HOW CHINESE IS CHINATOWN? RESEARCHING THE AUTHENTICITY OF SINGAPORE’S CHINATOWN A0145263J Evelien Willeke Florijn Tutor: Dr. Imran Bin Tajudeen AR5011 Research Methodology
ABSTRACT This research explores the authenticity of Singapore’s Chinatown and its heritage, by focusing on the area as a whole, and the Singapore shophouse building typology that is strongly associated with both the Chinese and Chinatown itself. Existing research indicates that the common belief is that Singapore’s Chinatown is authentically Chinese, and that the Singapore shophouse has Chinese origins. However, there is evidence that disagrees with this assumption. The aim of this research is to find the true heritage of Singapore’s Chinatown and the Singapore shophouse. This will be done through mixed research methods including qualitative research such as literature studies, cartographic research, and observations, and quantitative research focusing on demographic characteristics of the area over time. Together this will once and for all dissolve the discussion whether Chinatown is truly Chinese.
TOPIC This research will focus on the origins and heritage of Chinatown in Singapore, focusing on the Singapore shophouse typology.
OBJECTIVE The objective is to clarify the (architectural) heritage of Singapore’s Chinatown, in order to test whether Chinatown is authentically Chinese.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. What is the heritage of the Singapore shophouse? 1.1. What are the characteristics of the Singapore shophouse? 1.2. Where does the Singapore shophouse originate? 1.3. How has the Singapore shophouse developed over time? 2. What is the heritage of Singapore’s Chinatown? 2.1. Where does Singapore’s Chinatown originate? 2.2. What ethnic groups live in Singapore’s Chinatown? 2.3. How has the architecture of Singapore’s Chinatown developed over time? 2.4. How have the demographic qualities of Singapore’s Chinatown changed over time? Together, these questions will form the foundation to answer the main research question: “How Chinese is Singapore’s Chinatown?”
FIGURE 1 OVERVIEW CHINATOWN MAP (CHINATOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION 2012)
The term ‘area’ refers to the boundaries of the area that nowadays is called Chinatown. This area consists of five districts: Telok Ayer, Bukit Pasoh, Tanjong Pagar, Kreta Ayer and Ann Siang Hill. The exact boundaries of these districts can be found in figure 1.
RESEARCH DISCIPLINES The main research will be focused on the field of architectural history, as the objective is to investigate how ‘Chinese’ Chinatown actually is, in both demographical and architectural qualities. The research will overlap with other fields and thus be interdisciplinary. Additional fields of research include human geography, anthropology, urban history, urban design, urban planning, urban sociology and history. Research question 1 belongs within the field of architectural history, as it focuses on a specific building typology, its characteristic architectural elements and its historical origins. However, it also includes some human geography and anthropology, as the origins are closely related to cultures and their usage of urban space. Question 2 falls within the fields of urban history, urban design and urban planning, but also within the fields of urban sociology, as it looks at the demographic qualities of Chinatown. Furthermore it relates to anthropology as it concerns the ethnic origins of the Chinese immigrants, and their cultures.
HYPOTHESIS The foundational issue concerns the heritage of Chinatown in Singapore and the heritage of its most prominent building typology: the Singapore Shophouse. Knowing that the name ‘Chinatown’ is a fairly recent development, and holding in regard the vast diversity of peoples in South East Asia it seems likely that the area nowadays known as Chinatown is not authentically Chinese. The main hypothesis is that Chinatown Singapore is a construct made to attract tourists and not based on historical facts as the area was home to other cultures as well. In short: Chinatown is made through an emplaced culture, and therefore not authentically Chinese. Hence the primary question that is being asked is “How Chinese is Singapore’s Chinatown?”. The secondary hypothesis regards the Singapore Shophouse. Literature suggests that this typology finds its origin on the Southeast coast of China (Davis 2012, 18; Knapp 2010, 81; H. Lee 2003, 115; Tze 2007, 41). However, this is questionable. Hence the secondary hypothesis is that the Singapore Shophouse is not Chinese by origin. Deductive reasoning will be used as it starts with a more general concept that will be defined and becomes more specific in order to point out exactly what makes Chinatown Chinese and indicate which other cultures are present or even more prominent. The same is true for the Singapore shophouse, where firstly the general origins will be researched after which a more detailed analyses of architectural elements will take place.
