Bugis Street, in the city-state of Singapore, was renowned internationally from the 1950s to the 1980s for its nightly gathering of transwomen, a phenomenon which made it one of Singapore's top tourist destinations during that period.
In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors. Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history.
Today, the original Bugis Street is now a cobblestoned, relatively wide avenue sandwiched between the buildings of the Bugis Junction shopping complex. On the other hand, the lane presently touted as "Bugis Street" by the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board is actually developed from New Bugis Street, and is billed as "the largest street-shopping location in Singapore". An attempt by the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board to bring back the former glamor was unsuccessful.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis,_Singapore
Friday, July 13, 2007
Bugis History... From Books
About twenty years ago when we lived in Singapore, it was our custom, after a party or an evening at a friends house, to got to Bugis Street for a nightcap. It was a sleazy lane, a few blocks from the Raffles Hotel, frequented for the most part by soldiers on R&R, seamen on shore leave, a few locals and the more adventurous tourists. Tables and chairs were spread on the pavement near stalls serving local varieties of Chinese and Malay food, beer and hard whiskey. Taped music blared from loudspeakers while souvenir salesmen, street musicians and the occasional juggler offered their wares or services to whomever would pay for them. Small boys, with pad and pencil, challenged drinkers to a game or tic-tac-toe for a Singapore dollar, while pimps and prostitutes moved unobtrusively among the tables looking for potential customers. It was a raucous crowd.
The main attraction, however, was an impromptu cabaret show which appeared late each evening. Transvestites in outrageous costume would parade up and down the center of the lane, flaunting their wares, stopping occasionally to flirt with leering young men. They were Chinese, Malays and Indians, some in exaggerated parody of their national dress. There were also a few Caucasians, among whom I was told, were a couple of British servicemen who would sneak off the nearby RAF base, incognito, to join their local colleagues in drag. Following the end of the Vietnam War, the Bugis street scene went into a gradual decline until four years ago it was torn up to make way for a subway system.
Source: The Asian Observer by Leighton Willgerodt
After the Bugis traders who came to Singapore from Celebes in Indonesia, though many had earlier moved to Riau, they origianlly occupied the whole area from Kampong Glam to the mouth of the Rocher River. Bugis Street became a favourite haunt of sailors, particularly in the 1960s and 70s when it was frequented by US sailors on R&R from Vietnam. Transvestites and small boys winning money from the inebriated at naughts and crosses were a feature of the early 1970s.
Source: Street Names of SIN by Who's Who Publications
The main attraction, however, was an impromptu cabaret show which appeared late each evening. Transvestites in outrageous costume would parade up and down the center of the lane, flaunting their wares, stopping occasionally to flirt with leering young men. They were Chinese, Malays and Indians, some in exaggerated parody of their national dress. There were also a few Caucasians, among whom I was told, were a couple of British servicemen who would sneak off the nearby RAF base, incognito, to join their local colleagues in drag. Following the end of the Vietnam War, the Bugis street scene went into a gradual decline until four years ago it was torn up to make way for a subway system.
Source: The Asian Observer by Leighton Willgerodt
After the Bugis traders who came to Singapore from Celebes in Indonesia, though many had earlier moved to Riau, they origianlly occupied the whole area from Kampong Glam to the mouth of the Rocher River. Bugis Street became a favourite haunt of sailors, particularly in the 1960s and 70s when it was frequented by US sailors on R&R from Vietnam. Transvestites and small boys winning money from the inebriated at naughts and crosses were a feature of the early 1970s.
Source: Street Names of SIN by Who's Who Publications
Bugis History... From the Internet
Non-textual sourcesThis picture is an advertisement, most likely created in the 1940s, for Bugis Street. The 'woman' in the picture looks quite like a transvestites due to the more masculine features of the face. This reflects how open the community was to transvestites, such as to the extent of allowing advertisements for them to be put up.
Source: http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--12204065/le_frou_frou_Bugis_Street.htm via http://www.google.com/
Textual sources
Bugis Street lies in an extensive area which was commonly referred to in the past, by the Chinese-educated community, as Xiao Po (小坡; little slope). The latter stretched all the way from Tanjong Pagar through Singapore's Chinatown, to Jalan Sultan. The whole vicinity was thriving and crammed with merchants and traders, making it one of the most vibrant economic zones of old Singapore.
Pre-1950s
According to knowledgeable long-term residents of the area, before the arrival of the British, there used to be a large canal which ran through the area where the Bugis, a seafaring people from South Sulawesi province in Indonesia, could sail up, moor their boats and trade with Singaporean merchants.
It was these people after whom the thoroughfare was named. The Bugis, or Buginese, also put their sailing skills to less benign uses and gained a reputation in the region as being a race of bloodthirsty pirates.
