With its bustling streets, hanging lanterns and iconic shophouses, Chinatown is one of Singapore’s most well-known tourist attractions. Beyond a rich cultural heritage, Chinatown boasts cheap and good food in abundance as well as some of the country’s hippest neighbourhoods. However, Chinatown wasn’t always this pristine, popular tourist attraction. In fact, Chinatown of the past was one that is vastly different to the one we see today. Read on to find out more about Chinatown’s forgotten, colourful, and at times tragic, history.
Opium Dens: Drugs and Addiction in Singapore
With its colourful past, Pagoda Street is arguably a street of contrasts. Named after the pagoda-like gopuram of Sri Mariamman Temple, Pagoda Street is perhaps best known for the numerous souvenir shops lining the street. This iconic street has also played host to Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Singapore in 1972.
Beneath all this glamour though lies a darker, though no less interesting history. Before textile and tailor shops lined the street, and long before souvenir stands set up shop, Pagoda Street was known for its slave traffic centres, poorly-maintained coolie quarters and opium dens. One such opium den still standing today is the shophouse unity at 34 Pagoda Street.
Featuring bright red wooden shutters and clean cream-coloured walls, this aesthetically pleasing unit was one of a myriad of drug houses scattered throughout Chinatown. People of all backgrounds, rich and poor, would flock to this decrepit shophouses for their opium fix back in the day. While the rich smoked high-grade opium in exclusive private rooms, the majority of smokers (largely Chinese coolies) could only afford to smoke dregs using shared common pipes to get their fix.
While opium was eventually banned by the British in 1943 (though illegal opium dens continued to exist up to the 1970s), the shophouses along Pagoda Street, all of which have been beautifully conserved, serve as a reminder of the multi-faceted, complex, and at times tragic history of Chinatown.
Sago Lane: The Street of the Dead
Named after the starch extracted from tropical palm stems, Sago Street and the neighbouring Sago Lane used to be lined with sago factories. However, beyond these factories lay a morbid underbelly of brothels and ‘death houses’ – places Chinese immigrants would head to to wait for their deaths. These ‘death houses’ arose due to Chinese superstition which stated that a death in the house would “contaminate” it with evil spirits, bringing bad luck to its remaining occupants unless an exorcism ritual was carried out. Consequently, that Chinese death rituals were both costly and complicated affairs which only the very rich could afford, many opted to wait out their end at the death houses along Sago Lane.
With increasing numbers of Chinese migrants growing old poor and far away from home, it wasn’t long before Sago Lane’s death houses were overflowing with the poor and those who had no family to care for them in their final days. One such group was the Samsui women who came to Singapore between the 1920s – 1940s looking for industrial and construction work. Many of them unfortunately never managed to return to their home provinces and ended up dying in the sick-receiving houses on Sago Lane.
At its height in the 1950s, Sago Lane was home to 7 business catering to every step of the Chinese death ritual. The bottom level shops sold coffins and funeral paraphernalia – joss sticks, paper effigies – while on the second floor, the terminally-ill and dying stretched out on hard beds supported by little stools at each end. The rooms were dormitory-style, one for men and one for women and offered little in terms of privacy or comfort. Still, it was preferable to dying alone.
Though there wasn’t much in the way of medical treatment, a doctor came in every day to check on guests, and employees worked round the clock to make them as comfortable as possible. If a deceased didn’t have any family present, the staff would pray for their soul and make offerings at the funeral to secure their safe passage into the afterlife.
For those living amongst the death houses in Sago Lane, death and the dead was simply a way of life. According to former residents, it was not uncommon to see corpses laying in the open on wooden planks as they were washed before being places in coffins. Unusual stories were also common tales in the neighbourhood, with one resident relating a story about a corpse that was discovered sitting up (!) in the ambulance when the doors were opened. Indeed, despite constantly being surrounded by death, many continued to have very fond memories of their time living there before they were forced to move as the shophouses were slated for demolition as part of the government’s plan to clean up the Singapore River.