LITERATURE REVIEW This literature review first explores the similarities and differences concerning the origins of the Singapore shophouse typology. It then continues to investigate the transformation of Chinatown as Singapore developed over time and concludes with the identification of existing research gaps.
ORIGIN Prior to colonization, the island that now makes up Singapore consisted of vast marshlands. When Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819 he found 200-1.000 Malays living there and 20-30 Chinese, and in this same year he signed a treaty with the local chieftain, establishing Singapore as a British trading outpost in the Far East (H. Lee 2003, 116; Tan 1990, 30). This was the start of British colonization in Singapore. These colonial times have been thoroughly documented, providing detailed information on all development aspects. It is therefore not surprising that most authors agree on a lot of aspects concerning spatial layout and other matters that are directly related to British colonization and therefore also to the origins of Singapore’s Chinatown. It is generally agreed upon that the official concept of Chinatown originated from 1822 when Raffles adopted the typical colonial town-planning method, subdividing according to ethnic groupings and even regions, placing the “Chinese Town” south of the Singapore River around today’s Boat Quay with a Chinese Kampong behind to accommodate anticipated growth (Buckley 1965, 83; H. Lee 2003, 119; K. Lee 2015, 17; Heng 2009, 232; Tze 2007, 42; URA 1995, 15). However, Sumiko Tan (1990, 31) argues that Chinatown was already founded in 1821, when hundreds of Chinese arrived from Xiamen in the Fujian province in China after Raffles declared Singapore a free port, and set up home south of the Singapore River, today known as Telok Ayer. It is possible that a missing piece of his argument is that the Chinese set up home south of the river because Raffles obliged them to. As partially described by Sumiko Tan, Chinese communities of Singapore and Malaysia, like those in SEA in general, come from China’s southeastern coastal region and its immediate hinterland (bin Tajudeen 2012, 127; H. Lee 2003, 115; Tan 1990, 31).
The general belief is that these migrants took the design of urban shophouses, a hybrid building form that combines business and housing, in their hometowns and brought the expertise to build them, so creating the prototype for the Singapore shophouse typology (Davis 2012, 18; Knapp 2010, 81; H. Lee 2003, 115; Tze 2007, 41). However, Imran bin Tajudeen claims that the timber shop-cum-dwellings that are unique to coastal ports are said to derive from Dutch antecedents in the 17th century, and were also developed in the Dutch colonial city of Batavia (bin Tajudeen 2012, 217). He adds to this that a lot of shophouses were not only built by the Chinese, but also by other communities (bin Tajudeen 2012, 218). Now there is agreement that not all shophouses within the Chinatown area have been built by Chinese, as an older map from 1822 by Captain James Franklin indicates that a “Malay Town” coexisted with a “Chinese Town”, and the presence of three Tamil Muslim mosques and two Hindu temples dating from the 19th century which indicates that there must have been a large number of South Indian residents (bin Tajudeen 2012, 233; Tan 1990, 32; URA 1995, 15). Lim (1993, 52) agrees with bin Tajudeen that the Singapore shophouse, or “Shophouse Rafflesia”, was influenced by Dutch architecture, but claims it was Raffles who got inspired during his brief stay in Batavia and adjusted building regulations accordingly (Lim 1993, 51). These regulations concern topics like fire safety and regulating property lines and were enforced from 1822. They required buildings to be made from brick, especially the party walls as they function as fire breaks. They also called for the implementation of a “five-foot way”, a continuous colonnaded covered walkway running the length of the fronts or sides of shophouse blocks, resulting in a threshold between the public and private domain and more uniform fronts (bin Tajudeen 2012, 218; Buckley 1965, 84; Davis 2012, 19; Heng 2009, 246; Knapp 2010, 81; H. Lee 2003, 122; K. Lee 2015, 79; Lim 1993, 49; URA 1995, 71). From these requirements, the distinctive Singapore shophouse typology was born. In the following years this typology spread throughout Chinatown and Singapore as a whole.
Chinatown itself grew considerably as more Chinese migrated to Singapore and became subdivided into five sub districts: Telok Ayer 1820’s, Kreta Ayer 1830’s, Bukit Pasoh (early 1900’s), Tanjong Pagar 1920’s, and Ann Siang Hill (Tan 1990, 46; URA 1995, 15). The shophouses evolved from squat, modest unadorned structures into carefully designed ones (bin Tajudeen 2012, 221, 223) (Tan 1990, 47). Over time, five distinct architectural styles can be distinguished: early shophouse (1840-1900), first transitional shophouse style (early 1900’s), late shophouse style (1900-1940) or “Chinese Baroque” according to Tze, second transitional shophouse style (late 1930’s), and Art Deco shophouse style (19301960) (H. Lee 2003; Tze 2007, 46; URA 1995, 71).
