This Saturday saw me on the Eastern Allure Museum Hoppin’ Trail, which brought me to some lesser known museums in Singapore and made me re-examine my Chinese roots.

The first stop was the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, formerly known as Wan Qing Yuan (晚晴园), which pays tribute to the Father of Modern China.

If you studied history at least up to Upper Sec, you might know that Sun Yat Sen (or Sun Zhong Shan – 孙中山) is the Father of the 1911 Revolution which toppled the Qing Dynasty and put an end to the monarchy in China. In 1906, rubber magnate Teo Eng Hock, the owner of Wan Qing Yuan and a supporter of the revolution in China, loaned it to Sun Yat Sen for his revolutionary activities, thus making it a part of a momentuous event.

For those of you who are new to this portion of Chinese history, the Memorial Hall’s galleries provide a good introduction to the causes and happenings of the sucessful 1911 Revolution as well as the previous unsuccessful rebellions and their significance, as well as the aftermath.

However, if you are already familiar with the Revolution, you might want to move on and discover some lesser known facts about Dr. Sun. For example, though quite a number might know that he was Western-educated, a less known fact is that he received his education in Hawaii, the home of luaus and exotic Polynesian dancers. Little nuggets of info like these can be found in the Gallery of Endeavor, which describes Dr. Sun’s early life and sheds some light on how his revolutionary thinking was shaped.

Also interesting is the Testament Gallery, which pays tribute to Dr. Sun’s contributions to China. Here, you can find the above display of world leaders paying tribute to Dr. Sun. Among them is our very own Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. However, more interesting to note is that he is complimented both by his protege Chiang Kai-shek (Kuomintang leader) and Communist leader Mao Zedong, who are pretty much sworn enemies. (In fact, it is because Chiang Kai-shek sought refuge in Taiwan after losing to the Communists in mainland China that there is the Taiwan-China merger conflict today.) This highlights Dr. Sun’s tremendous contributions to China – whatever Mao and Chiang’s ideological/political differences, there is a common admiration for Dr. Sun.

Also in the Testament Gallery is the locations of Sun Yat Sen memorials throughout the world. However, what caught my attention is that there is a memorial for him in Kobe, Japan. However, an internet search produced nothing much of interest about this memorial. If you’ve any info on it, do fill me in!

Wax figurines recreate a typical night in Wan Qing Yuan
The Singapore Gallery is also not to be missed, as it provides information on Singapore’s role in the Chinese revolution. As it turns out, many secret revolutionary meetings were held in Wan Qing Yuan, such as the one depicted in the picture above.
The lady standing in front of the blinds is Chen Cuifen, Dr. Sun’s revolutionary companion, and perhaps the least known of the women in his life. Most famous is, perhaps, Soong Ching Ling, who is a patriotic heroine in her own right, and whom Dr. Sun divorced his first wife to marry. Chen Cuifen was never formally married to Dr. Sun, but she looked after Dr. Sun and the revolutionaries during their stay in Wan Qing Yuan and other parts of Southeast Asia, and earned their respect.

Admission to the Memorial Hall is $3/adult, and it is located at Tai Gin Road (Balestier area). On Thursday (25 May), there will be a shuttle bus departing for the Hall from Lavender MRT at 9am and 12pm More details here.

My second stop was the Chinese Heritage Centre, a very oriental looking building located on the NTU campus. It is currently having an exhibition called Chinese More or Less: An exhibition on overseas Chinese identities.
Most interesting is a gallery called “Self”, where portraits of Chinese from all over the world are shown. This gallery shows portrayals of Chinese by themselves and by “outsiders” such as the natives of the country they migrated to.

From the British Columbia Archives

The above shows a portrait of a Canadian Chinese. From the picture, you might think he was a scholarly man – a teacher or a writer perhaps?
However, he is, in fact, a cook. This picture clearly illustrates that Chinese want to be seen as intellectual (perhaps a byproduct of Confucian teachings), even if they are clearly not. Such measures to garner more respect or “face” might perhaps remind us of something closer to home… parents comparing their children’s academic achievements, marriage partners… people comparing the price and location of their properties… beginning to sound familiar yet?

