By Johnni Wong | May 16, 2011
Photographs courtesy by Tuttle Publishing / Periplus Editions Ltd
Ancestral homes
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| From 2007 to 2009, Prof Emeritus Ronald Knapp and A. Chester Ong made five excursions to South-East Asia in search of Chinese heritage buildings. |
A custom-built house - especially when it is an ancestral home - is a highly personal property which reflects everything the owner and his ancestors have put in. And when such a property falls derelict, changes hands or is demolished, such a situation brings with it poignant tales. But Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia reveals many happy tales of uniquely beautiful houses that serve to remind us of the ingenuity and industriousness of the builders and the profound legacy they left behind.
Thus, Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia (CHSEA) by SUNY Distinguished Prof Emeritus Ronald Knapp of the State University of New York, New Paltz, chronicles significant stories of Chinese heritage dwellings in South-East Asia that have survived largely intact over the years. And, thanks to the keen eye and exceptional skills of photographer A. Chester Ong, we are all privileged to catch a glimpse into a world that has yet to reveal all its secrets.
Long overdue at our local bookshelves, the publication was held back for about a year due to a mistake that was eventually resolved. The original book jacket with the cover photograph has been replaced and a certain chapter updated with more accurate details. Notwithstanding this development, it is still an important book that every library and lover of architecture or design as well as history buff must have.
In an e-mail interview, Knapp reveals his motivation for undertaking this book and his reasoning for the selection of houses.
What is the basis of your fascination with the built-heritage of the Chinese, in view of your two other books - Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage of a Nation and Chinese Bridges - and this publication, focusing on it?
RK: In 1965, while doing research for my PhD dissertation in Taiwan’s countryside on an unrelated topic, I began to seek out old residences for quick visits. Much puzzled me, which I gathered together as impressions in my mind and as notes on paper — all were clearly seeds for ideas that developed later.
In retrospect, topics addressed in some 15 books were all generated from some notion or question rooted in an earlier book, article, or field note. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to have had opportunities to travel widely throughout China on at least an annual basis for more than 40 years. I’ve seen a great deal, but must admit that there are still many topics yet to be fully addressed by me and, hopefully, others.
As a subject, Chinese material culture, including architecture, is under-studied although there are quite a few individuals throughout the world who are doing fine work that helps advance the field.
It was in the late 1970s that I began to write about Chinese vernacular architecture. In 1986, I published the first book in English on the subject, a feat that is only memorable since it was exactly 100 years after a much superior book was written about Japanese homes by Edward Sylvester Morse. Subsequent books have become thicker as they fill in many gaps and broach new subjects, but the readership of academic titles is limited and thus overall impact is also limited.
In 2003, Eric Oey, the publisher of Periplus/Tuttle invited me to select my ‘favourite’ 20 Chinese houses and assigned a professional photographer to travel with me and document them in a way that the images and text would be compatible and accessible for an educated audience. Three lengthy field trips to these residences were presented in our 2005 book Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage of a Nation. Eric recommended a photographer to work with me; thus, began a collaboration with Chester, a highly regarded Filipino Chinese photographer. Since meeting, we’ve now made more than a dozen field trips together.
While initially our interests differed, we’ve come to understand how our individual ‘talents’ when combined offer new perspectives in terms of presentation. Chester and I at first pursued on our own a project on Chinese bridges, which I had published on earlier, but in greater depth. Periplus/Tuttle consented to support the project and, as a result, in 2008, the book Chinese Bridges: Living Architecture from China’s Past was published. This book is replete with stories and images of bridges that have never appeared in an English-language publication. With that book, we were able to debunk a common American claim that the United States has the largest number of existing covered bridges.
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Clockwise from top left:
- The origins of the Tan Cheng Lock Residence can be traced back to 1797 when an extant title deed record the existence of a house on the site;
- The Tan Cheng Lock Residence in Malacca;
- The Tan Cheng Lock Residence in Malacca is one of the rare ancestral houses in Malaysia that still has the original furnishings intact.
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Why the sub-title, The Eclectic Architecture of Sojourners and Settlers? It reminds us of Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese by Kristine Alilunas Rodgers (author) and Anthony Reid (editor), and that book is also cited as reference material.
