- Day 9 -

Chinatown

We find that in many cities around the world, we can almost always find a Chinatown, with its charateristic architecture of low-level shophouses along a street. It is a place where the Chinese culture is supposed to be the strongest, and often taken as a preserved heritage of the country. It is a place where the Chinese gathered and lived. Often, the unofficial guideline is taken as everything within the gates of the Chinatown is considered Chinese. But what exactly is so "Chinese" about it? The appearance? Or the rows of street peddlers on both sides of the street?

In older days, I would imagine there were many street shop-owners selling foodstuff and some everyday goods. They serve as convenient shops for the residents living nearby. I used to hear my mother say about the times where all she had to do to get breakfast was to lower a basket from the second storey when the"tok-tok mee" man came around.

However, we find that many of these Chinatowns have been adapted to become simple "pasar malam", or street markets, where people peddle goods (mostly fake I guess). These often include souvenirs, key chains, T-shirts, accessories, bags, shoes and toys. And the funny thing about it, is that in many places , it is more of a tourist attraction - the prices of the goods sold there are often not considered cheap to the locals; the shop-owners are hoping to earn a lot more by selling to visiting tourists. Locals know where to get these products at cheaper prices.

It is the brute force of the economy.

Chinatown has the advantage of having tourists who are rich enough, or willing to spend more than the average local. And being a smart stall-owner, there is really little commercial logic why you would want to price the goods lower to the levels local consumption. And with the shophouses being sold (presumably at high prices) for more shops to flourish, and the lure of better housing, the number of residents within Chinatown has dropped so low that trying to make a living selling cheap noodles, like the age-old "tok-tok mee" man, is simply financially impossible.

Unknowingly, Chinatown has evolved over the years from a place where the Chinese lived in all their lives, where we can catch glimpses of their lives, into simply an open-air shopping district for tourists to buy "cheap" goods.

So, what are we preserving?


Teaching Chinese culture to kids


Chinatown, as it is now...