Charming Chinatown

Text and Photos by Teguh Sudarisman

There's so much to see and do in Jakarta's Chinatown; if you've been there once, you can't wait to go again!

chinatownThough Chinese people have been living and doing business in what is now Jakarta since the 12th century, and Glodok has been a Chinese neighborhood since 1619, under the Netherlands East Indies Governor General Jan Pieterzoon Coen, many Jakartans still do not know where their Chinatown actually is. Some identify Harco Glodok, along Jalan Hayam Wuruk and Jalan Gajah Mada, with Chinatown. That's only partly true, because this electronic goods center is just a small part of Jakarta's Chinatown, which covers the Kalibaru, Asemka, Pancoran, Petak Sembilan, and Glodok areas, all in the municipality of West Jakarta.

Jakarta actually has some other relatively Chinese districts, such as Pasar Baru, Jatinegara, Pasar Senen, and Tanah Abang, but the area most strongly identified as the real Chinatown of Jakarta is the area around Glodok, with the busiest part along Jalan Pancoran (not to be confused with the other areas called Pancoran in South Jakarta and in Depok).

This east-west street looks relatively quiet when seen from Harco Glodok, but if you enter it on foot, you will be amazed by the number of shops and stalls selling medicines, food, and typical Chinese accessories. The traditional market and shopping centers are always full of people, who are, predictably, mostly ethnic Chinese.

If you're looking for traditional Chinese medicines, the old shops along the north side of Jalan Pancoran have it all. Shark's fins, bird's nests, lanterns, incense, candles, red angpao envelopes? Try the Gloria shopping center in the Pasar Pagi complex to the west of the medicine shops. Dried sweets (manisan), traditional cakes (kue keranjang), roast duck and pork, pi-oh (turtle meat) and all kinds of oriental delicacies are available from the many coffee stalls and sidewalk vendors in this market.

toko manisanWalk down Jalan Pancoran and then turn north, and you find yourself at Pasar Asemka. This market is a favorite of itinerant vendors; here they can buy goods by the kilogram and then sell them by the piece with big markups.

If you continue west from Jalan Pancoran and cross the river (Sungai Kalibaru Besar), you come to Jalan Perniagaan, with the Chinese School, now a public high school (SMA 19). This old school building was previously used as the headquarters of the Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan (Chinese Association) founded on 17 March 1900. This organization was one of the first modern associations in Indonesia.

Along the south side of Jalan Pancoran, down the alleys behind the Chandra Building, you'll find residents hawking all kinds of products outside their homes: everything from kue apem (pancakes) to DVDs of oriental songs. Walking through these alleyways reminds us that not all Chinese are wealthy.

At the east end of the alleys is Jalan Kemenangan, better known as Gang Petak Sembilan, and on the southwest is Jalan Kemenangan 3. At the intersection of these two roads is Klenteng Kim Tek Ie, also known as Vihara Dharma Bhakti or more popularly as Klenteng Jin De Yuan.

This temple, where people come to worship the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Im, was established in 1650, making it one of the oldest temples in Jakarta.

The temple complex is quite large; not surprising, as it actually contains three temples. To the south of the main temple are Vihara Dharma Sakti and Klenteng Hu Tek Bio. These temples are particularly busy from 15 days before Imlek (Chinese New Year) until the fifteenth day of the New Year, Cap Go Meh (which falls on 9 February this year). The temples are crowded not only with Chinese people praying, but also hopeful beggars and … photographers!
Around 100 meters west of the temple complex on Jalan Kemenangan 3 is Gereja Santa Maria De Fatima. This church, formerly the home of an important person, has a very strong Chinese character, in both the structure of the building and the interior ornaments. Masses are held in both Indonesian and Mandarin, and nearly all the worshippers are ethnic Chinese.

Just north of the church is another well-known temple, Klenteng Toa Sai Bio (or Toa Se Bio), so called because the main deity worshipped there is Toa Sai Kong, The Ambassador. The temple was built by Hokkian immigrants, and an incense shelf in the main gallery dated 1751 suggests that the temple was built around that time.

chinatown

During the Cap Go Meh celebrations, this rather small temple becomes very crowded, because it is the starting point for the procession of joli (sedan chairs) bearing statues of Confucian gods. Preceded by liong and barongsai dancers, at around 5 PM the parade of gods and goddesses sets out from in front of the temple, passes through the Petak Sembilan area to Jalan Gajah Mada, and then returns to Toa Se Bio temple.

At night, Jalan Pancoran turns into an ocean of sidewalk vendors. You can find all kinds of street food here – various types of noodle dishes, odd fruit and vegetable salads (rujak shanghai and rujak juhi), red bean porridge, and sate madura. And while the Chinese people are busy enjoying their food, it's not uncommon to hear the speakers from the nearby mosque broadcasting the call to prayer.