RK: Your question about how CHSEA came about is quite interesting, revealing quite well how serendipity, opportunity, and effort sometimes lead to fruitful pursuits.
While reviewing the illustrations and text for the 2005 Chinese Houses book, Eric asked whether I would consider doing fieldwork and research for a book on Chinese houses in South-East Asia. While I was intrigued by the idea — having actually never thought of Chinese houses outside of China — my initial reaction was one of scepticism that such a book was possible, questioning first whether indeed there were old Chinese-style homes still standing and, secondly, how I would find and get access to those that could be located.
Still, the prospect of taking a detour and commencing a fresh China-related research agenda outside the boundaries of China proved quite attractive, even as significant challenges seemed likely.
I had lived in Singapore for more than a year in the early 1970s and travelled throughout Malaysia and Thailand, yet I had no recollection of seeing any Chinese-style residences except for often nondescript and certainly ubiquitous shophouses. The most dramatic Chinese-style buildings were on the campus of Nanyang University where I taught and at CK Tang Department store.
While I recalled reading that some Chinese had built Chinese-style homes in South-East Asia, in truth I had little sense of what forms they might have taken. Preliminary archival research turned up photographs taken in the early 20th century of what indeed were residences in South-East Asia like those traditionally built in southern China. The issue, however, was whether any were still standing at the beginning of the 21st century.
After further discussions, I agreed to take on what I knew would be a demanding project. Indeed, just contemplating the search for elusive old Chinese homes, whether derelict or renovated, was in some ways exhilarating.
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From left to right:
- Magnificent furniture such as this teak sideboard furnished many of the ostentatious heritage homes built by the Chinese in South-East Asia;
- The distinctive Chee Family Ancestral Hall in Malacca is a unique heritage building not only in Malacca but in South-East Asia;
- The ground floor of many pre-war terraced-houses in Singapore, such as this example in River Valley Road, reflect Chinese ornamentation, especially auspicious Chinese charcters and sets of doors that are not only functional but hold plenty of symbolic meanings known only to the cultured.
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Chester and I decided to begin the project in the fall of 2007 by first revisiting Guangdong and Fujian, which had been the home provinces of most Chinese emigrants to South-East Asia. Not only did we want to better understand the regional characteristics of homes in these two provinces, but we also wanted to visit residences built by the Chinese who had been successful in the Nanyang and returned to their home villages. This initial foray was followed by three separate lengthy trips to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines in search of old Chinese houses. We had to defer trips to Vietnam and Burma as it became increasingly clear that the prospective book was already becoming unwieldy. At the end, we made one more trip to remote areas of Fujian and Guangdong in search of the 20th century ‘retirement’ homes of four successful Chinese entrepreneurs who were well known in Malaysia and Indonesia. This was supposed to complete our circle of discovery, but in fact opened new areas of inquiry.
Early on, we projected finding and documenting perhaps 20 old residences, but in time we visited and photographed four times that many, which were built between the late 18th and early 20th century. Nearly 40 of these are featured in our book, with glimpses of most of the others as well. It would not have been possible to locate many of these without the assistance of many who took an interest in our project.
Patrimony
Some of the homes we have documented have a distinctive patrimony in that they are linked to historical figures, but the origins of many are only sketchy. It has been enlightening to reconstruct the nature of past social, economic, and geographic conditions, and link them to family histories, which I see as one of the major contributions of our work. We are hopeful that some of the residences we visited that now appear derelict will be restored and adaptively reused. Indeed, we visited residences that only a decade or so ago were crumbling that have been restored by families and others who have ‘rescued’ them from seemingly unrelenting ageing and eventual collapse. Yet, sometimes events interfere that lead to destruction. Within a year after we visited the remarkable Oey Djie San residence in Tangerang, Indonesia, we were saddened when preservationists and concerned citizens alerted us to its dismemberment.
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Cover of the book, Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia.
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Concerning the term ‘sojourners and settlers’, these are widely used words to describe the Chinese who came to South-East Asia, although I am quite certain that the first use in a title relating to South-East Asia indeed was in the Rodgers/Reid book.
