Chin Chew Street

Background

Chin Chew Street, in Chinatown, connects South Bridge Road and China Street. An Indian residential area in the 1820s,¹ it later became synonymous with the samsui women who made this street their home in the early 20th century.² 

History
Chin Chew is thought to be a loose transliteration or a form of slang to refer to the city of Ch'uan-chou (Quanzhou) in the Fujian province of China.³ Being in the vicinity of Cross Street – a former Indian enclave where many Indian boatmen lived and operated shops selling goat’s milk, mutton and herbs, Chin Chew Street began as an Indian residential area in the early 19th century.⁴ The road originally consisted of another portion called Upper Chin Chew Street. Until the 1930s, Upper Chin Chew Street was a hive of activity due to the many music halls, restaurants, theatres and brothels located there.⁵ This portion of the road was expunged to make way for the Hong Lim Complex constructed in 1979–80.⁶

In the mid to late 19th century, Chin Chew Street became a Chinese commercial area; many beancurd cottage industries and sellers once thrived on the street. In the early 20th century, this street, along with Upper Chin Chew Street, was the home of many samsui women, who were construction labourers from the Sanshui (“Samsui” in Cantonese) district of China's Guangdong province. The women lived in tiny and squalid spaces within dingy shophouses that lined the streets.⁷

Description
Urbanisation saw the street transformed into a modern commercial-cum-residential location. On 18 January 1997, the street became part of the China Square Conservation Area, which is made up of South Bridge Road, Hokkien Street, Nankin Street, Pekin Street, Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street.⁸


Variant names
Chinese names: Tau-hu koi (Hokkien) and Tau-fu kai (Cantonese), both of which mean "beancurd street", referring to the beancurd industries and sellers on this road.⁹
Tamil name: Arampillei sadakku, which means "Arampillei's road".¹⁰
Others: "Black cloth street", a reference to the samsui women who once lived there.¹¹ 



Author
Thulaja Naidu Ratnala



References
1. Victor R. Savage and Brenda S. A. Yeoh, Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2013), 75. (Call no. RSING 915.9570014 SAV-[TRA])
2. Chan Kwee Sung, “Multiple Storeys Their Story,” Straits Times, 6 November 1999, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
3. Mak Lau Fong, The Sociology of Secret Societies: A Study of Chinese Secret Societies in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1981), 137. (Call no. RSING 366.095957 MAK)
4. Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 75, 95.
5. Chinatown: An Album of a Singapore Community (Singapore: Times Books International, 1983), 57–61 (Call no. RSING 779.995957 CHI); Norman Edwards and Peter Keys, Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (Singapore: Times Books International, 1988), 455. (Call no. RSING 915.957 EDW-[TRA])
6. Edwards and Keys, Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, 402, 455; Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 390.
7. Chan, “Multiple Storeys Their Story”; Chan Kwee Sung, Take Me to Watercart Street,” Straits Times, 4 February 2002, 6 (From NewspaperSG); Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 75.
8. “China Square,” Urban Redevelopment Authority, accessed 8 June 2020.
9. Edwards and Keys, Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, 402, 455; H. T. Haughton, “Native Names of Streets in Singapore,” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 42, no.1 (215) (July 1969): 199 (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources website); Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 75, 390.
10. Edwards and Keys, Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, 455; Haughton, “Native Names of Streets in Singapore,” 206.
11. Chinatown, 58; Peter K. G. Dunlop, Street Names of Singapore (Singapore: Who’s Who Publishing, 2000), 49 (Call no. RSING 959.57 DUN-[HIS]); Edwards and Keys, Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, 455; Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 75.



The information in this article is valid as at May 2020 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.