Pioneers of Singapore
those who haelped shape the nation
Samsui Women
The legendary samsui woman, the main source for many building in Singapore mostly came from China and made their home on Chin Chew and Upper Chin Chew Streets. About 200,000 samsui women came to Singapore between the 1920s and the 1940s in search for construction and industrial jobs. They continue coming to SG until 1949 when emigration from China was declared illegal
The History
The Name
They came from Sanshui of Guangdong (Canton) Province in China, in addition to Shunde and Dongguan so most of them are Cantonese but there are Hakka as well They are referred to as 红头巾 in mandarin , which translates as "red bandana", a reference to the trademark red cloth hats that they wore.
Their Lives
They come to Singapore as cheap labourers and worked mainly in the construction industry and other industries that required hard labour. Unfortunately, they sometimes had to live in poverty but they made a lot of contribution to Singapore's early development mostly by building houses and some of them worked at hawker centres mending the stalls there
Social Interactions
Before arriving in Singapore, most Samsui women took vows never to marry, although there have been known exceptions. They lived in cramped conditions with other Samsui women, helping each other and forming tightly united cliques. They also remained in touch with their relatives back home in China by communicating with them frequently through letters. When they got their pay, they would send money to their relatives
Right Now
Now, there are less than a hundred Samsui women left, all of them in their 80s and 90s. Organizations exist to raise awareness of these women's achievements and contributions to Singapore's development, and their current state. Some of these organizations also strive to provide free travel for the women back to China to visit their relatives before they die. One such organization was the Sam Shui Wai Kuan Association that took care of the needs of the Samsui Women
The travails of the Samsui women were portrayed in Samsui Women which was a TV drama series produced by Singapore Broadcasting Corporation in 1986, which has widely been considered as one of the best dramas Singapore has produced over the years.
Credits to: From The BiscuitTin's channel (youtube)