The colourful past of Chinatown comes alive within the walls of these three beautifully-restored shophouses on Pagoda Street, comfortably nestled in the midst of Singapore's bustling Chinatown district. Every nook and cranny in the Chinatown Heritage Centre pulsates with the memories of yesteryear, offering an experience like no other as one is transported to Chinatown in the budding years of Singapore's establishment as a seaport. From the desperate hopefulness of the many "Sinkheh" (new migrants) - risking life and limb to embark on an arduous journey from the various Chinese provinces to the promised land of Singapore - to the raw, seedy and underground practices of gambling dens and secret societies, be prepared to experience a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality as you step into the pages of Chinatown's history. The Chinatown Heritage Centre is the only place in Singapore that has recreated the original interiors of its shophouse tenants in the 1950s, offering visitors an honest, revealing glimpse into the lives of Chinatown's early residents.

This museum is surely interesting for everyone. You can follow the first Chinese immigrants how they moved from China , where they arrived , the conditions in which they had to live and the difficulties had to face. They all had to work extremely hard (sometimes as slaves) in order to survive and build up a future for their families. Really admirable what they did.

Still closed as of December 16th. This museum has been closed since 2021 after being under renovation for about 8 months, and it does not seem likely to be open anytime soon, unfortunately. It is a bummer, though, because when I visited it in 2017, it provided lots of interesting facts and stories about the people of Chinatown

Memorable

Corloful place with beautiful community. I'm very lucky when it stopped raining when we came. Enjoy a lot.

A very very good and recommended place if you want to see and learn how people migrate from mainland china to singapore, all the history, and the house is a really great experience to feel and picture how is it like back then. You will got a device that give you all the info with the headset.9.5/10

Very well presented self-guided tour of an old shophouse with audio-video device. See 1950s-vintage work and living quarters then learn about experiences of early Chinese immigrants and how Chinatown has changed over the years. Entry is a bit expensive but worth it.

Far more expensive than the other heritage centres, but worth the price. The exhibition is in 3 parts: life in a shop house, the history of Chinese immigration to Singapore, and the transformation to modern times. Included in the ticket price is the audio guide, which is information and engaging. The ticket also includes a free curry puff or egg tart, so don't forget to keep the paper ticket.

The place around it is nice

(Translated by Google) You can enjoy Chinatown. The illusion of coming to China You will fall into it before you know it 😊 It's a lively and fun city (Original) チャイナタウンが楽しめます。 中国に来たみたいな錯覚に いつの間にか陥りますね😊 活気があって楽しい街です

Probably as close as you will get to experiencing China in another country. Love the atmosphere, the stalls and food and if that doesn't work for you, there is some nice restaurants around and temples. Definately on the top 10 things to do in Singapore.

finally its back… the feeling is back…. the crowd is back, the squeeze is back…. come n walk n sweat it all out… enjoy the mood of coming soon chinese new year festive season, many goodies and plenty of goodies to snap up. remember to come in ur comfortable clothing n foodwear and drink plenty of water before entering into this street… got kids please make sure hold them tight, keep ur belongings safe… enjoy the season squeezing …

A small museum that depicts how immigrants to Singapore lived in early 1900s. I’m very thankful to live in conditions so much better than them. The museum also has exhibition on life at Chinatown and other aspects. Interesting facts and photos/dioramas.

Brought students here for learning journey and was pleasantly surprised by the renovated museum. I am particularly impressed by the display of sleeping quarters of people working different jobs in the early days. Much effort has been devoted to replicate the living environment of our forefathers who earned a hard living doing various odd jobs. The admission ticket is not cheap but it is not going to be a disappointment. I think it is worth a visit.

This place takes some time to adjust to, but it has a unique and interesting way to convey life in the China Town neighborhood back in the days. A lot of thought and detail have been put to this place and a lot of information is available. If you find the subject of Chinese immigration to Singapore interesting, allow 1.5-2 hours for a visit in the Chinatown Heritage Centre.

Another air-conditioned haven from Singapore heat. This center takes you though history of Chinatown with a mockup of a shop-house from days gone by. It was quiet freaky to the space that a family of eight would live in, which by modern standards would be about the size of the average bathroom. There is an audio guide supplied with your entrance ticket but I found it to be too long, the commentary for each stop were at least 4-8 minutes long and over 30 stops in the display.

Such a wonderful place to visit that it shows the old Chinese culture and the way of living at that time. Many things to see and learn from the history. Located at Pagoda Street Chinatown that it is very easy to reach this place. Go to exit A from the Chinatown MRT Station. It is surrounded by gift shops, souvenir shops, and restaurants.

heavenly street food

Nice Chinese food.

Tintin shop is there 😎

Great place to catch up how the good old days are like... in chinatown...

