How did you celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival this year? Rachel and I were invited by the National Heritage Board’s youth and social media outreach initiative to the Hua Song Museum (华颂馆) for some cultural fun, together with a group of omy.sg bloggers.
This was the first time both of us visited this museum hidden in the mystical Haw Par Villa. The museum promotes Chinese heritage and culture. Definitely relevant to both Rachel and I – I am third-generation Heng Hwa, with my paternal grandfather hailing from Fujian, Putien; Rachel is third-generation Hainanese.
The exhibits in the museum made my secondary school history text books come to life in the form of mannequins and models. The main message conveyed seem to be that Chinese people are really EVERYWHERE in the world. We are also “刻苦耐劳” – hardworking and diligent, willing to go through tremendous hardships for a better life.
As I walked through the museum, I can’t help but wonder (macham like Carrie Bradshaw) – how does the theme of this museum sit with the recent heavy influx of new Chinese immigrants? Maybe it’s time for Hua Song Museum to do some updating of their exhibits? Then again, if they were to do so, won’t it destroy the carefully crafted stories in our history textbooks, which define the “Chinese-ness” of being a Singaporean Chinese?
Ok I’m getting a little too academic. Let’s focus on the museum. Here are some of the photos I took:
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