Readers will find it curious that we included a handful of residences in China, but the reason is because they emphasise how elusive a firm definition is for ‘sojourning’ and ‘settling’. The two Qiu family residences we present were first visited by me in 1997, but at the time I couldn’t fit them into my understanding of Chinese vernacular architecture. It was only with this new project that I realised clearly that members of the Qiu family sojourned in Indonesia in the early 20th century (!), then returned to China to build two contrasting styles of buildings, one appearing in a traditional form while the other has clearly an eclectic patrimony. The last chapter in our book opens a window into questions about what was in the mind of the celebrated individual known in Penang as Cheong Fatt Tze, but known in China as Zhang Bishi and earlier in the West as Chang Pi-shih, as he faced the last years of his life. This is a story yet to be teased out. The evidence provided by his Penang residence, now restored as The Blue Mansion, and his Dapu village home in a once remote mountain village of eastern Guangdong province, needs to be connected with other facts about his life, perhaps even discovery of homes he is said to have had in Batavia and Hong Kong and elsewhere. This murky tale and that of several others is part of a new research project I’m pursuing.
Did you use the same approach as in the previous book on Chinese Houses?
RK: In some ways, yes, but with a major difference. With my 2005 Chinese Houses book, I reviewed all the residences I had visited or had wanted to visit over several decades — ‘my favorite 20 Chinese houses’ — and then travelled with Chester to document them. I then wrote stories about the homes and their residents in a way that was quite different from my more scholarly books on the architecture of the buildings.
With CHSEA, I literally started from scratch — except for searching for old photographs as well as articles and a few books that included information about houses lived in by Chinese immigrants and their descendants in South-East Asia. If I had depended only on this background, the resulting book would have been quite slim with perhaps just the 20 or so old houses we had anticipated at the beginning of the project.
You mentioned in your acknowledgments that “twenty old residences” were “projected” for this book but “nearly four times as many” were “visited and photographed.” In the book, 37 houses and general properties (eg. shophouses) are featured. What were the main reasons why the others were not included?
RK: Other residences were not included principally because the book was already getting unwieldy. Even with those homes included, I had to edit my text heavily. Chester’s images, while numerous, are often smaller than we and the designer would have preferred.
What were the criteria used to select the houses? Who helped you select them?
RK: See above. Also, the quite lengthy ‘Acknowledgments’ section of the book mentions most of those who were most helpful in our journey of discovery.
At the end of the field work, both Chester and I saw clearly that we had far more images than could be accommodated in one book. Moreover, as I researched and wrote about individual houses, as author, I had to grapple with expressing some overall narrative scheme, which I hope will be clear to readers of the full book.
I do not consider the book merely a collection of vignettes of individual houses and their owners. There are various tales that are told, which in many ways express the multiplicity of conditions under which Chinese migrants sojourned and/or settled in South-East Asia. The notions of sojourning and settling are not simple binary conditions. They are indeed complex in nature.
I do not consider our book as the definitive book on the subject. In fact, our hope is that the book will open new avenues of research for other scholars who will probe deeper into ideas that surface in the book.
We hope also that many will be inspired by the efforts of homeowners and others who sometimes struggle to preserve their family’s material heritage against great odds. Decision-making in general within extended families is not easy. We witnessed extraordinary levels of sacrifice on the part of descendants to maintain old properties. From time to time, we visited homes in dilapidated condition that we preferred to see as not yet restored rather than not restored. A family’s decision-making process and finances must be aligned before full — usually very costly — restoration can take place.
In some cases, it is family resources that can be drawn upon to restore an old home, and some of these efforts are celebrated in the book. In other cases, funds are from external sources and the old residence is adapted for some alternative use. Again, the book provides examples that range from one home being now a Catholic church to another serving as a B&B (bed and breakfast). There is no single route to preservation.
Did you visit all the houses featured in the book? Which house or property was the most challenging and in what way?
RK: Except for the four homes in Vietnam and the one in Cebu City in the Philippines, Chester and I were together in visiting all of the others. In the case of Vietnam, I had visited the Hanoi home in 2001. We used photographs taken by Luca Invernizzi, an Italian photographer who did a book on Vietnam for Periplus/Tuttle. For the Cebu home, Chester took abundant reference images of many details. We were in contact via e-mail when he was in Cebu City and he sent photos and his impressions back to me for my suggestions about what else might be needed.
