Coolies that Moved the Nation (c. 1900s)

In the late 19th century to early 20th century, a Chinese diaspora happened from the southern coasts of China to Southeast Asia. This was known as “過番.”¹ And many started working as coolies², a derogatory term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian or Chinese descent. 

On the Streets of Singapore

For the thousands of Chinese sojourner migrants (華僑 “huaqiao” in Mandarin) in Singapore, one job that many able-bodied young men could take up was pulling a rickshaw³. The two-wheeled vehicle, which originated from Japan, was a popular mode of public transport from 1880 until the 1930s.

The footage featured in this video was taken in early 20th-century Singapore. Rickshaws were then the primary mode of transport. They can be seen plying the streets alongside horse-drawn carriages and bullock carts.

The rickshaw pullers in Singapore mainly came from southern China. They played an important role in providing an affordable means of transport especially around the town areas, but this notoriously difficult job took a heavy toll on their bodies. As such, most rickshaw pullers only worked for five to seven years before returning to China, and many turned to opium in the meantime to cope with the physical suffering

Along with the rickshaws (which is preferred by the general population), there’s also the gharry. Gharry refers to a horse-drawn cab or carriage used in India and Egypt. Most gharry drivers were Malay or Indian, while their passengers were primarily Europeans.

Rickshaw

Late 19th century | Mixed media | National Museum of Singapore collection

Fares were inexpensive (about 6 cents a mile at the turn of the century) and rickshaw pullers covered most of the island, both urban and rural areas. Rickshaw coolies led a hard life, working at least 10- to 12-hour shifts for about 30 to 40 cents a day. They hauled several hundred pounds of weight across the city everyday, often at the pace “of a smartly stepping horse”

Because of the physical toll on their bodies, coolies usually worked for five to seven years before returning to China. The business was at first dominated by the Cantonese and Hokkien, then by the Hockchew and Henghwa from 1900.

Coolie Chain Belt

Silver | 1900s | National Museum of Singapore collection

This simple, makeshift belt was probably made by a rickshaw coolie himself. Rickshaw pullers typically wore a pair of “coolie blue” or black shorts, and a straw hat to protect themselves from the sun. The shape of the top of their hats indicated which dialect or clan they belonged to.

While working, they often went barefoot, or wore straw or rubber sandals. In the early 20th century, laws were passed requiring rickshaw coolies to wear a shirt as well.

And as the society progressed, the rickshaw⁴ was replaced by the trishaw (#9 in the photo above) on humanitarian ground⁵ and finally by modern transport like motorised buses after the scarcity of petrol after WWII became a thing of the past.⁶

Coolie house sign

Early 20th century | Painted wood | Gift of Lim Min Sing and Chan Kim, National Museum of Singapore collection

New immigrant workers from China usually took up temporary residence at lodging houses known as a ‘coolie keng’, which was the colloquial name given to quarters that housed Chinese coolies (labourers). Most of these spaces were crowded and grim. On top of such difficult living conditions, the coolies also had to pay a small sum of money to use these quarters. The workers stayed there until they found work in Singapore or left to work in the Malayan interior.

Diorama depicting a coolie room in the 1900s

Clay, pigment, mixed media | Mar Edjawan, Elmer Gernale, Arthur Concepcion (c. 1983) | Object size: 120.7 x 139.1 x 66.3 cm | National Museum of Singapore collection

This diorama depicts the living conditions of early Chinese immigrants which all of us growing up in Singapore would have seen it during one of our school excursions to the National Museum. Never thought we would be old enough to see this as an artefact from our childhood becoming a museum piece 🙂

The great influx of immigrants through the years, reaching its peak in the 1900s, led to overcrowding and poor living conditions. Although the government built quarters for municipal labourers during the 1920s, and later started building public housing through the Singapore Improvement Trust, the supply of housing continued to be outstripped by the demands of the growing population. Consequently, the subdivision of a room into many sleeping spaces emerged in dense population centres like Chinatown. ⁷

For many of these working-class men, opium smoking was a form of relaxation and escape from their cramped and unpleasant living conditions. However, if they succumbed to addiction and could not pay the rent, they would be turned out by their landlords. We will talk about this addiction problem and how our forefathers tried to ban it in another post.

Footnotes:

1. 汕頭百載商埠的發源地西堤碼頭，見證了千千萬萬潮汕人從這裡「過番」謀生，也見證了汕頭從漁村、碼頭到港口、商埠的變遷。https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/過番, accessed 18 Sep 2025 ↩︎
2. Header picture:
   Coaling at night
   1890s | Reproduction of woodblock print | National Museum of Singapore collection
   Coaling stations were set up for steamships to stop over and refuel. Coolies from coaling ships lugged large baskets of coal suspended from a thick bamboo pole, with an average load rate of about 200 tonnes an hour. Singapore was the only regional port with such extensive facilities until well after 1914.
   
   Chinese coolies, who were engaged mostly in unskilled, hard labour, formed the early backbone of Singapore’s labour force. They were mainly impoverished Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore in the latter half of the 19th century to seek fortune, but instead served as indentured labourers. Coolies were employed in almost every sector of work including construction, agriculture, shipping, mining and rickshaw pulling. ↩︎
3. The rickshaw first appeared in Japan around 1868. It name originates from the Japanese jinrikisha (in=human, riki=force, sha=vehicle). It came to Singapore around 1880 and became the main form of cheap transport for both Asians and Europeans.
   
   Rickshaws were either imported from Japan or manufactured locally, although the latter were usually of poorer quality. Given the high wear and tear from daily use in Singapore’s tropical climate, they usually lasted five years if properly maintained. The rickshaw here is the type that seats one passenger. Museum information card, Aug 2025 ↩︎
4. #6 “The Rikisha Coolie” from Straits Produce, Vol. 3
   1 April 1925 | Reproduction | 2007-00856
   This poem is from Straits Produce, a satirical magazine targeted mainly at European migrants in the Straits Settlements, including Singapore. It critiques the behaviour of European rickshaw passengers while describing the hard conditions of a rickshaw pullers life.
   Museum information card, Nov 2025 ↩︎
5. #7 Trishaw rider Lian Leng Kim’s licence
   1951 | Paper | 1997-02922
   #8 Trishaw licence armband from the Singapore Municipal Commission
   1947 | Metal, leather | 2008-06076 | Gift of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI)
   #9 A trishaw rider and passenger
   1960s | Reproduction | RAFSA Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
   Although the earliest trishaws or “pedal rickshaws” plied Singapore’s streets from 1914, they only became more common after the Japanese Occupation, when there was a scarcity of petrol for motor vehicles coupled with the banning of rickshaws by the colonial authorities on humanitarian grounds in 1947. Also operated mainly by Chinese immigrants, the trishaw was faster and commanded higher fares, but was less manoeuvrable than the rickshaw.
   Museum information card, Nov 2025 ↩︎
6. #10 Bus ticket
   1960s | Paper | 1995-00223 | Gift of Mr Maurice Kayser
   #11 Ticket punch used by a bus conductor
   c.1940s-1970s | Metal | 2007-55078
   Before fare card and automated tap card systems, commuters had to buy physical tickets for bus rides. Until the 1980s, bus conductors issued tickets and collected fares. They would punch out the bus stop number at which passengers boarded to track the distance travelled and prevent the ticket from being reused.
   Museum information card, Nov 2025 ↩︎
7. https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1342642 ↩︎