I saw a video where people referred to to Chinatown in Singapore as 牛车水. What does this literally mean?
1 Answer
牛车水 literally means
牛车 - oxcart
水 - water
i.e. 牛车(运)水, oxcart (carrying) water.
牛车水(Chinatown)是新加坡的唐人街,名字的由来也反映了当年华人的一段历史。当时来南洋生活在这里的华人没有自来水用,于是用牛车运水,每天这里都是一辆辆的运水牛车,也算得上是车水马龙的壮观景象了。久而久之人们就称这里为牛车水了。
There's no tap water in the past, it was general to transport water by oxcart in chinatown, as time passes chinatown began to be called as 牛车水.