The living conditions of Chinese immigrants
The first Chinese immigrants came from Riau(a province of Indonesia) and Malacca (a malaysian state) many belonged to the Baba community. In February 1821, the first junk from China arrived and soon many others followed. Most of these Chinese immigrants were poor farmers,labourers or craftsmen.The Chinese has been in Singapore for a long time and they did not live like us in the past.They lived in tougher times and had a hard time earning money for a living. Many of them took on hard and laborious jobs in order to send money back to their families. They were employed in mines, ports, in rubber and other plantations, in clearing jungles,on construction sites,loading and unloading cargo,dulang washing and many more.
The first Chinese immigrants came from Riau(a province of Indonesia) and Malacca (a malaysian state) many belonged to the Baba community. In February 1821, the first junk from China arrived and soon many others followed. Most of these Chinese immigrants were poor farmers,labourers or craftsmen.The Chinese has been in Singapore for a long time and they did not live like us in the past.They lived in tougher times and had a hard time earning money for a living. Many of them took on hard and laborious jobs in order to send money back to their families. They were employed in mines, ports, in rubber and other plantations, in clearing jungles,on construction sites,loading and unloading cargo,dulang washing and many more.
Samsui Woman
The Samsui women were a proud and independent lot.They wore a red head dress which was how people usually identify them by. The red head dress was a square piece of blood-red cloth folded in a way that it sat like a fairly large rectangular roof on their heads. Their hair was combed into a bun or towchang and tucked under the red cap. The towchang was a mark of their spinsterhood. They dressed in a stiffly starched black tunic-and-trouser suit, protected by an apron. The sandals they wore were pieces of rubber cut out from used tyres and fashioned on their own with a strap.
Even though they could have went into prostitution, opium peddling and various vices, they chose to go into hard labour by finding employment in tin mines, rubber estates, on construction sites and as "domestic servants". They were hired extensively at construction sites in the 1950s. They carried rocks, dug holes and conducted menial work that defied their small physical stature.The Samsui women saved money for retirement and for trips back to China to visit relatives. They communicated with their families through letter writers and faithfully sent money back. Although some finally retired in China, many became too old to travel.
Their hard work contributed to Singapore's development, both as a colony and as a nation.
Chinese Coolies
Chinese coolies formed the early backbone of Singapore's labour force, engaging mainly in hard physical labour. They were mainly impoverished Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore in the later half of the 19th century. Chinese coolies were driven by poverty in China to seek a better life in Singapore, but serving as indentured, unskilled labourers. Coolies were employed in almost every sector of work including construction work, plantation work, in ports and mines and as rickshaw pullers. Coolies worked as rickshaw pullers, trishaw riders and farmers. They were employed in mines, ports, in rubber and other plantations, in clearing jungles and on construction sites. They did back-breaking tasks such as loading and unloading cargo and dulang washing or tin ore mining under the scorching sun. It was a common sight in early Singapore to see coolies carrying gunny sacks filled with commodities such as spices and sugar near the Singapore river.The coolies suffered much hardship, they were very poor and lived in cramped dwellings with no windows and light. Many of the jobs taken by coolies involved hard labour, taking a toll on their bodies. They were given to opium inhaling to relieve their tired bodies of its soreness and to gambling in an attempt to escape from their misery. The whites and wealthy Chinese employed the coolies mainly because of their willingness to work hard for little money. The coolies were the backbone of early Singapore's economy because they generated growth for the economy and caused the country to prosper. As Singapore developed economically, the need for coolies declined. With Singapore's independence in 1965, came new laws and radical economic restructuring. Modern technology was developed and incorporated at a fast pace which included use of machines in freight transport. The coolies in the harbour were no longer needed. Similarly the need for coolies in other areas of work too declined. This forced the coolies to look to other means of living. Few Chinese coolies went back to China later but most coolies settled down in Singapore doing other odd jobs.
Chinese Brothels in Singapore
Once in a brothel, the girls were often subjected to beatings and received little or no medical attention. Seeing no other escape from their living hell, they normally took their own lives. Most them jumped from the brothels that they were working at. Some of them took the easy way of committing suicide. They died of opium overdose.
The most infamous street at the turn of the 20th century was the Smith street which was lined with 25 three and four storey shop houses packed with prostitutes.
