I have been to Chinatown several times especially when I was in primary school and the teacher arranged for class visits to Chinatown for a learning journey experience. As a student, my objective for each learning journey was merely to finish the task assigned by the teacher. I was not curious and did not think there would be many interesting stories behind each historical sites.
However, my recent trip to the Chinatown on the heritage trail with my group members was really an eye-opener and definitely made me appreciate more about Singapore history and its cultural heritage. Chinatown, other than being well known for its traditional shops, markets and cafes, it is actually filled with its own unique history hidden behind each infrastructure as it is one of the early settlements for immigrants when they first arrived in Singapore. As a group, we discussed and shared our views while we moved from site to site. Some of us have better knowledge about a certain place than the other. Hence, going into discussions were useful for the rest of the people to understand and appreciate the site better.
From the heritage trail, one of the sites which left an unforgettable moment in my mind would be the Thian Hock Keng Temple. The elegant looking temple was actually the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore which has more than 100 years of history. Standing at the entrance of the temple, I could imagine the scenarios that happened back in 1850s where people will gather at the temple to pray for calm waves and a safe journey back to their homeland. How i wish i could get to see that scene!
Another interesting site was the visit to Eu Yan Sang. To us, Eu Yan Sang was just a ordinary looking Chinese medical shop which has many branches around Singapore. Neither did i think that there would be a long history behind it. Eu Yan Sang started off with a small, home-grown business, led by Eu Kong who has a mindset of caring for the people and helping to free the collies from addiction of opium. It was such a heartwarming and inspiring story. How I wish I could meet him in real life for it is hard to find someone who has so much passion for humanity!
Over the years, Chinatown has changed to become more modern and the old historical buildings could be hardly seen. However, there are some distinct features kept untouched by the government which will definitely help people learn more about their story and reminisce about the past. Life has always been an easy one for us so tend to be ignorant and take things for granted. We live a sheltered life because of what our forefathers have build for us. Hence, such heritage trail does help us appreciate what our forefathers have achieved and remind us about their hardships.
Thus, this heritage trail reminded me to take some time off my busy schedule and appreciate some of the remaining monuments and sites. The route to Singapore's success was not an easy one and it took us years to achieve that. Hence, I am thankful for the efforts put in by our forefathers. This will also motivate me to work harder and contribute more to Singapore in the future so that the next generations (students) could also experience the fruits of our labors. Overall, it was an enriching and fun trip where i gained new insights and knowledge about the early immigrants' (Chinese, Malays , Indian, Boyanese) culture and contributions to Singapore.
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