NATIONAL DAY IN CHINATOWN, 1986
38 x 56 cm
Collection of Ms. Cham Ah Kheng
Terengganu, Malaysia

Comprising of Kampong Tiong (the Chinese village) and Jalan Bandar (the road to the harbour), this ancient street described by Abdullah Munshi in 1876, curves along a rocky promontory that forms the shore of the right side of the estuary of the Terengganu River. Rows of shop houses, built with bricks and decorated with stucco—Hokkien, Teo Chew, Fujian style, with long sloping roofs and dragons on the ridges, are neighbours with flat-tiled, cengal wood carved Malay houses. At the back of the houses, wooden doors open to stone steps leading to the river. From the balconies, towkays (merchants) could check on the tall junks and the perahu besar (Malay schooners) anchored in the harbour. Today, businesses are still carried on there. On National Day, the red and white stripes of the national flag flower amongst the sign boards.