(Translated by Google) Old chinese shopping mall building (Original) 고 중국상가 건물

Good and peaceful place

(Translated by Google) I couldn't visit because the door was closed. Closed (Original) 문이 닫혀 있어서 방문을 못 했음. 휴업상태

Still closed as of April 30, 2021. Such a pity I didn't get to visit it this time. Hope it'll reopen soon.

(Translated by Google) Very nice neighborhood (Original) Quartier très sympa

Super

Bes place to go in China town

(Translated by Google) The shopping center is most loved by tourists because it is complete and quite affordable, especially tourists from Indonesia. And the transportation access is quite easy, you can take the MRT directly to China town. If you go to Singapore and want souvenirs, just buy it here, it's complete. (Original) Pusat belanja paling di gandrungi oleh wisatawan karena lengkap dan cukup terjangkau harganya, terutama wisatawan dari Indonesia. Dan akses transportasinya cukup mudah bisa dengan MRT yang langsung menuju China town. Jika ke singapura dan ingin oleh-oleh, cukup beli di sini, sudah lengkap sekali.

Excellent experience. Interesting storyline. Well describe with self-guided audio tour. Takes about 1-2 hours to see/feel the museum and listen to the whole story. The museum consists 3-story building.

This place has great information about the area. Although I've not really ventured a lot as a tourist I found this place very informative and I got to learn something new. Well worth the stop. Great history lesson of the life of Chinese laborers who help establish Singapore. The living conditions were even worse than I had imagined. Plan on spending at least an hour.

Chinese food fix, as good as you'd expect and reasonably priced places galore!

This place is right choice if we want buy souvenir for our families or friends.Some are fix price some still can bargain.Like shirts,key chain etc.

Chinatown could be amazing if this guy here on the left never passed through it. Now I hate it, look at his face trying to pretend he’s not aware of it the camera. The MF is in fact aware of it but just playing: “Sawarni sahi”

Tempat belanja souvenir oleh oleh

for first time visitors.

Awesome serene

Not bad.

Tourist trap. Watch your wallet.

Chestnut available there which I like

(Translated by Google) The weather is very hot and you can go in to blow the air-conditioner. The air-conditioner is very strong. Tickets are needed. There are guides in different languages ​​that can be borrowed. It shows the old style of Chinatown. More tourists. (Original) 天氣很熱可以進去吹冷氣, 冷氣很強. 需要門票, 有附上不同語言的導覽機可以借用. 展示中國城舊時的風貌, 仿製的場景配合導覽機的說明, 也挺有趣. 適合時間比較多的遊客.

Best place for food n shopping

Beautiful place lovely people and a lot of street shopping and food

(Translated by Google) For Muslim food, you have to be careful, cheap souvenirs (Original) Buat makanan muslim harus hati2, souvenir murah2

If you buy some souvenir back home when you were in Singapore,this is the right place and it's cheaper...

(Translated by Google) Reasonable price, bold local culture (Original) Giá cả hợp lí, đậm nét văn hoá địa phương

Quite hold rustic china town area

Very good place to visit

There are a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants. Not many things to see as a tourists but shopping.

(Translated by Google) Nice to see. Chinese market with all kinds of products unknown to Westerners. Also the possibility to eat real Chinese. (Original) Leuk om gezien te hebben. Chinese markt met allerlei producten die onbekend zijn bij westerlingen. Ook de mogelijkheid omècht Chinees te eten.

(Translated by Google) The seemingly small exhibition area, in fact, the content of the exhibition inside is very rich, it is recommended to rent a tour guide service to visit. It is a tourist spot worth visiting. (Original) 看似不大的展場，實則內部展出內容十分豐富，推薦租借導覽機服務來參觀。算得上是值得一訪的旅遊點。

Great Museum

(Translated by Google) On the way, I get tired ... (Original) 途中で、飽きてしまう…

(Translated by Google) A wonderful museum. Here you can find out how Chinese immigrants used to live in Singapore. The rooms are furnished in detail, there is an audio guide in several languages. (Original) Прекрасный музей. Тут можно узнать, как раньше жили китайские иммигранты в Сингапуре. Детально обставленные помещения, есть аудиогид на нескольких языках.

(Translated by Google) Very big! Many shops to buy and eat (Original) Muy grande! Muchas tiendas para comprar y comer

Beside market place

(Translated by Google) Very good! (Original) Muy bueno!

great

(Translated by Google) Who likes their food, so here you will find. I was in several and everywhere cool. (Original) Kdo má rád jejich jídla, tak tady se najde. Já byl v několika a všude super.

