Smith Street, Temple Street, Japanese Street and Banda Street; all adjoining streets in today's Chinatown had one thing in common during the colonial times. Three and four-storey brothels which along with prostitution, also promoted opium smoking, drinking and gambling. When Raffles founded modern Singapore as a British trading settlement in , migrants poured in the island from China, India and Malaya.
As the number of migrants increased, which were overwhelming males settling in the areas around Chinatown, brothels became an important outlet for their sexual needs. These migrants or sinkhehs came to Si Lat Po Singapore's old Chinese name without their wives and found solace in the arms of Ah Ku or prostitutes.
.jpg?itok=A9fO9UCW "Sex guide Singapore")
Slowly, Chinatown was flooded with tea-houses, theatres and opium dens tended by young singsong girls locally known as Pei Pa Chai or Pipa girls. These girls were paid by the hour by rich clients to play mahjong or prepare opium. Many, in due course, were lured into prostitution. These prostitutes mainly came from China, Japan and Europe. Though, there were no British prostitutes due to a ban imposed by the then British administration of Singapore. Riddled with diseases, these pitiful women were often also murder victims.
Seeing no other escape from their living hell, a number of these prostitutes took their own lives. Interestingly, by , there were government-run shops selling opium over-the-counter between 6am to 10pm.
But in brothels, opium would be available till 2am. The most infamous street at the turn of the 20th century was the Smith Street, which was lined with 25 three and four-storey shop-houses packed with prostitutes. While two were Japanese, most of the other brothels were Chinese, with the most notorious being the no. It's owner, Loh Sai Soh, was stabbed when she attempted to stop a customer from leaving without paying. This street served as a red-light area between and Adjoining Smith Street was the Temple Street, which got its name after the Sri Mariamman Temple located at one end of the street, and was also famous for its Chinese brothels.