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Clockwise from top left:
- Many of the heritage homes or mansions featured in the book have been adapted to other uses, such as the Chung Keng Quee Mansion in Penang. Although the residence of a Hakka tycoon and community leader who was named by the British colonial government as a Capitan China in Perak, Chung's property has changed hands and now operates as a "Peranakan museum"';
- Typical of traditional Chinese taste for auspicious symbols and gilded ornaments in grand buildings, the Tan Yeok Nee Manor in Singapore, feature exceptional timber structures and carvings befitting the status of a Chaozhou or Teochew tycoon. Note the glass partition, a concession to modern adaptive re-use of the building;
- The Khouw Family Manor once was one of the most elegant residences in colonial Batavia. This side elevation of the two remaining halls show what will eventually become of it. Reinforced concrete structure is being built above and around it to form part of a commercial and residential complex;
- Completed in 1900, the Tjong A Fie Mansion in Medan, Indonesia, is still flanked by side buildings with unmistakable Chinese gables, mirroring that found on the main building. Note the encroaching development surrounding it.
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Which was the most important house featured in the book? Why and in what way?
RK: It is impossible to state which house is the most ‘important’ or even which is my favourite.
Quite a few of the houses or properties featured in the book are from Malaysia (10) and Indonesia (10). Comparatively, only two are from the Philippines, three from Singapore (including a general article on shophouses and terraced houses) and four houses each from Thailand and Vietnam. Any particular reason?
RK: There is no particular reason except that we had the richest experiences in Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet we are certain that there are other fine old homes yet to be documented in both Malaysia and Indonesia. I’ve turned up references that suggest we should travel throughout Borneo, the Celebes (Sulawesi), and even take a much deeper look throughout Sumatra for such old homes.
This is clearly a subject that is worth further study with branches running off in many directions. I’ve already heard from several PhD students who ask whether we observed this since we had access to places that some of them have not visited.
What is the objective of selecting the four properties from China - a subject which you have covered in your previous book? How does it fit in with the title of the book, other than the historical connection?
RK: I’ve given some explanation above about the 20th century sojourning by members of the Qiu family in Indonesia that led eventually to the two homes presented in the book. I’ve also mentioned above the incredible ‘retirement’ home planned by Cheong Fatt Tze/Zhang Bishi in eastern Guangdong. The Chen Cihong home, also in eastern Guangdong, was built by the scion of the prominent Wanglee family in Bangkok. D.C. Chuan, one of the most famous Philippine lumber barons, built a home on Gulangyu, Xiamen in Fujian. The tales regarding the building and occupancy of these homes within China are very important if we are to understand the mentality of those who lived in two worlds, sometimes moving seemingly effortlessly between them. Some hints about this are found at the end of the ‘Introduction’.
Obviously, the subject of this book is a challenging one and has proven to be more “expansive” than originally thought. What will be in the companion volume?
RK: The planned companion volume will approach the topic from a different perspective and allow us to use more of Chester’s photography. We are tentatively calling the book The Peranakan Chinese Home. It will take a room-by-room look at residences in order to let the reader see more clearly comparative ornamentation and furnishings, among other topics.
The book is still taking shape in my mind. As you are well aware, there is much emphasis in Malaysia and Singapore on Peranakan culture; witness the recent Little Nonya television series, the opening of eateries, and also the opening of museums.
When we set out on our journey in Malacca and Singapore, it sometimes appeared as if, to some, these were the only sites of Peranakan culture. Along the way, we discovered some in Thailand, especially in Phuket. Some Indonesians also considered themselves Peranakan although they had no direct connection with Malacca or Singapore.
You have been diplomatic in your writings and took steps to verify certain facts and to ensure accuracy, despite the strong will of certain owners who wish to paint a different picture of the property they have bought over. What are your thoughts on this?
RK: As author, I’ve done my best to honour those who came to South-East Asia under very trying circumstances and then thrived.
* Author Ronald Knapp and photographer A. Chester Ong are planning a lecture on their latest book in Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, West Malaysia Chapter. For details, e-mail the Hon. Secretary at seacsmy@gmail.com.
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