DETAILS
Subject	Hugh Low Street - Brick Built Houses, Shady Trees and Qing Dynasty Flags
Publisher/Author
Location	Ipoh
Estimated Date	1905
Media Type	photograph
Source	National Archives of Malaysia
Remarks	This picture shows a view of Hugh Low Street, in Old Town Ipoh. This remains one of the two main streets of Ipoh the other is Brewster Road. They run parallel to each other from one end of New Town, across the river and down to the far end of Old Town. On the 1.6.1892, a great fire swept through Ipoh destroying one third of the town. 123 houses were burned down. This allowed W P Hume, Kinta Collector of Land Revenue, to re-lay out Ipoh Old Town on the block principle rather than the previous unplanned and untidy scattering of houses. This resulted in neat streets of brick built houses with trees providing shade as shown in the picture. Sadly, as the town increased in prosperity the trees had to be removed to provide wider streets for the increase in traffic. Of particular interest in this picture are the shops of the conservative, Chinese pro-Qing dynasty supporters. These can be seen displaying the yellow dragon flags of the Qing dynasty, demonstrating their patriotic support for the regime of the emperor rather than that of the revolutionary Kuomintang or the Reformist group; for at that time in Malaya, there were three factions, each with different ideals for the future of their homeland. To see more about Ipoh’s Street Names, click here. To read more about Sir Hugh Low, click here.
File Name	20080117-107