CURRENT SITUATION Imran bin Tajudeen (2012, 233) describes how the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) designated and recreated three “ethnic districts” (Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam) to attract tourist to city-state under its 1986 Conservation Masterplan. Stipulated by Tourism Product Development Plan (TPDP) drawn up by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) areas had to portray “exotic Asia” and foster sense of “Oriental mystique” in order to combat decline in tourist arrivals detected in 1983 (bin Tajudeen 2012, 233; Tay 2002, 19). On the 7th of July 1989, Chinatown received conservation status (URA 1995, 7). As a result of this, the traditional shophouses in Chinatown have been revamped and through adaptive reuse, the structures of the buildings are improved whilst their architecture is preserved (Tay 2002, 54). Inevitably Chinatown has changed a lot, however, the question is whether Chinatown’s change has remained “true to its roots” (Tay 2002, 49).
RESEARCH GAPS Researchers like Tay (2002) and Boey (2010) question the authenticity of Singapore’s Chinatown, but do this from a sociological and geographical perspective respectively. Their critique is targeted at the push for rapid development in the immediate years after Singapore’s independence. The urban planning was operationalized through a ‘demolish and rebuild’ philosophy and a lot of shophouses were destroyed
(Boey 2010, 21; Tay 2002, 18). Tay’s
dissertation further critiques the adaptations made by the Singapore Tourism Board, which have transmuted Chinatown into a staged “authentic” glimpse of
Chinese culture during daytime, and a ghost town after 8PM, when the shops close (Tay 2002, 8, 36). However, both Boey and Tay do not look into the architectural heritage. Imran bin Tajudeen (2012) investigated the architectural heritage of shophouses in Melaka and Singapore, but did not look at Chinatown specifically. His research however, does provide valuable insights into the origins of the Singapore shophouse prior to British colonization. He claims that the shophouse has Dutch antecedents (bin Tajudeen 2012, 217). In order to compare shophouse design in Chinatown, the research done by Weebers (2010) on “Dutch” shophouses in Melaka can provide a meaningful framework. In this research he thoroughly analyzes the architectural elements that can be found in shophouses with Dutch influences (Weebers 2010, 2). Tze Ling Li (2007) looked specifically at Telok Ayer, one of the subdistricts within Chinatown to distinguish the specific architectural heritage per building. Though only covering part of the Chinatown area, it provides valuable information on the origins, but also provides a great foundation for further research into the other districts. He created a table with different architectural elements categorized according to style periods and plotted these against genealogical periods (Tze 2007, 44). This same table can be used as a framework to analyze the shophouses in the rest of Chinatown. These other districts, and the architectural heritage of the totality of Chinatown is therefore still univestigated and forms a research gap. Interestingly, based on the response to Tay’s interviews and her own observations, she concludes that “changes and improvements in the physical structure of Chinatown holds less importance and significance to the local community than the changes in Chinatown’s lived experience and meanings” (Tay 2002, 38). Thus, her research suggests that preserving architecture is less important to the general people than preserving traditions and culture. Nonetheless a comprehensive overview of the architectural heritage will provide valuable insights for the field of architecture, and can once and for all dissolve the discussion whether Chinatown is truly Chinese.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY For this research, mixed methods will be used to provide the needed data. The research methods have been categorized into qualitative and quantitative methods.
QUALITATIVE LITERATURE Literature research will provide the historical background, but will also provide theoretical and analytical frameworks to process and document gathered information. Information from colonial times has been very well preserved, providing a great historical overview of official events during the development of Singapore.
CARTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Historical maps of Singapore and specifically the Chinatown area will provide valuable information on the urban development and spatial layout within the area. It can also provide information on the age of different buildings. O BSERVATION Observational research will focus on photographing and documenting the existing architecture in the various districts, to convert this in simple 2D drawings through a CAD program, in a similar way as done by Tze Ling Li in his study (Tze 2007). His research will also provide the analytical framework for the different (ethnic) architectural styles that can be found throughout the area.
