Our Geylang Serai Museology Highlight
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THE STORIES BEHIND JUBILEE WALK NO. COMMUNITY 32 HERITAGE TRAIL: VOL. OUR GEYLANG 09 SERAI ISS. 01 MUSEOLOGY HIGHLIGHT: WHEN OBJECTS BECOME THE SUBJECT Front Cover National Day, August 9, 1966 Photo courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Front Inner Cover Mummy-board, probably from Thebes, Egypt, 950 – 990 BC © 2015 the Trustees of the British Museum FOREWORD FOREWORD Publisher National Heritage Board 61 Stamford Road, MUSE SG is beginning the of the Singaporean identity. The #03-08, Stamford Court, New Year with a new look and a new generation highlights our Singapore 178892 look back on Singapore’s Jubilee multi-faceted cultural identity, Chief Executive Officer Celebrations. continuing the thread of our Rosa Daniel past as a heterogeneous mix of A key milestone in the Jubilee Assistant Chief Executive immigrants who called Singapore Alvin Tan Year, the Jubilee Walk was home. They remind us that we are (Policy & Community) launched to commemorate the only as strong as we are resolute in 50th anniversary of Singapore’s creating a better future together, MUSE SG team independence. The Jubilee Walk while keeping the roots of our Editor-in-chief covers 23 architectural gems, beginnings close. David Chew bringing visitors up close and Design Consultant personal with Singapore’s past, Finally, to round up the year Ian Lin present and future. and usher in new beginnings, we Editorial Managers remember that history also lies in Reena Devi MUSE profiles 12 individuals Ruchi Mittal our diverse communities all over Raudha Muntadar for The Stories behind the Jubilee the island and, for this issue, we Production Manager Walk (page 27) in this bumper focus on Geylang Serai. In the Lawrence Low issue introducing the trail. The article Our Geylang Serai (page Layout articles showcase intimate life 51), we explore one of Singapore’s Kaleb Loh stories and each is interwoven oldest communities and showcase Copy-editing with the histories of our iconic Hedgehog the area’s rich cultural elements Communications sites, offering greater insight to and food haunts. Printing how far modern-day Singapore Hobee Print Pte Ltd has come from its past. Men and As we cross the 50-year mark of a Contributors women dedicated to their work nation, with increased knowledge Chung Sang Hong Joel Tan and communities, the profiled of our heritage, we look towards the Nicole Chen individuals are 12 strains of the new year with an expanded vision Nurliyana Halid same song – creativity, resilience, to encompass endless possibilities. Priscilla Chua Raudha Muntadar camaraderie and commitment, all Reena Devi that have moulded Singapore into Ruchi Mittal today’s vibrant city state. Szan Tan MUSE SG TEAM Stefanie Tham A homecoming youth’s perspective Yane Lee in The Singapore Story (page 20) tells us about the rich fabric of Singapore and the way it has come together to create the country we are today. She joins two other young students in this issue to offer their vibrant voices FOREWORD JUBILEE WALK JUBILEE WALK MAGNETS JUBILEE WALK FOLDER JUBILEE WALK MESSENGER BAG In conjunction with the launch of the Jubilee Walk in November 2015, MUSEUM LABEL has developed a range of merchandise – comprising L-shaped folders, notebooks, magnets, sticky notes and messenger bags – featuring well-loved landmarks along the Jubilee Walk. These merchandise are sold at the MUSEUM LABEL shops. AVAILABLE AT FOLLOWING LOCATIONS: Asian Civilisations Museum National Museum of Singapore 1 Empress Place, Left Lobby 93 Stamford Road Singapore 179555 Singapore 178897 Saturdays - Thursdays | 10am to 7pm Mondays - Sundays | 10am to 6.30pm Fridays | 10am to 9pm CONTENTS CONTENTS 04 10 16 MUSEOLOGY HIGHLIGHT WE: DEFINING STORIES CHINESE WHEN OBJECTS THE SINGAPOREAN NEW YEAR GREETINGS BECOME THE SUBJECT FACTOR A THROWBACK TO THE SIXTIES 21 25 51 THE SINGAPORE STORY COVER STORY COMMUNITY A YOUTH’S PERSPECTIVE THE STORIES BEHIND HERITAGE TRAIL JUBILEE WALK OUR GEYLANG SERAI 55 58 63 A BRANCH FROM THE STACKS THE VIETNAMESE OF HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS OF WOMEN’S MUSEUM THE TEMBUSU TREE THE NATIONAL LIBRARY CHRONICLING WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM 65 67 EDUCATION WHAT’S ON FUN WITH HERITAGE ON THE JUBILEE WALK CONTENTS WHEN OBJECTS BECOME THE SUBJECT Text by Szan Tan Photo on this page Shield, Late Bronze Age, around 1200 to 1000 BC. Sheet Bronze. North Wales. Presented by Sir A.W. Franks MUSEOLOGY HIGHLIGHT 01. Stone Hand Axe, about 800,000 years old. Lower Palaeolithic. Quartzite. Tanzania. 02. Ru Dish with Emperor’s Inscription, AD 1086 to 1125. Stoneware with Celadon Glaze. China. 