From the Bancroft Library, Berkeley

However, the outsider’s view of Chinese is considerably less flattering. This American caricature of a Chinese man shows a greedy expression on his face, and the artist clearly believes Chinese want a monopoly on whatever they dabbled into. While the Westerners did portray Chinese favourably sometimes, their portrayals were, for most part, stereotypical.

Also interesting is the Generations gallery, where the word “Generation” takes on two meanings.
1) How many generations is a Chinese person removed from China?
This will affect the attitudes, values and “Chinese-ness” retained. For example, my generation (popularly known as GenX), having resided in Singapore all our lives, have a large number struggling with the Chinese language, while our parents and grandparents have considerably less of a problem.

2) “Waves” of Chinese leaving China.
In each generation there are different motives for leaving. For example, while our ancestors may have left China due to poverty caused by natural disasters, modern (more affluent) Chinese are more likely to migrate to seek a better education elsewhere.

Also discussed are the effect of Chinese nationalism on overseas Chinese (a good follow-up to the info on the revolution found in the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall) and the importance of the “Fatherland”/ancestral origins to overseas Chinese.

Admission to the Chinese Heritage Centre is free. For more details, go to http://www.museums.com.sg/MRM_chineseheritage.asp.

My third stop were the Museums at the NUS Centre for the Arts. There are several galleries here. Greeting you at the entrance is the NUS Story exhibit, launched in celebration of the university’s centenary, which describes NUS’s 100 year history.

Walk down the stairs and you’ll hit the Chinese Art exhibit (running till Nov 07) which uses 7000 years of Chinese art to tell the story of a great civilisation.

Yoshio Norizuki with his calligraphy

Chado Tea Ceremony Workshop

Also on this level is the SHO – Personal Moments of Truth Japanese calligraphy exhibition, where the works of Yoshio Norizuki, a Japanese artist specializing in bringing out the form of single characters using strong physical movements, are displayed. I was informed that the calligraphy uses so much ink, it takes an average of SIX DAYS to dry. O_O I was also fortunate enough to catch the artist himself, who was there to observe the Chado Tea Ceremony Workshop held in conjunction with his exhibition and International Museum Day. Participants in the workshop learnt about the Chado, or Way of Tea, and its rituals and practices.

On the top floor is the Ng Eng Teng Gallery, featuring the works of the late Cultural Medallion recipient and sculptor. His works are based on life and humanity, and depict love, struggle, freedom and poverty, among other things.

Admission to the NUS Museums is free. There will be a shuttle bus to the Museum this Wednesday, 24 May from Dover MRT at 9am and 1.30pm. More details here.

The last stop of the day was the Hua Song Museum located in Haw Par Villa. Hua Song means, in Chinese, “in praise of the Chinese community”. This is a good follow-up from the Chinese Heritage Centre, as it pays tribute to the overseas Chinese and talks about the struggles, lives and occupations of Chinese immigrants all over the world.

Leaving China

Westernization (Recognize the guy in the pictures?)

Chinese occupations

Featured are: The coolie, the prostitute, the majie as well as the first notable Hollywood Chinese American actress Anna May Wong, who basically had a monopoly on Oriental acting roles waaay before Lucy Liu and Zhang Ziyi.

An interesting feature of the museums is the relevant books placed in the galleries, which you can browse for as long as you like, and provide a treasure trove of information on overseas Chinese.

And of course, if you’re hungry, there’s always the Made in China restaurant, which, I hear, serves up pretty good Chinese food.

Admission to Hua Song is $8.40/adult, $5.30/child. More details at: http://www.museums.com.sg/MRM_huasong.asp

All in all, in my first visit to all three museums, I have been provided with greater insight into Chinese heritage, history and identity. Take a trip down, and you might discover something you never knew about being Chinese.