It might seem odd to find a "Chinatown" in a country whose ethnic Chinese group makes up the majority, but Singapore's Chinatown ethnic enclave is an accident of history. The British authorities who ruled Singapore till the 1960s decreed separate neighborhoods for the colony's disparate ethnic communities, and this spot was chosen for the Chinese.

As the city-state's Chinese cultural core, Singapore Chinatown today retains some 19th century architecture and plenty of signposts of traditional Chinese culture - temples, restaurants, stores and museums that provide a hands-on experience of the Chinese way of life, even into the present day.

• Culture Crash: Read about Singapore's other ethnic neighborhoods - Kampong Glam and Little India among them - in our overview of Singapore ethnic enclaves. For a guide to the city-state itself, read our Singapore Travel Guide.

Chinatown's Historical Roots

Alarmed at the higgledy-piggledy way his new colony's immigrants had settled around the Singapore River, Singapore founder Sir Stamford Raffles proposed to build a "kampung", or town, reserved for the Singapore Chinese community. A letter of instructions sent to Singapore's Town Committee in 1822 proposes to set aside land in the "Boat Quay south-west bank of the Singapore River" for this purpose. (source)

The new settlers were sorted geographically by social class and by province of origin; the Hainanese, Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese all occupied separate parts of the new settlement.

Each of the Chinese dialects call Chinatown by the same name, translated from English into their respective dialects as "Bullock Cart Water". The name derives from the custom of drawing drinking water from the wells at Ann Siang Hill - the water would be transported back to town on bullock-drawn carts.

(The Malay translation is kereta air, from which Kreta Ayer Road in Chinatown gets its name.)

• Kong Xi: Visit Chinatown during Chinese New Year in Singapore to see this ethnic enclave at its very best - packed to the gills with street shopping, food stalls and Singaporeans in their best clothes and party-mood.

Chinatown's Districts

Chinatown is loosely organized into a number of neighborhoods; most of them take their name from the most prominent street within.

Kreta Ayer is the first part of Chinatown visitors see, as the Chinatown MRT stop exits right into Pagoda Street in this neighborhood. The pedestrianized lanes in Kreta Ayer are lined with shops selling traditional and modern goods, camera stores, and hawker food. Smith Street is the site of the Chinatown Food Street.

Telok Ayer and Ann Siang Hill combined make up one of Chinatown's oldest areas, the former filled with temples dating back to the 19th century, the latter a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood filled with hip watering holes and coffee shops.

• Walk on By: Singapore's parks services provides a handy walking tour of Ann Siang Hill and Telok Ayer Green (offsite).

Tanjong Pagar looks nothing like its old 19th century self - formerly one of Singapore's dirtiest, most crime-ridden areas, a 20th-century cleanup eliminated the triads and rickshaws, transforming it into a neighborhood known for its clan associations, shophouses, and the ever-famous Maxwell Road Food Centre.

• Eat to the Max: Read our guide to Dining at Maxwell Food Centre, Singapore.

Historic Sites in Chinatown

The rapid urbanization of Singapore in the mid- to late-20th-century made short work of much of Chinatown's historical structures. Many old temples, shophouses and clan associations gave way to high-rises and public housing over the course of the last 50 years.

Luckily, a large part of historical Chinatown survived the fever for change, and a number of key historical sites still remain to give witness to Singapore's growth pains as a nation. Temples, mosques, and museums hidden in the shophouse rows provide endless hours of enlightenment for the history buff.

• Sites and Sounds: Read about Singapore Chinatown's Historic Sites.

Eating Out in Chinatown

Singapore food is largely influenced by Hokkien and Hainanese Chinese cuisine - so it's no surprise that the best in Singaporean cuisine has firm roots in Chinatown's hawker stalls and restaurants.

Eating in Chinatown can be an adventure - all you need is the courage to enter a Singaporean hawker stall and try whatever you don't recognize. (start with these ten dishes you should try in Singapore) Hawker centers like Maxwell Road Food Centre and Chinatown Complex have everything to get you started, whether you're a rank newbie or a fearless gourmand.

You can also try streetside dining out on Pagoda, Temple, Serangoon, and Smith Streets - Smith Street in particular is the site of "Chinatown Food Street", the country's first al-fresco street dining venue within a heritage district.

• First Bite: Read about Eating Out in Singapore's Chinatown.

Shopping in Chinatown

As the exponent of Chinese culture in Singapore, Chinatown uses its historical buildings to sell the ethnic cultural experience to the hilt: its renovated shophouses shelter shops for traditional Chinese arts and crafts, clothes, food, jewelry, and traditional medicine.

The stretch down Eu Tong Sen Street/New Bridge Road provides larger shopping outlets like the Majestic (80 Eu Tong Sen Street), Pearl's Centre (100 Eu Tong Sen Street), People's Park Centre (101B Upper Cross Street) and People's Park Complex (1 Park Road).

South Bridge Road is inhabited by shophouses and shopping malls alike - your guide enjoyed visiting China Square Central, a haven for toy collectors. For shopping in a street market setting, hie to Smith Street and Trengganu Street.

• Retail Therapy: Our article on Shopping Centers in Chinatown, Singapore can tell you what places to hit. For an overview of the retail scene in the country, read about Shopping in Singapore.

Where to Stay in Chinatown

Chinatown's shophouses make ideal haunts for boutique hotels, such as those that make up our list of Chinatown, Singapore hotels. For instance, five refurbished shophouses make up the entirety of the Inn at Temple Street (compare rates), which now offers a modern stay experience for its guests.

The northeast extremity of Chinatown (close to Clarke Quay and the Singapore River) is where you'll find the Parkroyal on Pickering (compare rates|view image gallery), a high-end hotel rising 16 storeys over Hong Lim Park. Your guide was fortunate enough to experience it first-hand; for an account, read our review of the Parkroyal on Pickering.

• We've Got Your Back (Pack): For budget accommodations in the area, look through this list of Singapore Chinatown Budget Hotels.

Transportation to Chinatown

Chinatown is extremely easy to get to via MRT - the North-East Line's Chinatown station (NE4) disgorges visitors right into Pagoda Street, in the thick of the action. Exits from the Chinatown station also lead to Upper Cross Street and the People's Park Complex.

The western reaches of Chinatown - Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Pasoh - are better accessed through Outram Park station (NE3). On the other end of Singapore Chinatown, the northern part of Kreta Ayer and Hong Lim Park can be reached via Clarke Quay station (NE5).

Visitors going to Telok Ayer to visit the neighborhood's temples should disembark at Raffles Place station (EW14/NS26).

Three upcoming MRT stations will also service Chinatown in the near future: the Downtown Line's Chinatown station (DT19) and Telok Ayer station (DT18), and Thomson Line's Maxwell station (TS18).

• Train, Boss: For more information on getting around in Singapore, read our overview of Singapore Transportation; find out, too, about riding Riding Singapore's MRT and Buses with the EZ-Link Card.