Chinatown, Kuala Terengganu

Chinatown, Kuala Terengganu
The gate of Kampung Cina on the southern end of Jalan Bandar
Traditional Chinese	唐人坡
Simplified Chinese	唐人坡
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tángrén Pō Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Tòhngyàhn Pо̄ Jyutping Tong4jan4 Po1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tn̂g-lâng Pho

Kampung Cina (Jawi: كامڤوڠ چينا; Simplified Chinese: 唐人坡, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tn̂g-lâng-pho), is a Chinatown located in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia. Kampung Cina is located along Jalan Bandar (formerly known as Jalan Kampung Cina), in Kuala Terengganu city centre at the river mouth of Terengganu River that empties into the South China Sea. Kampung Cina literally means Chinese Village; it is also called Teng Lang Po or KT's Chinatown by local people. It is one of Southeast Asia’s early Chinese settlements and contains stately ancestral homes, temples, townhouses, and business establishments. The town is small but has colourful shophouses along both sides of the road that carries traditional flavour.

Kuala Terengganu's Chinatown was first established by the Chinese community in the late 19th century. It was once a hub for commercial activities that helped shape Kuala Terengganu into what it is today. The Chinese built the traditionally designed shop houses according to their place of origin in China. The buildings have been declared a heritage site by the United Nations UNESCO World Monument Watch Programme and grants are being given annually to finance preservation of this pre-colonial heritage significant.

Kampung Cina, Chinatown of Kuala Terengganu is the main Chinese settlement in Kuala Terengganu, situated near the heart of Kuala Terengganu city centre. In 1719, the Chinese village settlement had more than 1000 house compared from its today row of pre-war Chinese shop houses of that which only dated as far as 200 year or its earlier dated that are recorded by foreigners like Alexander Hamilton and Captain Joseph Jackson who visited the Chinese settlement while in the Kuala Terengganu town during 1719, and other like J. Newbold in 1893, Munshi Abdullah in 1836, and more. The great fire in early 1880s destroyed a large part of the area and subsequently, many of the houses were rebuilt.

The exact date of the founding of Kampung Cina is not clearly known as no archaeology dig was ever made, as to preserve the Kampung Cina site which is now a part of the city. Many who live here may be descended from the first Chinese who arrive and settled here at Terengganu since the 16th century. Thus many of its occupants treat their house as an ancestral home which has much history after being handed down from generation to generation. Nowadays, preservation and modification projects are carried out on many of the old buildings.