A checkers game in Singapore's Chinatown 23 Aug 2016

Posted on 23 Aug 2016
A chess game in Singapore's Chinatown
A chess game in Singapore's Chinatown
A chess game in Singapore's Chinatown

About this photo

Beneath the gleaming glass and steel skyscrapers of Singapore's financial district lies the colourful hubbub of Chinatown, with old temples, restored shophouses and busy markets. A stroll in Chinatown still reveals contrasting vignettes that make the district a fascinating blend of the past and the present. Discover the area for yourself with Insight Guides' Uniquely Singapore holiday, which takes in a tour of Chinatown and its culinary delights. 

On this tour, you will see beautifully refurbished shophouses that are now home to trendy advertising agencies and fashionable bars; they stand shoulder to shoulder with decaying shophouses selling an assortment of antiques and bric-a-brac. And in the shopping centres and on the streets that thread through Chinatown, handmade puppets, opera masks, silk clothing, herbs and traditional Chinese furniture are sold alongside computers and other electronic goods.

Chinatown has its fair share of Buddhist and Taoist temples. But one of the most curious things about the neighbourhood is that it harbours some of the island’s best-known Hindu and Muslim shrines. China­town, like Singapore’s other ethnic enclaves, reflected a healthy eclecticism that has survived to this day.
 

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Robby Fakhriannur/Shutterstock