of the district have been declared sites of national cultural heritage, which have been officially designated for protection by the urban development authority.
etymology
Singapore's Chinatown is on Mandarin known as Niucheshui ( Chinese 牛車水 / 牛车水 , Pinyin Niúchēshuǐ - "literally, ox-vehicle water"), Gu Chia CHWI on Hokkien and Ngau-che-shui in Cantonese . The Chinese was also translated as “Bullock water-cart” in layman's terms, which has to be translated as “Ox carts the water”. In Malay it is called Kreta Ayer - after 1972 pronunciation according to the New Rumi Spelling : kereta air , which corresponds to "water cart" in English . This is due to the fact that in the 19th century Chinatown's supply of drinking water had to be supplied mainly by ox-cart water. Although these terms are sometimes used generically to refer to all of Singapore's Chinatown, they actually refer to the Crete Ayer Road area .
geography
Singapore's Chinatown consists of four different sub-areas that were developed at different times.
- Telok Ayer - developed in the 1820s.
- Crete Ayer - developed in the 1830s
- Bukit Pasoh - developed in the early 1900s
- Tanjong Pagar - developed in the 1920s
The Chinatown Complex is located on Smith Street, known colloquially as Hei Yuan Kai - 戲院 街 / 戏院 街 - “Theater Street” in Cantonese , as the famous Lai Chun Yuen Cantonese Opera Theater opened in 1887 for the Cantonese community there and particularly attracted a large audience in the 1910s and 1920s. (Nasir, 2005).
development
Wang Dayuan visited Singapore (then called Temasek) in 1330 and recorded that there was a Chinese community.
According to the Raffles Plan of Singapore , the area was originally a division of colonial Singapore, which was usually inhabited by Chinese immigrants. As Singapore grew, Chinese immigrants settled in other areas of the island city. However, Chinatown was crowded within decades of Singapore's founding in 1819 and remained so until many residents were relocated at the start of the government's housing agency in the 1960s.
In 1822 Sir Stamford Raffles wrote to the President of the City Committee, Captain CE Davis, and to George Bonham and Alex L. Johnson, Esquires, and the members. than can, by and large, be most conducive to the comfort and safety of the various classes of residents and the general interests and well-being of the place ... "
As a guide for the committee, he gave instructions that included a general description of the city of Singapore, the government reserved area, the European city and major commercial establishments, as well as the indigenous divisions and "kampungs". This included areas for Bugis , Arabs, Indians, Malaysians, and Chinese Kampungs. Raffles was very clear in his instructions and his guidelines were to determine the urban structure of all subsequent development. The "five-foot path", for example the continuous covered passage on both sides of the street, was one of the public requirements.
The competition foresaw the fact that "it can be assumed that they (the Chinese) will by far always form the largest part of the community". For this reason, he used all of the land southwest of the Singapore River for their housing, but at the same time insisted that the different classes and the different provinces be concentrated in their separate quarters and, in the event of fire, in these quarters to be built of brickwork with tile roofs.
This led to the creation of a section of its own called Chinatown. Chinatown's physical development began when land was leased or given to the public for house and store construction in and after 1843.
heritage
The legacy of cultural diversity in Chinatown is still there. The Hokkiens (Fukiens) are connected to Havelock Road, Telok Ayer Street, China Street and Chulia Street, and the Teochew merchants are mainly located on Circular Road, River Valley Road, Boat Quay and South Bridge Road. The ubiquitous Cantonese are spread across South Bridge Road, Upper Cross Street, New Bridge Road and Bukit Pasoh Road. Today, the Hokkiens and Teochews have largely dispersed to other parts of the island, leaving the Cantonese as the dominant dialect group in Chinatown.
