Once a tight-knit community of Singapore’s Chinese immigrants, Chinatown nowadays act as a melting pot of various ethnic groups of diverse cultural aspects. During your stay at a luxury hotel in Singapore the likes of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, you can visit the country’s Chinatown for a different adventure from your usual shopping experience.
Chinatown houses the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore
Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown is the oldest of its kind in the country. Its façade showcases colourful sculptures of Hindu deities that offer marvellous photo opportunities.
Singapore has two Chinatowns
The official Chinatown is the famous one by the Singapore River that is featured in most travel brochures. Another Chinatown has popped-up in Geylang which is called the “People’s Chinatown” and is known to offer less expensive rates than its famous neighbour.
Racial segregation by colonisers gave birth to Chinatown
Stamford Raffles, a British coloniser, created a system where the city was segregated into four sections based on ethnicities. The Chinese immigrants were allocated the region near Singapore, hence resulting in the birth of Chinatown.
Sago Street used to have ‘Death Houses.’
Even beyond the days when Sago Street in Chinatown used to house sago factories, the region was morbid as it was filled with ‘death houses,’ which were visited by people to prepare their funerals or wait for their deaths.
