- Day 14 -

Hua Song Museum

The Hua Song Museum in Haw Par Villa is another attempt at preserving the life of Chinese in the early days, perhaps 50 years ago. It was an interesing sight, as we saw how the lives had been so difficult and be filled with wonder of how they had managed to survive and thrive in those insane conditions. A wave of new appreciation of the comforts of life we have now.

But oddly, I can't seem to connect with the past as well as I thought I should. The relics and reconstructions of the past are impressive, but are just like exhibits. I can't help but wonder - how much would the common people understand and identify with these? Are they only of value to curious Chinese students from all over the world, or the professional academia?

Museums cannot reach out to the public well, but can our culture be retained by the rich historical sites around China for example?

Many of the places of great historical values have been commercialised into tourist attractions. These include places like the Forbidden Palace, Yi He Yuan, traditional living quarters like Si He Yuan and Sam Tung Uk... These have all been "reconstructed and refurbished" for the comforts of the tourists, but in doing so, has the cultural meanings been lost? The palace was supposed to be a place of reverement, a place only for the emperor and privilleged ministers - now it's trampled by thousands of tourists every day, and dozens of shops have sprung up in the scared grounds in place of the old imperial rooms. I wonder what the average tourist would learn from it.

This brings me to wonder - can culture be preserved? Are we "keeping our heritage" and "discovering our roots", or are we trying to keep a portion of the past that is no longer relevant? Can it co-exist with the current global culture?



Hua Song Museum

Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa was built many years ago by the Tiger brothers. Then, it was merely a commercial attempt to gain advertising for their products. To attract the locals who don't have the money to travel around much, they built replicas of many of the world's attractions in the park, include figures of Sumo wrestlers, the Statue of Liberty, and figurines of various gods and dieties in the Chinese tradition. Their main attraction was a cave which depicted the 10 courts and 18 levels of hell. Which was far too short, gruesome and not entirely impressive.

These "attractions" used to be rather popular decades ago. But in this rather affluent society in Singapore, people are often rich enough to travel for themselves. And I can't imagine anyone willing to pay to see a tiny replica of the Statue of Liberty. Has Haw Par Villa turned into a place of the past? Like culture?


Some Chinese official I can't remember


Who'll drive this car?!


Pay to get into Hell...


Hell?