You will never believe what I have just found! Whilst packing Ah Gong’s things in his room this afternoon, I found a whole trunk of diaries! A whole trunk! They are dated from as early as 1948.
Jackpottttttttt!
Hmm... there seems to be missing entries (torn out) and some burnt fragments of older posts found in between some of his journals! Sadly most of Ah Gong’s Journals that are intact are smudged due to the moisture or pages stuck together... :( But below are 4 of the few pages I managed to find that aren’t burnt so badly!
I decided to do some research on the places mentioned in Ah Gong's Journal and found some interesting facts.
-/-/1936
Diary reads: "Papa and mama brought me to Nan Tien at No. 70 Eu Tong Sen Street that was completed a few days ago. It is the tallest building in Chinatown. There are many shops and entertainment. Nan Tien even has a lift service by using a car, with collapsible gates, on a pulley system.
After that we went to Majestic Theatre to watch a Cantonese opera. The theatre is located at No. 80 Eu Tong Sen Street and was built back in 1927. Papa told me that Eu Tong Sen built the theatre. Eu Tong Sen was born in Penang in 1877. He is a Malayan Chinese businessman and philanthropist. He donated sums of money to aid in several causes, such as contributing to the building of Raffles College, donating tanks and warplanes to the British during World War I, and also fighting against the opium war, so the street was named after him for his contributions."
Majestic Theatre was designed by Swan and Maclaren, which is the oldest and most prominent architural firm in Singapore, which had also designed Raffles Hotel and many other national monuments. They meant for the facade of this building to be made of mosiac figures depicting opera actors and actresses.
08/10/1938
Diary reads: "When I was young, my father always brings me to the Lai Chun Yuen Opera house, which is located at 36 Smith Street. This is an 834-seat Chinese theatre and is a three-storey building. My father told me that it was built in 1887. During 1910s to 1920s, the theatre hosted performances of famous opera stars. It was so well known that neighborhood residents used it as a reference point. By the 1920s, the theatre was losing its popularity to cinema halls and amusement parks, resulting in fewer performances right up to the 1930s."
Lai Chun Yuen Opera house was rented out to Shaw Brothers after 1940 and renamed Sin Seng Theatre. The centre of entertainment in Chinatown suffered severe bomb-damage during the Second World War (1942-1945). Building was restored and the bombed-out section rebuilt in 1997. By then the building was no longer entertaining audiences, rather operated as a merchandise shop and later a warehouse for street hawkers. It was restored to its Victorian splendour in 1998 and was bought over by a Taiwanese businessman for $50 million. He later donated it to the Taiwan-based Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation which now occupies the premises. The conversion of this shophouse into a commercial complex earned it an entry to the 2002 Unesco's Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
13/12/1938
Diary reads: "I went to Smith Street with my friends today. It is one of the popular and crowded streets that I frequent. In the heyday, the street was lined with lined with hawker stalls. As the popular Lai Chun Yuen theatre is located at Smith Street, my parents often name the street as hei yuen kai or ‘Theatre Street’.
I am always curious who was smith street named after. This afternoon when my father brought me to Smith Street, I asked him who was Smith Street named after? He told me that the street is named after Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, the Governor of the Straits Settlements from 1887-1893.
Smith Street had a darker side, serving as a red light area between 1901 and 1930. There were at least 25 brothels on the street. It was only in 1930, after the Straits Settlement Ordinance No.15 entitled Women and Girl's Protection had come about, that prostitution was brought under control.
Kreta Ayer Complex, located at 335 Smith Street, is also an important focus for off-street cultural activities. It was built in 1986 on what was once the site of the Kempetai (Japanese Military Police) during the Japanese Occupation. It comprises a market and food centre with two residential towers."
28/06/1939
Diary reads: "I walked passed Sago Street and Sago Lane and could not help but feel depressed. Sago Lane housed many 'death houses', which were funeral parlours on the ground floor and residential spaces on the floor above, to people who were living their last days. These death houses existed as the Chinese believed that it was inauspicious to have people pass on in their own homes. Sago Street also became to be known as the 'Street of the Dead', as it sold funeral clothings and paper models of cars and houses, which were to be burnt as offerings to the dead. However, papa told me that it was not always a gloomy place – at the start of the 20th century, Sago Street was lined with numerous prostitution dens, being spread from the neighbouring Smith Street."
One of the few produces from Singapore in the 19th century was sago flour, which was made from sago plants. Apparently, about 30 sago factories were in operation during the mid 19th century along two roads, thus giving them the names Sago Street and Sago lane.
