The Buildings

Among the residents of Jalan Kampong Cina, the road is unofficially divided into 2 sections. The section from Sri Malaysia Hotel down to the bridge is referred to as `phor` and the section from the bridge down to the market is known as `pasat`. `Pasat` is actually a colloquial Hokkian for `pasar` - a Malay for market. On both sides of the Road are about 200 double and single storey buildings, some are fully concrete and some semi-concrete.  The floors of top storeu were made of wooden planks, not like the modern 2 stories buildings. I suppose some of these brick buildings are easily more that 200 years old, and must have been built by builders from China as roofing tiles and patterns of the roofs suggest. Some of the roofs had been replaced by modern roofing sheets, as the broken tiles could not be replaced. (The single storey buildings have zinc roofs)

Some of the pillars of the top stories have beautiful carvings too.  In the old days, those rich had a peculiar way of building houses. If they had big plot of land, they would built 1 big house in the centre and a small house, one on each side (Nos. 31, 33 & 35). But certain houses could be very illusive when you look at them from the front view, the 2 small houses which flank the big one in the centre are about 15 feet long only. Their back portions are part of the main big house. One of such houses is No. 86,  which have a big relief of Chinese character `TECK SOON` flank by 2 lions standing on their hind legs holding on to the Chinese characters. The house belonged to a very rich man known by the name of Tou Kay Wee Kim Hee.  Formaly, the front portion of this big house was the same as No. 29 (which I will describe below). It was demolished and renovated for commercial purpose by TAN ENG LEONG.

One particular house which attracts me the most is house No. 29. It retained its originality as it was first built. It is the ancestral house of Dato Wee Beng Kwee, whose father was once the Kapitan China of Chinatown. The 2 pieces main door is 4 ft. wide and 8 ft. high and have Chinese character TECK SOON, each character curved on each piece of the doors. The doors are in the inner wall. On the outer side of this door are 2 pieces partial doors of about 5 ft. high with geometrical patterns arranged from pieces of woods. The main door is flank by 4 ft. high windows, and are about 4 ft. from the ground. The windows are barred to prevent intruders when they are opened. The front of the top floor has balcony with vases-liked blue ceramics arranged with spaces in between to form about 3 feet high partition for it.

One block of 2 houses, Nos. 135 & 137, one occupied by KLINIK LEONG , another by  Syarikat Poh Joo Song had a typical Islamic feature on top, was built by a rich Malay man. The houses are now placed under `Bangunan Wakaf, in the care of `Majlis Agama Islam Dan Adat Melayu` (MAIDAM). As for house Nos. 151 & 153, other than the floral reliefs on the upper half of the 3 ground level pillars, the upper floor pillars are lined with beautiful floral tiles. As far as I can remember, house no. 151 was formally occupied by a Malay businessman dealing in agriculture products. House No. 153 was formally occupied by the family of Professor Chew Teng Beng, a renounced artist. The front part of the house was as that of No. 29, only that the walls below the window were decorated with colourful tiles. When new owner took over the house, that beautiful front portion was demolished and renovated for commercial use. But the 5 foot way of these 2 houses still retained its floral tiles. The 2 houses are now belong to Mr. Tan Kee Koon. He retained the original top portion of the roof of his residence, No. 153, and that of No.151 is renovated for bird nest farming. Beside Jalan kampong Tiong, stands a Taoist Temple – OH ANN KEONG Temple. Before it was raze on the night of 9^th. Day of 1^st. Lunar Month 2010 (22.02.2010), it housed a 200 years plus wooden Image of MAZU – Goddess of the Sea, which was brought by early Hokkien community from Fujian in Southern China. That old temple was built by builders from China, with donations from Hokkien community when they made their settlement in Kampong Cina more than 200 years ago. ( Certain record stated that Chinese traders came here in the 15^th.centuary and established an exquisite Chinese town in the mist of traditional Malay communities.) Donations for restoration for razed temple came from people of all walks of life and organisations of Chinese community. A total of more than 1.5 million Ringgit was collected and the Temple was officially open on 30.12.2011.

 Before the construction of Jalan Kampong Tiong in early 1970`s, there were 2 more houses next to the Temple – one was a Cantonese tailor shop and another `Ah Phong` fried mee seller. Against the wall of “Ah Phong`s” house there were a couple of stalls – one was `Sin Bu`, father of `Bu Wan` of Kg. Tiong coffee stall, selling his famous `ice kachang` and another stall belonged to `Apek Lau`, father of Mr. Lee Leng Seng of JKR, selling hot drinks and other tit-bits popular with children.  

From 1960`s onward, there were few developments which in a small way change the sky line of China Town. All those old and eye-soaring wooden houses were torn down, one by descendent of original owner while 3 others by new owners, and new modern buildings took their places.

(1)      House No. 155 stands on the original site of my auntie`s house, mother of Wee Teng Hong, a run-down house which had no roof in the front `shop` area except the front wall and door. It had a typical interior structure of most old buildings. Once you passed the front `shop` area, there was a rest area, the court-yard has a row of 2 or 3 rooms by its side, then comes the kitchen and dining area. Some had extensions for drying clothing. When my auntie moved to No. 168A, Jalan Lorong Haji Jamil, the house was occupied by `Mali Cheng~, sister of Dato` Chee Peck Kiat. It was later bought by a man from Dungun and the present house was built.

(2)       House No. 155A & 155B are actually standing on a vacant land. At the back of that land near the river, there were a couple of `henghua` families lived there. One of them was the family of lady boss (Ah Choon) of Yong Seng Furniture in Jalan Tok Lam.

(3)       As for the site of house No. 157, (TECK SOO TRADING), there were actually 2 wooden houses there. One was a hainanese barber, the family house of Mr. Foo Chong Aik, an active member of Terengganu Buddhist Association. The other house was a ~chap fun` restaurant which catered for lunch only. The daughter, Yen Fong, married to `Uncle Yeo`, a volunteer cook of Terengganu Buddhist Association.

(4)      The land on which a building which house Tzu Chi Buddhist Organisation originally had 2 wooden houses – one was a hainanese tailor (brother of Cheng Beng of famed Eastern Sports Tailor in Jln. Kampong Dalam) and another was a henghua barber. There is a lane beside it, now known as Green Lane Chinatown (Lorong Mesra Alam Kampong Cina) which led to the back lane, Jalan Lorong Haji Jamil. Behind these 2 wooden houses was the residence of landlord –`Po` Tain Lay, whose grand-daughter (daughter of Choon Tee) married a rich man who built a present concrete building to replace the 2 old wooden houses.

I suppose to preserve all these old architectural beauties which blended with 20^th. century buildings prompted Malaysia Heritage Association to select China Town as one of the `100 most endangered site` and placed under the United Nation`s UNESCO World Monument Watch Programmes in 1997. Annual grants were given to ensure beautification and preservation of pre-Colonial buildings of heritage significant.  I pray the future Authorities will preserve China Town as it is.