Chinatown has seen drastic developments since the beginning of the city-state, though it still retains a historical and cultural significance today. Large sections of it have been declared as national heritage sites and designated for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
The pictures below compare Chinatown's street scene in the 1990s and today.
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| Chinatown street stalls in the 1900s |
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| Chinatown street market today |
Postcards from Chinatown
Terence Heng
Racks of clothes along racks of clocks, as
if ticking away the fashion of the eras.
Fortune telling weight machine, I never
stepped on one before. Durian sign sale,
bicycle underneath no-bicycle sign.
Rusty trishaw parked outside renovated
lifts. And an old dental surgery somewhere
next to an older barber in the HDB.
Urn, three joss sticks burnt out sometime ago.
That was in the background where I walked,
background of the closed down emporium,
background of the foreign worker outside
an unopened shophouse. Background wet market,
background unanswered responses to the cajoling
from the hawkers in the background hawker centre.
Background, backstage.
Our performance dictates a different set of scripts. Souvenir shops
selling Chinese hats and fake
pigtails stapled to the end.
Umbrellas for holding water.
Postcards of nothing that we really do.
I'll sell this as distinctly local. Our whole stage of
rojak culture and the embracement of strolling
down the street back into the tour bus.
Shiny shiny trishaws and fluorescent T-shirts peddle you around
the incorporated country. This is Singapore,
ladies and gentlemen, although you don't see
the locals anywhere.
Who?
Terence Heng (b.1978) is a Singaporean, and works as a
photographer and visual sociologist. His research focuses on
diasporic, racial and spiritual space in suburban Singapore.
Terence Heng
Racks of clothes along racks of clocks, as
if ticking away the fashion of the eras.
Fortune telling weight machine, I never
stepped on one before. Durian sign sale,
bicycle underneath no-bicycle sign.
Rusty trishaw parked outside renovated
lifts. And an old dental surgery somewhere
next to an older barber in the HDB.
Urn, three joss sticks burnt out sometime ago.
That was in the background where I walked,
background of the closed down emporium,
background of the foreign worker outside
an unopened shophouse. Background wet market,
background unanswered responses to the cajoling
from the hawkers in the background hawker centre.
Background, backstage.
Our performance dictates a different set of scripts. Souvenir shops
selling Chinese hats and fake
pigtails stapled to the end.
Umbrellas for holding water.
Postcards of nothing that we really do.
I'll sell this as distinctly local. Our whole stage of
rojak culture and the embracement of strolling
down the street back into the tour bus.
Shiny shiny trishaws and fluorescent T-shirts peddle you around
the incorporated country. This is Singapore,
ladies and gentlemen, although you don't see
the locals anywhere.
Who?
Terence Heng (b.1978) is a Singaporean, and works as a
photographer and visual sociologist. His research focuses on
diasporic, racial and spiritual space in suburban Singapore.
References
(Photograph) Chinatown street stalls in the 1990s: http://www.chinatown.sg/index.php?fx=soc-archives-page&aid=5#showpage?
"Postcards from Chinatown" by Terence Heng. Last accessed 30 October 2014: https://emergencyliterature.wikispaces.com/Sec+4+-+Singaporean+Literature+(Mr+Adrian+Chan)
Terence Heng biography, Singapore Memory. Last accessed 30 October 2014: http://www.singaporememory.sg/contents/SMB-fd7433ef-4727-46f5-9e9f-a1a0d2daee8d
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