The idea of a Chinese town was first conceived by Sir Stamford Raffles, who is the founder of Singapore. Stamford Raffles developed a plan to round up Chinese immigrants from China for work and housing. He feels this would create a sense of community between people of the same race and culture, and help them settle down quickly.
Some researchers have speculated that the shophouses were a fusion of the narrow-fronted houses that are a familiar sight in Amsterdam with those in southern China, especially Guangzhou and Fujian. (‘Shophouses’ would be rows of shops that have an upper floor as a residence, where the family and shop owner usually reside.) Some see it as a duplicate of the Raffles experience in Malaysia. His instructions to the Singapore Town Planning Committee in 1822 stated that the houses should have a uniform type of front, each with a gallery of a certain depth, open on all sides as a continuous passageway and open on each side of the street. This likely led to the “five-foot walk” that Chinatown businesses are famous for.
In the old Chinatown, many street vendors lined the busy streets to make a living and provided convenient meals to laborers working near the Singapore River. The streets were also famous for the ox-drawn carts, which gave the Chinese name “Niu Che Shui” to today’s Chinatown. Businesses of all kinds flourished as more Chinese immigrants arrived and more stores and warehouses were built nearby. But many buildings in Chinatown were destroyed during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II, and there were some that were torn down due to excessive deterioration of the mostly wooden structures. In recent years, through government conservation efforts, many of these buildings have been restored to their former charm, offering a unique window into the past, a glimpse into how early Chinese settlers lived and worked.