Ann Siang Road, Singapore
Ann Siang Road is a narrow hill road in the Singapore Chinatown. It comprises three branches, in the form of the letter T. On the northern end, it is connected to Club Street at the intersection with Ann Siang Hill. The southern end continues as Kadayanallur Street at the junction with Erskine Road.
As with Ann Siang Hill, Ann Siang Road was named after the Malacca-born Chinese sawmiller, Chia Ann Siang (1832-1892). He became a wealthy landowner and purchased most of the land on the hill which eventually bore his name.
In the old days, the Ann Siang Road area had remittance houses. These are a sort of 19th century courier services for the coolies who wished to send money back to their families in China. For a fee, a professional letter-writer transcribes the oral messages of the illiterate sender to a letter which accompanies the remitted funds. At the receiving end in China, a professional reader reads the letters to the illiterate recipients.
 Ann Siang Road Author: Terence Ong (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
References
Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names by Victor R Savage and Brenda S.A. Yeoh (2004), ISBN 981-210-364-3
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