Kampung Cina (literally means Chinese Village) is a microcosm
of Chinese settlement along the fringes of the Terengganu River, which houses
236 pre-war ancestral Chinese shophouses. Many of these shophouses have
extensions to as far back facing the river. In the early days, the river was
the essential mode of transport. Some of these extensions had back entrances
and jetties for loading and unloading goods from boats. Today, at the back of
some of these riverside shophouses are jetties which dock their speedboats.
I was at Kuala Terengganu purposely to visit and experience
the Chinese New Year celebration at this first Chinese settlement in the state.
I planned to reach Kuala Terengganu before 6pm as that was when the ‘Big Feast’
would start. However I was not so lucky as I only reached there at about 7.30pm.
What was normally a five to six hour journey eventually became eight and a half
hour due to the unusually heavy traffic, and I was so exhausted that I decided
to head straight to the shower and had a quick nap.
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| The welcoming arch of Kampung Cina |
My ‘quick’ nap turned out to be a long slumber as I woke up
at 6.30am the next day. I was starving and by 7.30, I was already sitting with
Pak Din, an elderly man in his sixties, whom I shared a table with, savouring
my Nasi Dagang (Terengganu special glutinous rice) with chicken curry at a roadside
stall near the Grand Continental Hotel.
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| An ornate swing door of one of the shophouses |
It was almost 8.30am when I finally reached my real
destination - Jalan Kampung Cina (Kampung Cina Road). I had to park my car
about a kilometer away as the whole area was especially busy with traffic and pedestrians,
a sight very welcoming to the local traders and hawkers. Chinese New Year
celebration here was observed just like in any other towns in Malaysia, albeit
in a small way. The decorations on the shop façade and the lanterns hung
criss-crossing the street were most significant and visually appealing.
Almost all shops were closed for business as family members
and close relatives would have a get together, had meals and gave out ang-pao
to the young ones. However, there were still a couple of shops that were opened
and I later discovered that they were run by either the Malays or the Indian Muslims
with the majority of them being goldsmiths or selling textile and garments.
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| A mix of old wooden and concrete shophouses lined up the one way street. |
I came
across a few buntings on the five-foot walkway pillars that were promoting an
ongoing exhibition on ‘Kampung Cina Kebaya Heritage’ being held at the State
Museum. Apparently, some of the Chinese here are of the ‘Peranakan’ clan. Originally, the Peranakan were mixed-race
descendants of Chinese and Malay and have adopted to the Malay customs - partially
or in full, to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities.I was snapping photos
of the bunting when suddenly the sliding grille of the shop behind me opened,
and there it was! A cute old lady in a full Peranakan Kebaya with a sarong came
out of the shop after bidding farewell to the shop dweller (possibly her
daughter or a close relative) and I couldn’t help myself from asking her to
stop for a quick pose!
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| A bunting promoting the Kampung Cina Kebaya exhibition. |
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| A cute old lady in a beautiful Peranakan Kebaya |
Further down the street was the Ho Ann Kiong Temple. Built
in 1801, the old temple was quite busy during this time as a lot of people came
to say prayers and make offerings. It also serves as a community centre for the
Hokkiens and the Hainanese and used to offer temporary shelter to the early
immigrants. It is also the oldest structure in Kampung Cina and its brand new
look is because it was rebuilt according to its original specifications after
it was literally burnt down to the ground on Feb 22, 2010.
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| The completely rebuilt Ho Ann Temple |
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