It is a place where experiences from my 4 months in Asia were sinking in. It shows traditional lives as they were and as they still are in Chinese live-in eateries in Vientiane or on the bustling streets of Chinatown in Bangkok. Personal stories and family stories make one think about the lives of immigrants of old and new times. They also make you think about your own life story. The whole place is also a subtle homage to Chinese culture. Beautiful for anyone who has ever visited and admired China.

(Translated by Google) Too expensive, so we weren't in there, too bad. (Original) Zu teuer, deswegen waren wir nicht drin, schade.

Beautiful place

(Translated by Google) A must to start understanding the city (Original) Incontournable pour commencer à comprendre la ville

You can both feel and understand the history of Chinese immigrants. There is so much to see here.

Not interactive enough.

A history of Singapore. Great place to visit. Has a very real an interesting insight into the development of Singapore. Can’t vouch for accuracy, but it’s a cultural staple of the city state.

If you want to immerse yourself in the life and history of Singapore back in the day, this is a great place to start. The audio tour is immersive and extensive - but can be too wordy if you're only looking for a quick tour. You can skip some of the audio parts and still get a lot of info and be done in roughly 1 hour, or take the time to go through it all and run for 2 to 2.5 hours. It is set in an old shophouse so you must be able to go up and down flights of stairs, though there is a small elevator for those who need it. Tour ends with your choice of a sweet and savoury snack.

They provide each of us with a tablet and headphone to guide us through and we learn so much about the history of Chinese migrants in Singapore. The place is also very well-maintained. Good job!

I visited Singapore twice , one in 2014 and anther one in 2017 but didn't visit Chinatown Heritage Center. This time in 2019 finally I had a chance to get inside and explore the museum. It was one of fantastic museums in Singapore. Especially if you are interested in Chinese culture in Southeast Asia, this is the right place for you. I enjoyed every single room inside and learnt a lot of new things about Chinese people in Singapore :) love it !!

The Chinatown Heritage Centre in Singapore is a fantastic interactive museum, one of the most detailed, comprehensive and accessible museums I've been to. Definitely worth the entry fee, this centre is engaging with rooms dedicated to following the life of a family and tenants who lived in the shop there in the 1950s. This personalisation of history was highly engaging, as were the still life exhibits. If anything, there's so much detail and information that by the end of it you may leave feeling overwhelmed. You could easily spend two hours or more here, and it's worth visiting just to get out of the Singaporean humidity. The audio guide was very informative, otherwise wander at your own pace. I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn a little bit about life in post-war Singapore. In summary, this tour was unexpected in its quality in the best of ways and I would recommend it to any of my friends heading to Singapore.

A great tour… they’ll provide you with headphones for audio commentary. Can be a nice place to check out while you’re in Chinatown and you want a bit of history. Unfortunately for me, I had a pain in my neck and shoulders, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t linger any longer nor check out all what they had to exhibit which was a huge deal.

I would like to strongly recommend to visit this place. It's interactive and well prepared exhibition. In very easy way, it helps you to understand daily lift of first habitants of Singapore, development of the city and district. Audio guide is included into price of ticket together with delicious traditional snack which you can get in front of center.

It's a photographers wonderland!!! The place is really beautiful as it captures the tradition and beauty of the Chinese and India heritage in a street. There is a lot of shops to buy souvenirs and some nice street food. Beware, some restaurants try to charge a higher price when its a foreigner.

I spent half day here to learn local tradition and how they live

Definitely worth

Great museum about the Chinese immigrants to Singapore and their lives. Very well made with audio guide. Fantastic staff!

One word!Such an amazing place to stroll at day time and especially at night! Come and visit and buy stuff here for your Chinese New Year ornaments and home decors. Enjoy the street food here as well!

(Translated by Google) Do you have to go there (Original) Muss man hin

Excellent insight into the life and traditions within Chinatown.

Great little museum of life in Chinatown during the earlier times

Very informative. Allow a good couple of hours to get through all the information. Kids enjoyed seeing the contrast between past and present living conditions.

??

in here we can learn the history of the very first chinese immigrant enter Singapore island

Interior was so nice.

(Translated by Google) Nice place to buy some by (Original) Nice place to buy some oleh oleh

It's a great place to walk and learn the Chinese culture

One of Singapore's greatest museums. Makes you travel back in time. My entire family loved it!

Great place to uncover Chinatown and its rich history.

It was a well presented history of Chinese in Singapore.

Superb original Chinatown exhibition.

Charming, interesting place

The architechture is rich with heritage, belonging to serveral cultures. The unique blend of Chinese, Malay and Indian architechture truely reflects how ubiquitous multiculturalism is in Singapore.

A bit pricey but worth it.

Well researched and presented history of Chinese in Singapore.

I like this museum. There is so many information to know about chinese immigrant especially from mainland to Singapore finding their wealthy at new place

i love it

Very interesting.

Really worth doing had great audio too