Chinatown

As I stood in the middle of the now Chinatown, something struck me.  The seemingly familiar place of bustle, spirit and culture, the place I spent my childhood years in, has modernized and evolved thick and fast over this course of time. After having spent all my younger years in this tight, friendly and bustling community – Chinatown, it was the first time I felt this sense of foreignism in the changed, unfamiliar and uncomfortable surroundings.

Conservation is defined as the preservation, repair, or prevention of deterioration of archaeological, historical, and cultural sites and artifacts. To me, the most important part of the old Chinatown worth conserving is not the physical structures and artifacts, but the heart, spirit and life of Chinatown. Sure, these cultural sites and artifacts are important, but it is the communal spirit from the people living there that gives these physical structures its identity. Nevertheless, one thing’s for sure – Chinatown has undergone many changes from the past, failing to keep its cultural identity conserved, and has, like many other places in Singapore, fallen prey to urban renewal.

I still remember back in the past, streets in Chinatown were busy and bustling, with blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors and others concentrated in many areas. The houses and shop houses were built in neat rows and there were several Chinese temples in the area where Chinese had their own singing halls and 'wayang' (opera) theatres.

The bustling and busy streets of Chinatown 

Roadside stalls/markets 

Though life then was slightly disorganized and messy, there was spirit and life in everything that people then did. People had jobs to do every day, and everyone came together as one to do their own things. Even opium dens, illegal gambling houses and brothels were licensed by the government and it was common spaces like these that brought the citizens there together. There were also rickshaw depots and most of the coffee shops were patronized by the rickshaw pullers and other workers.

Opium dens 

Most of these people who lived in Chinatown worked in the TongKangs, Twakows and ferried goods from sea going vessels to several warehouses along the Singapore River.

Chinatown then was busy everyday and that was when we could see the authentic culture and identity displayed through every bit of the life going on then.  Also, everyone used to speak in various dialects, ordering fish in Cantonese, medicine in Hokkien, vegetables in Teochow, it was this mix of languages that everyone was familiar with and often used. Though life for me then was busy and hard, I could truly feel the sense of belonging towards my hometown and that sense of familiarity and ease made me feel really close to the heart of this hometown.

From the past till now, we can see that Chinatown has indeed undergone quite a bit of change. In the mid-1960s, urban renewal schemes started to take place and residents were rehoused in resettlement estates. The rows of shop houses and roadside stalls were removed and the street hawkers were housed in Krata Ayer Complex instead. Major upgrading and new developments took place at end 1983 and slowly but impactfully, Chinatown was losing its culture and wasn't exclusively Chinese anymore.

Currently today, shop houses have been fully upgraded and are no longer roadside stalls that are unhygienic and scattered along roads. The many three-storey shop houses along Teo Hong Road is an example. New streets like Pagoda Street, Smith Street and Temple Street have been built and renovated to sell modernized things like souvenirs for tourists. Chinatown Complex has also been built along Smith Street and houses a food centre and a wet market which sells sundry goods.

Pagoda street is very evidently mainly for the sake of attracting tourists.  Lined with shops and stalls selling key chains, magnets, even bangles and bags, or sport-branded merchandise, almost everything there was catered to the tourists. Even the mini food areas along the streets sold westernized food like ice-cream and snacks. 

Shops selling souviniers for tourists 

Also, though there were quite a few stalls selling Chinese cultured items like tassels, paintbrushes, Chinese traditional costumes and figurines, the purpose of these are still to attract and introduce tourists into our so-called “culture”, to allow them to have something a part of us to bring back, thus making those Pagoda street shops contrived, artificial and unauthentic.

Shops selling Chinese objects

Also, since people in Chinatown now are mainly tourists or a new generation of locals, hardly anybody speaks the dialects everyone used to speak in the Chinatown community then. Most of the time, people speak in English or just Mainland Chinese.

Fortunately, though little, there are still remnants of its colorful past that still stand. The hawker centre on the upper level of Chinatown is where many old locals and citizens get together to have their meals all the time. Once stepping into the food centre, you can see that it is a place dominated by our locals eating localized food like Hokkien Mee, Chicken Rice, Satay etc. 

Hawker Centre in Chinatown Complex dominated by locals 

Also, at the quadrangle outside Chinatown Complex, you can see the old citizens that come down to this common area on a daily basis to interact with others. Be it playing their traditional Chinese Chess, or just having a chat over drinks. This area seems to be the only place that still maintains its bustle and spirit like how Chinatown used to be.

Bustle and spirit from the senior local citizens 

However, despite these bits of the old Chinatown being retained, many of these are in decline, especially with the increasingly changing society, old jobs and shops like tailoring shops and tea merchants have now lost its attractiveness and popularity that they had in the past. Back then, people went to shops like these to get what they need. Now, with our current advanced society, barely anybody visits these shops anymore.

Tea merchants and tailor shops that are empty and in decline

In the current competitive society like Singapore, the only constant thing is change. Society is growing fast and we have become so competitive and results-driven that we lose sight of what we are, our identity, our culture. In this process of striving after the increasing need to succeed, we overlook the loss of a common space and identity that we all once had and could relate to. Nevertheless, with changes we now see in this country, it is definitely less relevant to have those trades/businesses that have since gone. It is indeed difficult to recreate and restore the buzz that Chinatown once had, and to authentically bring all that back today.


While we cannot bring back what we had lost, we can still spread the knowledge to the present and future generations to prevent history from repeating itself. Of course, we can strive to bring back elements, even if it is for short term periods (e.g Chinese New Year) and thus still have the hope of preserving that last bit of culture and allow the past to be kept at heart despite the constant urban renewal.