Chinatown Heritage Centre has finally reopened recently after being closed for renovation since 2020. There was previously an opening promotion which offered free entry to Singaporeans and permanent residents. I didn’t have the chance to visit the centre during the promotion’s validity period (until 16th February 2025 only) unfortunately. Hence, I have to pay SGD15 for entry now (it’s SGD25 for adult foreigner). That’s quite a hefty price too for a museum admission.
The heritage centre is located at the Pagoda Street, a bustling and vibrant pedestrian street lined with souvenir stalls right at the heart of Singapore’s Chinatown. The ethnographic museum comprises three levels of galleries across three beautifully restored shophouses and has meticulously recreated the original interiors of its 1950s shophouse tenants, offering an authentic glimpse into the lives of Chinatown’s early residents.
My tour of the museum took nearly 2 hours. I was actually quite mesmerized by the huge amount and the meticulous details of recreations on display. I was able to see many antique household items and some even brought back some nostalgia to me personally (that implies that I’m not young anymore and I do use some of those items back when I was a kid like the traditional Chinese enamel potty, wooden clogs, etc).
Seeing those recreated tiny and poor cubicle rooms (where the Chinese migrants over here used to live) also reminded us on the hardship that our forefathers had been through to provide us with what we have today and we should be grateful for that. Life in those days (except the wealthy businessmen) was never easy especially in a place so unfamiliar and far away from their motherland.
The museum also highlight the stories of death houses (places set up to house terminally ill immigrants), several old Chinese businesses that flourish till the present days, traditional Chinese festivals, and common communal activities/places back in those days such as gambling, opium or prostitution dens, street hawkers, Chinese opera, ‘cinema-on-wheels’, etc.