Secret Societies: Brotherhood, Turf Wars and Underground Activities
Given that secret societies and gangs in Singapore have largely been eradicated, it is easy to forget that they used to be rampant in the not so distant past. Indeed, one place that was a hotbed for secret society-related activity was Chinatown. First introduced to Singapore with the arrival of the Chinese during the city’s establishment as a British trading port in 1819, secret societies (kongsi) were based on the notion of brotherhood and sought to provide help and support to new Chinese immigrants (sin kheh).
Yet despite being founded on the principles of brotherhood, bonding, and mutual assistance, these secret societies increasingly came to conjure impressions of violence and disorder. Apart from violent turf wars between the various gangs looking to expand their “territory”, many also terrorised the common people by forcing them to pay protection money in return for their so-called “protection”. Between the 18th to 19th century, whereby Singapore was rife with troubles, these thus secret societies ran roughshod over everyone. It was a common daily sight to see members of the secret societies either beating up (or even killing) people or their rival societies.
Secret societies were also heavily involved in the lucrative trade of opium, setting up many an opium den along the bustling streets of Chinatown, and also invested heavily in brothels and gambling dens which proved to be an advantageous source of income among the mainly young and single male immigrants. Despite being outlawed in 1829, secret societies continued to operate underground gambling dens, many of which were located at present day China Street which was nicknamed 赌间口 (gambling den opening). Beyond their usefulness of generating profit, these activities also kept the members of secret societies captive to their associations, ensuring the kongsi had a constant source of manpower.
Despite legislation aimed at curbing the growth of secret societies, these gangs continued to operate well into the 1950s and 60s. Well into the 20th century, Chinatown remained gangster-infested and inhabitants of Chinatown had to be careful of where they walked for fear of stepping into another gang’s turf. Indeed, older folks would often warn the children to be alert when passing by coffeeshops, saying, “You better be careful – when cups get overturned, you run for your life. It’s a sign of a fight!”
Singapore’s Red Light District: The Place of Nightless Days (Bu Ye Tian)
Before becoming the tourist attraction of today, Chinatown’s seedy history saw it christened with the nickname, the Place of Nightless Days (Bu Ye Tian). Besides opium, Chinatown of the past was also notorious for its brothels and gambling dens, with Smith Street in the early 20th century gaining infamy as Singapore’s red-light district.
Due to the overcrowding of Smith Street, adult businesses gradually expanded next door to the now hyper-trendy area of Keong Saik Road. These brothels usually operated from the shophouses that lined both sides of the street, and could be identified by the nondescript white lightboxes with red words and numbers – a few of which can still be spotted along Keong Saik Road.
Many women who worked in the brothels came from places such as China and Japan, and could be identified by their nice dresses, which were much nicer than what ordinary people would wear. A former resident who grew up on Keong Saik Road recalled that among the 40 to 50 brothels operating in the area, “19” was one of the bigger and most popular ones, with quite a lot of pretty, younger ladies.
Walking around Keong Saik Road now, with its hip F&B places and trendy bars, it is hard to imagine its darker history as a lively red-light district. But some places have remained the same, including the popular Cundhi Gong Temple, and just opposite the road is a brothel that still operates today, marked by a discreet white lightbox with the number 8.
Secret Police Bunkers Lurk Within Chinatown
Among the many secrets hidden within the streets and back alleys of Chinatown are hidden police bunkers. These police bunkers doubled up as bomb shelters, and also served as operations room for various police activities. While we many never know what and where some of these hidden bunkers lie, one of these has been rediscovered and opened to the public. Perched on Pearl's Hill Terrace in Chinatown, amid housing board flats and the People's Park Complex, lies a top-secret police bunker.
This windowless one-storey building has certainly seen it all. Go back in history and you’ll find that many major issues such as the fiery 1956 Chinese Middle School rights, Konfrontasi, and the 1969 racial riots were managed and resolved in this very bunker. Later on, this also served as a space where all of Singapore’s 999 calls were answered. Called the Combined Operations Room, it served as the nerve centre for police communications from 1956 to the 1980s.
A gem that has witnessed Singapore's chaotic and turbulent past, it is well-worth a visit. Free tours of the bunker are conducted daily, and all tours are by bookings only. To book your spot, email [email protected] or call +65 8781 3097, during office hours (0900hrs to 1700hrs), Tuesdays to Saturdays.