01 02 Objects embody ideas and concerns Louis Leakey, is much like the common to mankind. From chopping tool mentioned by Neil creating hand tools to dishes to Macgregor, former Director of metal alloys/ware, mankind created British Museum. It represents the objects to meet evolving needs over beginning of mankind’s story, time. As such, these objects tie in and our relationship with the strongly with the development objects we create. The making of of human civilisation. Objects the tools like the handaxe tells of reflect our close relationships with man’s resourcefulness and ability our physical environment and to harness the raw materials from the natural and animal world, his physical environment. and also capture the relationship we have with the spiritual world. Man may know to utilise raw Throughout history, humanity’s materials for survival and complex interconnection with protection, but great skill and dexterity are required to transform “[R]ight from the beginning, we each other has also been further demonstrated through objects. a lump of stone into a tool, and to – unlike other animals – have felt craft it exquisitely too. Based on the urge to make things more From December 5, 2015 to May many of the handaxes found in sophisticated than they need 29, 2016, Treasures of the World the Olduvai Gorge, it is speculated to be. Objects carry powerful from the British Museum at the that early humans went beyond messages about their makers, National Museum of Singapore function and created them as art brings together many objects pieces and status symbols. The and this chopping tool is the that illustrate the fascinating handaxes were simply too large beginning of a relationship relationship we have with the and beautifully crafted to function between humans and the things objects we create and possess. as practical tools for everyday use. they create which is both a love affair and a dependency.” HAND TOOLS PRIZED POTTERY Neil MacGregor, A 800,000-year-old stone handaxe, The transformation of clay into former Director of British Museum, discovered in the Olduvai Gorge pottery, stoneware and porcelain in History of the World in 100 Objects in Tanzania by the archaeologist through firing marks another - 05 - MUSEOLOGY HIGHLIGHT 03 04 05 development in man’s relationship adored for their highly vitrified, with his environment. A Ru dish pure and translucent bodies. and blue-and-white porcelain Produced mainly in Jingdezhen in dish in the exhibition are splendid southern China’s Jiangxi province, results of man’s search for the many of these wares were exported finest materials, his exploitation of to the Near and Middle East and 06 them, and the success of his many other countries in Asia from the experiments in creating fine and fifteenth century onwards. Great 03. Blue-and-white Porcelain Dish, delicate objects reserved only for quantities of these Chinese export AD 1403 to 1424. Porcelain with Underglaze Cobalt-Blue Decoration. the imperial family. porcelains eventually found their China. way to Europe and were all the Admired for their thin bodies, 04. Seated Figure of the Goddess Bastet, rage there in the seventeenth to Late period Egypt, 664 to 302 BC. duck-egg blue glaze and delicate eighteenth century. Bronze. crack lines, Ru wares were only 05. Ritual Wine Vessel, 500 BC. Bronze. produced briefly for a period of METALWORK AND China. about 30 years, from AD 1086 06. Processional Cross, AD 1730 to 1755. SOCIAL STATUS Bronze and Gold. Ethiopia. to 1127. Today, there are only 70 extant pieces, mainly in museum Besides ceramics, the course of collections. metal technology development also demonstrates our abilities in Appreciated and sought all over the transforming our natural resources world later in history were Chinese to make objects that will protect, porcelains with under-glazed blue serve and bolster our social decoration, commonly known as 07 positions. Man created bronze “blue and white” porcelain. These using copper and combining it Chinese porcelains made from a with other metals such as zinc and combination of porcelain stone lead. Through inventive techniques and kaolin, which was then found – such as mould casting, lost wax only in China, were very much technique, repoussé and chasing - 06 - MUSEOLOGY HIGHLIGHT 07. Harmensz van Rijn, Rembrandt. The Three Crosses, AD 1653. Dry Point Etching. 08. Statue of Ganesha, around AD 1200. Sandstone. India. 07 08 – bronze figurines, weapons,and propitiated; protection was (Harmensz van Rijn, 1606 to armours, shields, vessels and sought from gods, goddesses and 1668), entitled The Three Crosses ceremonial implements were ancestors. The teachings of great and dated AD 1653. Here, the scene formed and decorated in various beings were studied and revered, of Christ’s crucifixion is highly cultures. and religious systems and beliefs dramatised through the clever use were created. Examples of these bronze objects of light and shade. The frail body can be found in the Treasures of In some societies, certain of Jesus is situated in the centre, the World from British Museum animals were considered sacred and all light and focus are on him exhibition. They range from the and venerated as deities which and his death. Only upon closer figure of the Egyptian goddess were both feared and loved.