(Source: http://www.chinatownology.com)"When Chinese migrants arrived in host environments, they were usually minorities and congregated together in a particular area. That area became associated with Chinese and gave rise to the term “Chinatown”.
The Chinatown may have evolved naturally, or were results of city planning. Some Chinatowns were designed for the purpose of controlling ethnic Chinese population.
The Singapore Chinatown is known in Chinese as牛车水 (nu che shui) literally translated as Ox Cart Water. The English and Chinese names are not translations of each other.
The concept of Chinatown was imported into Singapore and used as a reference to the area southwest of the Singapore River that Raffles had allocated to the Chinese in 1822. It reflected the spatial concept of British colonial authority and how these spatial notions were transpose from one colony to another.
In Singapore, the Chinese was the fastest growing ethnic group and had become the majority ethnic group by 1836. Social solidarity was expressed on the basis of kinship, clan, dialect, home village, territory, and occupation and through the institution of clan associations.
This explained the increased in number of associations as the economy developed. For example, there were about 50 in the 1900s and more than 200 by the 1940s.
The increased number of clan associations and clubs reflected the complex social division of labour among Chinese as well as the degree of social differentiation requiring different institutions to address new needs.
Although the Chinese did not choose to gather in a particular area in Singapore for mutual protection against the majority population, Chinatown became invested with cultural meanings because important social institutions such as clan associations were established there.
As the Chinese population expanded beyond the original area allocated to the Chinese, these institutions becomes cultural nodes that links each dialect among themselves in Singapore and between them and their ancestral villages in China.
This explains why the Chinese did not use a name that represents their ethnic presence. Instead, the Chinese referred to “Chinatown” as牛车水 (nu che shui), Ox Cart Water.
Ox driven cart was the main technology utilized to distribute water in the area. Given the importance of water, the technology used to distribute water would have made a strong impression on the people in the area and had a great impact on their lives.
That is probably why Chinatown was known as 牛车水nu che shui (ox cart water) to the Chinese and Kreta Ayer (water cart road) to the Malays. Kreta Ayer Road became an official named in 1922.
Chinatown and 牛车水(niu che shui) is now used interchangeable by Singaporeans. To many people, the two terms means the same thing. The ability to use the two names interchangeable also suggests a relativistic mindset typical of people who lived in a place layered with multiple perspectives of history, time and space. "
（Source: http://www.chinatownology.com/chinese%20and%20chinatown.htm )
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"Although largely scarred by redevelopment, Chinatown（Singapore) today still contains pockets of genuinely old shophouses where age-old trades like clog-making and calligraphy continue to be practised. Paper effigies of cars, houses and other material objects are still being made for the deceased. These are then burnt, in the belief that they will raise the standard of living of the deceased in the next world. For tea connoisseurs, a visit to a tea house is a must, not only to relish the flavour of Chinese tea, but also to experience the traditional art of tea-brewing."( Source: Property Information by Wcities )
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