During the early colonial era, there also used to be low mounds of whitish sand in the area, earning the street the familiar Hokkien (Min Nan) moniker of Peh Soa Pu or Bai Sha Fu in Mandarin (白沙浮; white sand mounds). The Cantonese, however, referred to the street as Hak Gaai or Hei Jie in Mandarin (黑街; black street) as there were many clubs catering to the Japanese invaders in the 1940s. During the first half of the 20th century, commuters could conveniently travel from Bugis Street to anywhere else in Xiao Po via a tram service which ran along North Bridge Road, which was referred to by the Chinese-educated as Xiao Po Da Ma Lu (小坡大马路; little slope main road).
1950s-1980s
After World War II, hawkers gathered there to sell food and goods. There was initially also a small number of outdoor bars set up beside rat-infested drains.
When transvestites began to rendezvous in the area in the 1950s, they attracted increasing numbers of Western tourists who came for the booze, the food, the pasar malam shopping and the "girls". Business boomed and Bugis Street became an extremely lively and bustling area, forming the heart of Xiao Po. It was one of Singapore's most famous tourist meccas from the 1950s to the 1980s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly-dressed transwomen and attracted hordes of Caucasian gawkers who had never before witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.
The latter would tease, cajole and sit on visitors' laps or pose for photographs for a fee.
Others would sashay up and down the street looking to hook half-drunk sailors, American GIs and other foreigners on R&R, for an hour of profitable intimacy. Not only would these clients get the thrill of sex with an exotic oriental, there would be the added spice of transgressing gender boundaries in a seamy hovel.
There was an adage amongst Westerners that one could easily tell who was a real female and who was not - the transvestites were drop-dead gorgeous, while the rest were real women. The amount of revenue that the transvestites of Bugis Street raked in was considerable, providing a booster shot in the arm for the tourism industry. Some Americans referred to it as "Boogie Street" in the wake of the 1970s disco craze.
Veterans recall that the notorious drinking section began from Victoria Street west to Queen Street. Halfway between Victoria and Queen Streets, there was an intersecting lane parallel to the main roads, also lined with al fresco bars. There was a well-patronised public toilet with a flat roof of which there are archival photos, complete with jubilant rooftop transwomen.
One of the "hallowed traditions" bestowed upon the area by sojourning sailors, eg. from Australia, was the ritualistic "Dance Of The Flamers" or "Dance Of The Flaming Arseholes" on top of the infamous toilet's roof. Compatriots on the ground would chant the signature "Haul 'em down you Zulu Warrior" song whilst the matelots performed their act.
Over the years this became almost a mandatory exercise and although it may seem to many to be a gross act of indecency, it was generally well received by the sometimes up to 100s of tourists and locals. The Kai Tais or Beanie Boys, as the transwomen were referred to by Anglophone white visitors, certainly did not mind either. By the mid-70s Singapore started a crackdown on this type of lewd behaviour and sailors were arrested at gunpoint by the local authorities for upholding the tradition. By this time those sailors brave enough to try it were dealt with severely and even shipped home in disgrace.
The earliest published description of Bugis Street found by Yawning Bread as a place of great gender diversity was in the book "Eastern Windows" by Ommaney, F.D. (1960. London:Longmans. pp. 39-45). Ommaney did not date specifically his description of the street but his book made clear that he was in Singapore from 1955 to 1960. Read a first-person account of Bugis Street in the 1950s by Bob, a visiting Australian sailor:
'In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors. Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history.
Tourist and local lamentation of the loss sparked attempts by the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board (STPB) to attempt to recreate some of the old sleazy splendour by staging contrived "Ah Qua Shows" on wooden platforms, but these artificial performances fell flat on their faces and failed to pull in the crowds. They were abandoned after a short time.'
Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis,_Singapore)
The original street was a well-known "world" tourist attraction frequented by tourists, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was notorious for the transvestites found there. It was popular with British colonial soldiers and seamen on shore leave and with USA troops on rest and recreation during the Vietnam War. The charm of the place even attracted locals. Lined with old shophouses, food stalls parked outside offered al fresco dining serving local specialities until the early hours of the morning. One such speciality was "the penis of the bull with noodles", an aphrodisiac for men. In the height of its notoriety, when the street was gangster controlled, it was rife with con men, pimps, street vendors and touts trying to sell their wares. Bugis Street 's cabaret atmosphere began only in the evenings. The main highlight was the 'parade of transvestites' as they made their nightly appearances with "showtime" starting at 11:00 pm. It was the only alternative for night entertainment after midnight. The street would remain alive until dawn.
The dirty back lanes and smelly drains, unhealthy sanitary and rotting conditions in the area necessitated a clean up in the 1980s. Despite an outcry from both Singaporeans and tourists alike, the street was resited right opposite the original street, between Victoria Street and Queen Street. The bustling Bugis MRT subway Station and the Bugis Junction shopping mall are where the crowds gather today. Bugis street still serves food and is transformed into a night bazaar in the evenings but no longer does it have the colour and flavour of its past life.
Source: http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_184_2005-01-25.html
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