Chinatown was the Chinese enclave created in the early 1820s under the guidelines of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles’ Town Plan. The Plan envisaged allocating specific areas to the different ethnic groups in Singapore for ease of administration. During the colonial period, Chinatown housed most of the major Chinese dialect groups. Even with the relocation of most of its residents into government flats in the nation’s post independence years, Chinatown continues to hold both cultural and historical significance for the local Chinese community.
