Singapore is a beautiful conglomeration of numerous cultural and ethnic groups and some of them created an area replicating their homeland and this is reflected in the Chinatown zone where most of the Chinese of Singapore reside. This place is steeped in the Chinese essence, and is an important part of the life of every resident of Singapore. On your visit, you will realize that Chinatown is nothing less than China and is known to the world as one of the most amazing tourist destinations of the island nation. Although not all of the residents in this place are Chinese, and much of the area has been modernized, somehow Chinatown has still been able to retain some of its old world charm. Chinatown and its architecture, the buildings and market complexes have distinctive Chinese flavor with the touch of baroque and Victorian Style and a little hint of Italian and Portuguese. The diversity of Chinatown is vivid in the lifestyles of various Chinese ethnic groups living in different parts of this district, engaged in equally diverse business.
The creation of Chinatown dates back several years to the times when some Chinese left their homeland and came to Singapore for trade and commerce and stayed on. They primarily traded in cloth and silk, medicine, gold and foodstuffs but today you can find a diverse of items being sold in the area by merchants as well as small shops and large malls including antiques, Chinese artifacts, clothing, jewelry and accessories and foodstuffs and spices. Apart from this there are also bales of silk and gold and Singapore T-shirts, medicines, herbs, local fruits all on display for sale. This calls for some excellent shopping opportunities in Chinatown at extremely affordable prices. You can shop for other traditional items such as traditional kites, painted masks, umbrellas made of wax paper, Chinese laquareware and handicrafts in the Tanjong Pagar area. But apart from these traditional touches, you can also find modern items in the various shopping malls including People’s Park Complex, Chinatown Point, OG People’s Park, The Majestic and Pearl’s Centre. These areas call for extensive shopping by the Chinese from all parts of the nation and nearby countries during the Chinese New Year, where the entire area is painted red through the decorations, rendering a fantastic sight.
If you get too tired of shopping, go around visiting some of the most popular tourist attraction areas of Chinatown such as Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Chinatown Heritage Centre, Jamae Mosque, Sri Mariamman Temple and Thian Hock Keng Temple. After this, get yourself nicely pampered at the spas of Rustic Nirvana and Qimantra. And when hungry, go ahead and have some lovely flavors at the numerous restaurants.
Browse through the links of visittosingapore.com to know all about Singapore, as the site not only provides information on Chinatown, but also other interesting areas of this nation. So enjoy surfing!
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