Singapore And Its Ethnic Neighbourhoods
Although in Singapore, there is racial and religious harmony between all races, Singapore still preserves the four ethnic neighbourhoods that were created by Raffles in a plan called the Jackson Plan. This was because he was displeased with the layout of houses at that time. This led to the creation of Chinatown, Chulia Kampong currently known as Little India, Kampong Glam and the European Town which together with Raffles Place is now known as the Downtown Core. I will only be describing one of the neighbourhoods; Chinatown.
Chinatown. To me, it is synonymous with a crowd. This is due to the fact that it is a tradition for Chinese to go there with their families to shop for new year goodies. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Chinese New Year is celebrated here in Singapore. It is festival with two days of holidays and the start of the new year on the lunar calender. In China, it marks the end of winter and the start of spring too. At Chinatown, we are able find all sorts of things there such as qi pao which are traditional Chinese skirts and all kinds of traditional clothing. There are also many nice sweets and love letters and even octagon containers that are split into eight where eight different kinds of sweets are put in them. Then, there will be the dried persimmons which are very sweet. When we are there, we will make it a point to buy it and we open them when we reach home to enjoy. We will also buy a pussy willow is very beautiful when we put it in our vases as decor. There is also a shop selling aloe vera as food. Yup, it is that sharp plant that has spiky leaves. These leaves are very special and have a kind of jelly in it that can be eaten with honey. Tasty.
However, there are cons to going there as well, especially during the festive season. This is because there will always be a crowd there and for people who drive there, finding a parking lot is like finding a needle in a haystack when you are late. Then, walking through the crowd of never ending people well sure get hot and sweaty. Then, you have to struggle not to get separated from your parents. Then, finding what you need is very difficult because it is usually quite hard to find the goods that you need as you will have to scour the whole labyrinth of shops before finally getting all the things you need. That is why I never found it a great joy to be able to go there.
Still, I hear someone asking what Chinatown looks after the festive season. Well, it becomes very bare. This is because there will not be anyone who will go there after Chinese new year so there will not be anybody setting up stalls there to sell their goods.
Picture: Wikipedia |
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