Singapore’s Chinatown: Nation building and heritage tourism in a multiracial city

• Main Authors: Yeoh, Brenda S. A., KONG, Lily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Ethnic Enclave; Historic District; Politics of Place; Nation-Building; Heritage Tourism; Singapore; Asian Studies; Human Geography; Urban Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2250; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3507/viewcontent/2_4.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper focuses on the pivotal role played by the state in refashioning the Chinatown landscape as part of both nation-building and heritage tourism projects, and the ensuing cultural politics. After a brief history of the creation of Singapore’s Chinatown, the paper discusses, first, Chinatown’s place in Singapore’s post-independence nation-building project and, second, the reconfiguration of the Chinatown landscape as a tourism asset. The final section reflects on the changing politics of place as Chinatown gains legitimacy in state discourses on heritage, tourism and multiculturalism, as well as in the popular imagination as an ethnic precinct par excellence.