Sexually-transmitted disease became rampant and the epidemics swept though. Chinatown,
leading to passing of the contagious diseases ordinance in 1870,
requiring brothels to be registered and prostitutes to be examined
medically for disease. In 1887, the ordinance was repealed,
and the registration of brothels was stopped in 1894. Without
the controls in place, the number of brothels increased. These brothels came
to stop in 1930.
These brothels were actually a job for the Chinese immigrant but the job
either lead them to death or poverty as they normally spent their
earnings on opium so that they could relieve themselves
from stress that they were given.
Living conditions
1.How did people with families live?
2 i)How did those people working live?can say how samsui woman , coolies live
ii)How did the people with ‘more money’ live?
Compare the two in terms of their status even though they are of the same race
- Chinese families mostly lived in the area of Chinatown. They lived in a overcrowded and in a stuffy state as Chinatown at that time faced overcrowding. Sir Stamford Raffles appropriated all of the land southwest of the Singapore river for the accommodation of the Chinese as the Chinese community was and still is the largest community in Singapore. The different classes of Chinese lived separately. The Chinese families lived in hard living conditions. Most of them lived in shop-houses. The occupants of these shop-houses or terraced houses lived in cubicles-sordid, dark, grimy and self-contained living areas. The corridors that divided the cubicles were very narrow. The entire belongings of the occupants were in the corner of the cubicle-the storage boxes and a board which double up at night as a bed. The night-soil were collected in buckets to be removed. This unsanitary disposal led to numerous effects such as Beri-Beri ,Malaria and Tuberculosis.
2 i) Everyday, the Chinese had a laborious and exhausting day and at the end of the day,they did not make that much money.For instance,the chinese coolies suffered much hardship, they were very poor and lived in cramped dwellings with no windows and light adding to that, they took on many jobs that involved hard labour and thus taking a toll on their bodies. They were given to opium inhaling to relieve their tired bodies of its soreness and to gambling in an attempt to escape from their misery.Similar to the coolies and other people working,the samsui women lived in cramped shophouses. Awaking before dawn, they prepared their breakfast-cum-lunch before assembling with other Samsui women to go to work everyday. They were taken in lorries to construction sites or they walked to the place themselves.Outside of work,they had meals which were sparse with cooked rice, some bean cheese and a bit of pickled or fresh vegetable everyday after that,they smoked a cigarette of chinese tobacco. After work they went home with a few pieces of wood to use for their cooking. In the evenings they would chit-chat with other Samsui women. This was what they did daily before they retired.Some of the coolies and samsui women returned to their homeland,China, after they made enough money or the problems in China have stopped.The others stayed in Singapore and return to China every once in a while and also sent money back to their relatives.
The way the wealthy Chinese and poor Chinese lived their lives were worlds apart.
Group member: Say Huey Ning (research)
Xiao Jia Xi (research)
Darryl (museum)
Hye Jun (blog)
Hafiy (museum)
Kevin (museum)
2ii) The rich chinese and whites employed the coolies mainly because of their willingness to work hard for little money and they had no problems other than overdosing opium since they had the money to buy big amounts of opium to satisfy their needs.In terms of where they live,the wealthy could choose to live anywhere they wanted while the poor were forced to live in cramped areas such as in shophouses located in Chinatown. The franchising of the opium trade to wealthy Chinese businessmen made them rich and the government received most of their revenue from it. The wealthy Chinese lived in very prominent and luxurious houses. One such house is the Former Sun Yat Sen Villa. The house was bought by many prominent Chinese such as Lim Ah Siang who was the leader of the Teo chew secret society ,Ngee Heng Kongsi.Lim Ah Siang was the towkay of a vast timber business in Johor and Singapore and had bought the house for his aged mother. This suggests that wealthy Chinese lived in luxurious homes and had an easy but dangerous life.
The way the wealthy Chinese and poor Chinese lived their lives were worlds apart.
Group member: Say Huey Ning (research)
Xiao Jia Xi (research)
Darryl (museum)
Hye Jun (blog)
Hafiy (museum)
Kevin (museum)
Sources:
http://ewzzit.com/stories/history-the-brothels-of-colonial-singapore
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/singapore/facts_old_singapore/329/history_of_old_singapore_chinatown.php
http://remembersingapore.wordpress.com/former-sun-yat-sen-villa/ http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/singapore/facts_old_singapore/329/history_of_old_singapore_chinatown.php
