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Chinatown is located at Padungan road, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The most notable streets in the Chinatown are Main Bazaar and Carpenter Street.
Chinatown, Kuching | |||||||
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History
editEarly transportation in South East Asia were heavily dependent on rivers. Therefore, Chinese settlers usually named the first street near the river as "Hai Gan Street" (
To the right of the Court House is Chinese merchant area, while road on the front is muddy. There are different sizes, shapes, and patterns of shophouses and goods. The five-foot store in front is filled with various types of goods.[1]
— Reported by Frederick Bayle in 1863.
By 1872, when the name "Sarawak" was changed to "Kuching", Hai Chun Street shophouses were rebuilt by using red bricks and clay tiles.[3] However, Shun Feng Street retained its wooden attap shophouses. On 20 January 1884 at 1:05 am, a big fire started from the intersection between Attap Street (present day Carpenter Street) and China Street. The fire continued to spread and consumed much of the shophouses on the Shun Feng Street. Only at 6:00 am, the fire was put out by rain. A total of 160 shophouses were burnt. After the fire, Rajah Charles Brooke announced that all the new shophouses should be rebuilt with non-flammable brick walls and grey tiles. Many of the rebuilt shophouses still retained their old architectures. Nowadays, grocery stores, large trading companies, banks, and coffee shops has become a rare sight on the street. They are replaced by shophouses specialised in selling handicrafts to tourists.[1] In the 1880s, Rajah Charles Brooke built a new market at Gambier Street while trying to shift traders from the old market at Hai Chun Street to here. In 1898, Charles Brooke through a Chinese Xin'an pastor, encouraged Xin'an people to migrate from Guangdong, China to plant rice and vegetables at Kuching. Therefore, Xin'an people become a majority of traders in this new market.[5] To ensure Chinese labourers remained healthy and productive, Charles Brooke ordered a cannon to be fired from the Astana at 5 am and 8 pm every day to remind them to ensure their hygiene by taking a bath.[4]
Hainanese people came later than Hokkien and Teochew people. Since businesses were already dominated by other ethnic groups, the Hainanese people left with little choices but to become helpers of colonial officers and doing household work. They mastered skills of making coffee, kaya, bread, curry, and chicken rice. At first, they sell the food items as mobile vendors but later set up coffee shops at Carpenter Street. The first Siang Ti Temple (
Present day Chinatown
editIn the present day, several families staying in Main Bazaar still pursue tin-smithing, carpentry and petty trading while majority of the shops here are antique and handicraft shops with a few coffee shops. Several notable outlets in Main Bazaar are: Native Arts, Nelson's Gallery, Rainforest, Sarawak House, Atelier Gallery and Arts of Asia. Carpenter Street is lying parallel to Main Bazaar.[2] The street is considered backstreet to the Main Bazaar. The street was formerly known as "Attap Street" (亚答
The Tua Pek Kong temple is located at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. Built in 1876, it is oldest Chinese temple in Kuching. The Chinese History Museum is located near the waterfront, opposite the Tua Pek Kong temple. The museum shows the history of Chinese community in Sarawak. The Chinese shophouses at Jalan Padungan were built between 1920 and 1930s when rubber plantation businesses flourished at the time.[7]
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Hong San Si Temple at the eastern corner of Carpenter and Wayang Streets.
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Tua Pek Kong temple at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.
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Paifang entrance into the Carpenter Street.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "
砂州 第 一 街 海 唇 街 被 称 老 巴 刹 (First street in Sarawak - Hai Chun Street is known as Old Bazaar)" (in Chinese). International Times (Sarawak). 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2015. - ^ a b "Main Bazaar and Carpenter Street". Sarawak Tourism Board. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ a b "Main Bazaar – the oldest street in Sarawak". The Borneo Post. 1 December 2013. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
- ^ a b c Lian, Cheng (13 July 2014). "Stroll through time at Carpenter Street". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ "
老 、新 巴 刹将 成 为历史 名 词 (Old and new markets will become historic names)" (in Chinese). International Times (Sarawak). 22 November 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2015. - ^ a b "Exploring Carpenter Street, Kuching". asiaexplorers.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ "Our people - Chinese". Sarawak Tourism Board. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
External links
edit- Media related to Chinatown, Kuching at Wikimedia Commons