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 pool Chinese immigrants from China for work and housing. He feels this would create a sense of community among people of the same race and culture, and help them establish themselves 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 of southern China, especially Guangzhou and Fujian. (‘Shophouses’ would be rows of stores that have an upper floor as a residence, where the family and owner of the stores 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 type of uniform front, each with a gallery of some depth, open on all sides as a continuous passageway open on each side of the street. This probably led to the “five-foot road” for which the shops in Chinatown are famous.
In the old Chinatown, many street vendors lined the busy streets to earn a living and provide convenient meals to laborers working near the Singapore River. The streets were also famous for ox carts, which gave the Chinese name “Niu Che Shui” to today’s Chinatown. All kinds of businesses 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 some 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.