Chinese Heritage Centre at Nanyang Technological University

By Isabel Jones  (Additional photos can be found on the CAS website)

A small, but keen group participated in our ‘Out and About’ tour on April 27th. We made the journey to the far west side of the island to Nanyang Technological University’s beautiful Yunnan garden campus to visit the Chinese Heritage Centre.

The Chinese Heritage Centre is housed in the former Nantah administration building and specialises in the study of Chinese communities outside China.  This 1950s building is now a National Monument and houses a library, a resource and research centre, and exhibitions. 

Our dynamic student guide gave us a good introduction to the history of the university through the exhibit ‘Nantah, a Pictorial History’. This university began as Nanyang University (Nantah) in 1955. It was started through private funding by the Chinese Community. Chinese language education was not supported by the British Colonial government so under the leadership of Tan Lark Sye the decision was made to found the first Chinese language university outside of China. Donations from the Chinese community from all walks of life, helped create the institution built on 523 acres of land donated by Singapore’s Hokkien Association on Upper Jurong Road.

In 1980 Nantah merged with the University of Singapore to become the National University of Singapore. It was sad for the Chinese community to see the university they founded disappear. Nanyang Technological Institute opened on the Nantah site and in 1991 it absorbed the National Institute of Education to become the current NTU.

Our guide also led us through the fascinating exhibit ‘Chinese More or Less’. Through pictures and artefacts, the theme of “Chineseness” and Chinese Identity is explored. It was interesting to see studio portraits of Chinese people in Canada in the early 1900’s and to ‘read’ what the subjects wanted to communicate about themselves in their photos. We learned a great deal about Chinese history and the issues of identity that come with being Chinese but not from China. A good discussion was had around photos of images of Chinese in western movies and the fact that for a time Chinese characters were not allowed to be played by actual Chinese people.

After the tour, we strolled through the lovely Yunnan garden. Within the garden are two national monuments: a memorial tablet from 1958 which honours the donors who contributed to making the university possible and a replica of the original entrance Nanyang Gateway Arch. Of course, lunch followed the tour. We had a varied Chinese meal at the modern Executive Cafe on campus.