Tours to Chinatown

A massive clearance and redevelopment programme by the Singaporean government in the 1960s and 1970s destroyed much of the traditional charm of this old Chinese quarter, where immigrants from Canton and Fujian provinces settled in the 19th century. The antique shop-houses have been garishly modernized, and the main streets colonized by bistros and souvenir shops, but the atmosphere of old-China lingers in many of the side streets, where numerous temples, clan halls, Chinese bakers and medicine outlets survive.