Chinatown Historical Street

Sago Street – Street Of The Dead

Death houses once lined both sides of Sago Lane. A death house was literally where the poor came to die. Most of Singapore’s poor Chinese immigrants lived in overcrowded quarters, where there was hardly enough space for the living, let along the dying. This, coupled with the superstition that dying in one’s home brought bad luck to the remaining residents, led to the creation of death houses. Medical care and facilities at the death house were minimal, for those who entered did not expect to recover. Rooms and dormitories offered the dying a place to rest, while the attached funeral parlours ensured a proper burial.

The dead person would be laid out in a Chinese coffin surrounded by colourful paper effigies of worldly goods, such as money, cars, and houses. The effigies would then be burnt with some personal items belonging to the deceased. This ritual symbolized the assurance that wealth and comfort await him in the spirit world.

As dismay they were, death houses were a vital part of the Chinatown community. They were outlawed in 1961 and shops selling funeral paraphernalia sprung up in their place

Smith Street – Red Lanterns & Private Chambers

At the turn of the 20^th century, Smith Street was lined with brothels. With the number of male immigrants far exceeding female immigrants, prostitutes in colonial Singapore did a roaring trade. The three and four storey shophouses on Smith Street werer packed with prostitutes. Most of Smith Street’s brothels were Chinese, but two were Japanese. Amongst them, no. 65 was said to be the most notorious.

Life as a prostitute was horrendous. Once in a brothel, the girls were often subjected to beatings, and received little or no medical attention. Riddled with diseases, these pitiful women were often also murder victims. For instance, the brothel keeper of no. 65, Loh Sai Soh, was stabbed in the chest when she attempted to stop a customer from leaving without paying. Seeing no other escape from their living hell, a number of these prostitutes took their own lives. While some threw themselves off buildings, others preferred a more subtle method – an opium overdose.