In the 1920s and 1930s visitors and immigrants to Singapore would arrive by boat usually from the southern ports of China like Xiamen, Guangzhou and to a lesser extent Hainan island. Quite a number of these arrivals would pass through Hong Kong which even then was a bustling port which seafront was in the night brightly lit up with imposing buildings. Even in the day, the seafront along Hong Kong harbour was packed with junks and people on the bund hurrying about their businesses.
A junk in Hong Kong Harbour.
For many of these arrivals the first sight of Singapore was often disappointing. An old lady in the 80s told me, "The city was dull. The buildings looked uniform and dusty - brownish, gray. When you see the city from the sea as your ship was coming into the harbour, the whole seafront was drab; it lacked the hustle and bustle of the Hong Kong waterfront and the frenzied rushing of the junks as they criss crossed the harbour."
"What if you reach Singapore in the night?" I asked.
"It was even more disappointing," was the reply, "Remember we were coming in search of a better life. The city was not inviting. The buildings along the waterfront were not lit up in the night and even the waterfront was dimly lit when compared with the bright signboards and advertisements of Hong Kong. Believe me, our hearts sank and it was a while before we got back our optimism and belief about the good living we would see in Singapore."
Hong Kong Harbour
Well, appearances may be deceptive but first impressions count and this first sight was often where the myth was born, of a humid, inhospitable, jungle filled landscape with its strange customs, sights and smells that constituted "Nanyang", the South Seas where the Malayan peninsula, Singapore and the Southern archipelago were strewn across the steaming, wet equator.
In the next few posts I will write about the land these immigrants came from and try to correct a few popular misconceptions about them.
No comments:
Post a Comment