Joo Chiat is a historic area in Singapore known for its great food, and beautiful old shophouses that have (thankfully) not been demolished.

It is also the place where Ambassador-at-Large Chan Heng Chee and her younger brother, Chan Heng Wing, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent their early years. The siblings are well-known public figures who have served as Singapore's ambassadors to countries, such as the United States (Heng Chee, 1996-2012) and Thailand (Heng Wing, 2002-2005).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Chan Heng Chee (left) and Chan Heng Wing (right). Source: URA Facebook[/caption]

In an article published in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Skyline magazine, the Chan siblings shared their memories on what it was like growing up in Joo Chiat.

The Chan family moved into the shophouse at 125 Joo Chiat Place, when they returned to Singapore from Malacca after the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945). Heng Chee was almost three years old back then.

125 Joo Chiat Place is among a row of adjoining shophouses that still stands today. The double-storey shophouse was built in the 1920s in the Transitional-Style.

Here is what it looks like in the present day:

The Chan siblings recalled that the Joo Chiat Place area was a culturally diverse with many Peranakan, Indian, and Chinese families living side by side.

Heng Chee said in the article:

“There was a lot of respect for the cultural differences. People also showed their differences in the colours they used, the things in their houses, and the ways they observed festivities.

I would say Joo Chiat Place made me very aware of multiracialism and being very comfortable with it.”

The old-style roving hawkers that plied the area in the past was among Heng Wing's recollections of the area. In those days, hawkers peddling food, such as mee goreng and char kway teow, would rove in the area, and signal their presence to residents through the distinctive tik-tok sounds they made with their utensils.

Heng Wing also reminisced about his Peranakan-Chinese neighbours sharing things with his Cantonese family, such as assam, which along with Peranakan food, the Chan family loved.

On visiting the 125 Joo Chiat Place and the surrounding area recently, Heng Chee said of her childhood home:

“The feeling I had was I grew up here, it’s a nice neighbourhood now.

I am just glad that my old home is not violated by somebody who decided to paint it shocking pink!”

Having both lived overseas for many years, the old shophouse that the Chan siblings spent their childhood in holds strong and special memories for them.

Heng Wing calls the the shophouse a physical "reference point" in his life, and makes it a point to drive by 125 Joo Chiat Place whenever he is in the neighbourhood.

For Heng Chee, her childhood home is a place in Singapore that is meaningful for her to return to after being away for many years. She says that for others, it could be a park or somewhere that one has many strong memories of. Through this combination of memories and meaning attached to places, heritage and conservation makes a city lovable.

The full article, which is worth a read, is available here.

Top image from URA Facebook and Google Street View.

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