What a nice day to see the buddhist artifacts from Qingzhou! Went to visit the Peranakan Museum with E.W & Tuan. I think I am not supposed to post any pics of the main galleries on websites, but I shall just put a few? Anyway, the tix was just 8 bucks to visit both the main galleries and the Qingzhou buddhist artifacts.
The museum.
The entrance.
The ACM cat.
The main galleries. It's quite interesting to know that Peranakans are not just from Malacca...they can come from Penang and Indonesia. In the Malay-speaking parts of SEA, the term "Peranakan" means "child of" or "born of" and is used to refer to people of mixed ethnic origins. Besides Chinese Peranakans, there are also Jawi Peranakan (Indian Muslim) and Chitty Melaka (Indian).
One of the antique chairs in front of the desk counter.
A cute wedding portrait at the Wedding section. Peranakan wedding can last for 12 days eh! Lolz!
The one on the left side is Singapore/Malacca wedding jewellery. The one on the right is Penang wedding jewellery.
Three-tiered wedding basket (Bakol Siah).
Wedding pagodas.
The Sam Kai Alter. It's dedicated for the Jade Emperor. "Sam Kai" means San Jie in Chinese, and it refers to Heaven, Earth & Man. The altar is erected on special occasions, for wedding rites like chiu tau (comb hair) and Jade Emperor's birthday.
Furnitures of the Peranakans.Well, other sections were quite interesting too. I didn't bother to take pics, in case kena caught. But I read the visitor guide that it's ok to take pics without flash in the main galleries. Actually, I thought the Peranakan culture is more traditional than mainstream Chinese. They really follow lots of Chinese traditions for many occasions, from wedding to furneral etc. But I guess nowadays most SG peranakans are Christians liao, they don't follow many traditions like worshipping ancestors etc, which is actually quite taoist.
--静界~青州佛像之宝 @ Dr. Tan Tsze Chor & Upper Annex Gallery--
Can't take pics la. There were 35 buddhist statues altogether, and most of them were sort of damaged (lots of missing hands etc..) Well, it's quite amazing to see such "un-chinese styled" buddha statues from China. Those from Nothern Qi dynasty were heavily influenced by Indian-styled Statues during Gupta dynasty. Also, the Northern Qi statues were more "human-liked". There was a video showing the excavation of the statues on the site in 1996. Saw the statues coming out from the soil....imagined they were buried for 800 yrs. Many were badly damaged...and the reason for their burial was unknown.
Well, it's interesting to see how culture can fused together and these buddha statues were gd examples. Looking at the statues...made me feel like visiting the grottoes in China sia! They are super magnificant eh! They wld be in my tour destination list! Hehe!
--Marina Square--
Went over to MS for some shopping. Had "high-tea" @ Secret Recipe...and they didn't have my Chocolate Banana! Tuan had her Hazel nut Latte & Chicken Cornish, while I ate Marble Cheesecake & drank Ice Mocha. E.W leh? Drank her Camomile tea lo...hehe!
Tuan & me bought shirts from TRF at Zara. The shirts were made from organic cotton wor. Hehehe! Looks like i shld check out TRF in the future. Then, we bought 2 pairs of D.P jeans at 69 bucks! I think as long as I buy girly shirts, E.W wldn't stop me from buying them. Lolz...And now no need to hunt for CNY clothes le, so easy to find nice ones! Haizz...
