When Stamford Raffles opened the British East India Company trading post in 1819 at Singapore River, he needed a lot of labourers.
His main sources of labourers were the Malay archipelago, India and China.
Labourers from China came from Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Most came to Singapore between 1820 and 1920 as indentured labourers, better known as 苦力 coolies.
Coolies pay recruitment agents fees for passage and service, sign a work contract of five to ten years tenure and repay these debts with interest in the first two years.
The first junk from Xiamen, Fujian landed at Telok Ayer Bay in 1821.
Many coolies volunteered themselves for the sojourn to Nanyang to escape chaos, war, famine, and poverty in the last century of crumbling Qing dynasty rule (which ended unceremoniously in 1912). Others were tricked by false promises of well paying jobs by unscrupulous recruitment agents.
The journey from Guangdong or Fujian would take two to three weeks sailing by junk. The journey was shortened when steamship services became available in the 1850s.
The coolie trade was described with the same terms as pig trading. The coolie trade was known as 賣猪仔貿易 piglet trade. Recruitment agents were known as 豬仔頭 piglet boss. The coolies were 猪仔 piglets, helpless creatures earmarked for exploitation. The indenture contract was known as 卖身契 bondage contract. The coolies were literally signing off their lives, at least for the duration of their indenture.
On arrival, the recruitment agents would transfer the coolies and their debts to employers - traders or planters who would pay the agent the coolie's passage and fees as well as their own fees. The coolies would be contracted to work for their employer to pay off their debt.
Those who were not taken up by employers were housed in 豬仔館 coolie holding houses ran by the recruitment agents. In 1901, there are twelve coolie holding houses at Pagoda Street in Kreta Ayer (today's Chinatown) alone. By 1907, there were over twenty licenced and unlicenced agencies
Employed coolies lived in quarters near their workplaces such as Boat Quay and Clarke Quay at the Singapore River. Cramped dozens to a room in 苦力間 coolie keng (lodging) which were poorly ventilated and unsanitary, rest was difficult for the coolies and disease spread easily. Living conditions were squalid.
The river coolie's life was exceedingly hard.
Slight built and poorly nourished, yet they had to haul 100kg sacks of goods on their backs from twakow boats to godowns or bullock carts. The long hours of backbreaking work was done barefoot and bareback. It had to be done day and night, whether in the rain or under the blistering heat of the tropical sun.
Other coolies pulled rickshaws shirtless and barefooted. The coolies were literally human mules.
Coolies suffered chronic pains and were prone to injuries. To relieve themselves of aches and pains, some coolies resorted to opium to ease soreness and to help them sleep better. Opium helped initially but soon addiction drained the coolie of his meagre wages and sapped his strength.
Bak kut teh was created as a cheap medicinal tonic to help ease the river coolies' pains, boost his strength and promote recovery from injuries. Bak kut teh contains medicinal herbs for health benefits, as well as spices and soy sauce for flavour. The pork bones used in bak kut teh had little meat but were valued for their marrow which were considered good for joint health.
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