The Chinese names of Pickering Street are Kian Keng Khau (mouth of the gambling houses) or Ngo Tai Tiahn Hok Kiong Khau (mouth of the five generations of Tian Hok Temple). Guilds , clans , unions and associations have all been referred to as kongsi , a type of Chinese mafia , although the literal meaning of the word is "share". The so-called Mafia is better translated than the secret and sinister Hui . These secret societies, the Triads, which themselves suffered under the Qing Dynasty in China, supported the later immigrants in Singapore by paying for their passage and allowing them to pay for it through work.
There were the letter writers on Sago Street - the Chinese called this street Gu Chia Chwi Hi Hng Cheng (in front of the Crete Ayer Theater), it was mainly associated with death - the sandalwood idols on Club Street and the complicated and simple food of the mosque Street; everything rang to the sound of the abacus . Early in the morning old women were seen dousing bean sprouts and clipping them, peeling frog skins, skinning freshly killed snakes, and distributing centuries-old panacea by women blessed with the power of healing.
At the heart of this diverse Chinese community is an important temple for Singaporean Tamils , the Sri Mariamman Hindu Tamil Temple and mosques : The Al-Abrar Mosque on Telok Ayer Street and the Jamae Mosque on Mosque Street and the Hokkien Thian Hock Keng Chinese Temple by 1830 to 1842. These show that despite efforts to separate the early immigrants, they had no qualms about living side by side together.
Origin of the street names
- Mosque Street is named after the Jamae Mosque, which is located at the end of South Bridge Road. The mosque was completed in 1830 by the Chulia Muslims on the Coromandel coast in southern India, but was also used by the Malay Muslims living in the area. In the early years there were ten stables in Moscheenstrasse.
- Pagoda Street takes its name from the Sri Mariamman Temple . In the 1850s and 1880s, the road was one of the centers of slave traffic. It also had its share of coolie neighborhoods and opium smoking booths. One of the traders was Kwong Hup Yuen, who is believed to have occupied number 37, after which the Pagoda Street is often named today.
- Sago Lane and Sago Street got their names because a number of sago factories were located there in the 1840s . Sago is extracted from the pulp of the Rumbia palm and made into flour, which is used to make sweet and savory cakes. Corpses are taken to Sago Lane.
- Smith Street was likely named after Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, who was governor of the Straits Settlements between 1887 and 1893 .
- Temple Street refers to the Sri Mariamman Temple which is at the end of South Bridge Road. It was formerly known as Almeida Street after Joaquim d'Almeida, son of José D'Almeida, who owned properties at the intersection of Temple Street and Trengganu Street. In 1908, the Municipal Commissioners changed their name to Temple Street to avoid confusion with other streets in Singapore that were also named after D'Almeida.
- Trengganu Street, formerly known as "Piccadilly of Chinese Singapore", is now the heart of the tourist belt in Chinatown. In Chinese it is called gu chia chui wah koi or "the cross street from Crete Ayer". The intersection refers to Smith Street and Sago Street. The street name is derived from Terengganu , a state on what is now the peninsula of Malaysia.
traffic
The Mass Rapid Transit MRT serves the area on the North East Line and Downtown Line in the pedestrian Pagoda Street and the surrounding area, as well as several public bus routes that it integrates into Singapore's transportation system. Nearby is the Tanjong Pagar on the East West Line . Outram Park , a transportation hub between the East West Line and the North East Line; and Clarke Quay on the North East Line and a bus terminal called Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal .
politics
Chinatown is divided into two constituencies, Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Besar , in terms of representation in parliament . Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew , was a MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC until shortly before his death in March 2015 . Since the parliamentary elections in September 2015, Indranee Rajah represents this part of Tanjong Pagar GRC. The Chinatown area, which is part of Jalan Besar GRC , is represented by Lily Neo and Denise Phua .
Web links
- Official Website - Chinatown Homepage (English)
- Chinatown on SingaporeInfopedia (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Chinatown Complex: State of Buildings. In: stateofbuildings.sg. Retrieved December 31, 2019 (American English).
Coordinates: 1 ° 17 ' N , 103 ° 51' E