Among the streets of Kuching Old Bazaar, China Street is also called as ‘Middle Street’ (中街). The reason is not truly known. “Central Street” is most likely referred to the center position it occupies at Old Bazaar. As for “China Street” (中国街) it is often linked to...
A Teochew from Guandong Chao Ann district. Law Kian Huat arrived in Kuching during the reign of the first Rajah in 1852. Initially he was involved in the plantation of gambier and pepper. Then he partnered with Sim Ah Nio (沈亚尧) who came from the same village to form...
In the late 19th century, cargo ships between Kuching and Singapore formed Sarawak’s main connection to the wider world. Godowns (warehouses) and wharves dotted the bank of the Sarawak River; sun-parched workers toiled at the edge of land and water. These labourers...
The late Mr. K.F. Wong (黄杰夫) was a world-class photographer who began to venture into the Borneo jungle shortly after the war to document its sights and cultures. His photographic work often featured in international magazines, drew global interest in Borneo and...
Hiang Thian Siang Ti (or Xuantian Shangdi, 玄天上帝) is the deity of the north, widely revered among Teochew people. Tradition holds that the temple, commonly called Lao Ya Keng (老爷宫) by the Teochew, predates 1844 and originally stood on Soon Hong Street (now the Main...
Years before the arrival of James Brooke, Cantonese migrants had begun to settle in the wild country that would one day become Kuching. Pioneers such as Lau Chek (刘直), who had arrived in the 1830s, sought to organise a clan association to bring together their...
No. 17 Carpenter Street is said to have been the first location of the Kong Wai Siew Association before its relocation to the building opposite. In the 1920s, the shophouse was purchased by Mr Mok Fook Chiong, a first-generation migrant from Gaoyao, in the district of...
Registered in 1932, Chop Moi Foong (梅丰号) provided Western-style tailoring services and traded fabrics and various goods. Its founder Leong Joon Seng (梁云生) had come to Kuching from Jiaying (Meixian) in Guangdong, China in the late 19th century. He had likely been...
