Singapore's Chinatown is known as Niu che shui (Chinese: 牛車水; pinyin: Niú chē shuǐ; literally: 'ox car water') in Mandarin, Gu Chia Chwi in Hokkien and Ngau-che-shui in Cantonese - all of which mean "bullock water-cart" - and Kreta Ayer in Malay (Post-1972 spelling: "kereta air"), which means "water cart". This is due to the fact that Chinatown's water supply was principally transported by animal-driven carts in the 19th century. Although these names are sometimes used for referring to Chinatown in general, they actually refer to the area of Kreta Ayer Road.[1]