Tekka Centre
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Tekka Centre (Chinese: 竹脚中心; Malay: Pusat Tekka) is a wet market located along Bukit Timah Road, Race Course Road, Buffalo Road and Serangoon Road.
[edit] History
The market was originally known as Kandang Kerbau (or just KK), Malay for "buffalo pens", referring to the slaughterhouses operating in the area until the 1920, and the name still lives on in the nearby Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital. In Hokkien, the market was known as Tek Kia Kha, literally meaning "foot of the small bamboos", and this was adapted into the popular name Tekka Pasar (笛卡巴刹), where pasar is Malay for "market".
When the old market was torn down and rebuilt across the road, the new multi-use complex was named Zhujiao Centre (竹脚中心), the pinyin version of Tek Kia. However, to locals, especially non-Chinese, the new word was both hard to read and pronounce and bore no resemblance to Tekka. Eventually, the complex was officially renamed Tekka Centre in 2000 after 2 decades of public pressure. [1]
The case of Tekka Centre is often used to illustrate the complexities of Chinese language romanisation in Singapore.
[edit] Facilities
- Little India MRT Station
- Wet market
- Food centre
- Underground Car Park
- 2 Taxi Stand
- Tekka Mall
- 4 Nearby Bus Stops
- Little India Arcade