QUANTITATIVE STATISTICS Quantitative research will provide information on the demographic qualities of Chinatown over time. This data then supports the qualitative research, making the conclusions more reliable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY The journal article by Tze Ling Li has been annotated as this forms the foundation for this research.
BOOKS Buckley, Charles Burton. An Anectodal History of Old Times in Singapore. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1965. Davis, Howard. Living Over the Store. Abingdon: Routledge, 2012. Knapp, Ronald G. “Shophouses and Terrace Houses.” In Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia, by Ronald G. Knapp, 80-89. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 2010. Lee, Ho Yin. “The Singapore Shophouse: an Ango-Chinese Urban Vernacular.” In Asia's Old Dwellings, by Ronald G. Knapp, 116-134. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Lee, Kip Lin. The Singapore House, 1819-1942. Singapore: National Library Board, 2015. Tan, Sumiko. Streets of Old Chinatown Singapore. Singapore: Page Media Pte Ltd, 1990. Urban Redevelopment Authority. Chinatown Historic District. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1995.
DISSERTATIONS Boey, Augustin Ying Yip, and T.C. Chang. Place, Process, People: Heritage and Creative Destruction in Singapore's Chinatown. Dissertation, Singapore: Department of Geography National University of Singapore, 2010. Tay, Diane Shan Mei, and Maribeth Erb. Singapore's Chinatown: the Search for Authenticity in a Tourist Attraction. Dissertation, Singapore: Department of Sociology National University of Singapore, 2002.
JOURNALS bin Tajudeen, Imran. “Beyond Racialized Representation: Architectural Linguae Francae and Urban Histories in the Kampung Houses and Shophouses of Melaka and Singapore.” Chap. 8 in Colonial Frames, Nationalist Histories, by Mrinalini Rajagopalan and Madhuri Desai, 213-252. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012. Heng, Chye Kiang, and Boon Liang Low. “New Asian Public Space: Layered Singapore.” URBAN DESIGN International, 2009: 231-246. Heng, Chye Kiang, and Cheng Ee Quah. “Reinventing Singapore's Chinatown.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review. Trani: International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE), 2000. 58. Lim, John S.H. “The 'Shophouse Rafflesia': An Outline of its Malaysian Pedigree and its Subsequent Diffusion in Asia.” Journal of the Malaysian Brach of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1993: 47-66. Tze, Ling Li. “A Study of Ethnic Influence on the Facades of Colonial Shophouses in Singapore: A Case Study of Telok Ayer in Chinatown.” Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, May 2007: 41-48.
Tze Ling Li did a thorough study on the shophouses in the area Telok Ayer in Singapore’s Chinatown. He surveyed the area to establish visual streetscape and to measure individual shophouse lots, and take pictures to create accurate street composite image. This information was cross referenced with cartographic record from the National Archive of Singapore as well as site drawings from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), to ensure accurate dimensions of individual façade elements as well as overall composition. This data was then digitalized using a CAD programme. These digitized drawings form empirical basis for the quantative study of ethnic elements on the shophouse. A total of 300 elevations are drawn up, of which three main ethnic influences can be identified from the shophouses across different colonial periods; namely: European Classical, Chinese and indigenous Malay. Also present are ornamentations inspired by the Straits Chinese (descendants of cross marriages between Chinese and indigenous Malays), Indians and Arabs. Elements are characterised in a table, categorized as “European classical",
"Chinese", "Malay", "Others" and "Neutral". And plotted against genealogical periods. This table is useful tool to determine historicity of a shophouse by looking at the different elements. It also describes in depth the 3 main style periods plus the two transitional periods. The article concludes that there is a tug-of war between accepting colonial regulation and European architectural styles while defending and differentiating from them. The constantly evolving composition of the Singapore Shophouse indicates a nation that inherited a multi-racial and multi-cultural immigrant stock. Weebers, Robert C.M., Yahaya Ahmad, and M.A. Zuraini. “Architecture and Typology of "Dutch" shophouses in Melaka.� 5th ASEAN Postgraduate Seminar in Built Environment. Kuala Lumpur: Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya, 2010. 1-9.
IMAGES Chinatown Business Association. Overview Chinatown Map. 2012. Singapore. In Chinatown, http://www.chinatown.sg/displays/images/overviewchinatown/overview-chinatown-map.jpg