It takes people to make cultures come alive~!
On Monday, I went to meet a CFO of a Chinese ice cream manufacturer and the distributor to discuss the possibility of them sponsoring my event. As it seems, the distributor graduated from NTU in 1970 while the CFO of the manufacturing company is my senior who graduated in 1996.
What I learnt from my rendezvous with them was that, "if you wanna do business with Chinese companies, you betta speak Mandarin". It's not that they can't speak English, but they are proud and rather speak Mandarin, I guess.
The distributor also affectionately mentioned this "hua yi guan" or 华裔馆 that I figure is what we refer to as the Heritage Centre. He mentioned about this "kuai" on the roof of the building that says "Nantah" or 南大 meaning Nanyang University. These "kuai" as he called it, were from the Fujian province where my father came from.
Curious, and tired after my IT exam, I spontaneously decided to take a break and go for a short trip to the Heritage Centre.
It's tough to see from the picture, but I could see that the green tiles says 南大, referring to Nanyang University.
Even though I have been to Taiwan and seen such Chinese architecture, I never paid so much attention to such details. Walking into the building made me feel like I have walked back 100 years, with the whole interior resembling that of Chinese mansions in drama serials.
Knowing the long history of the building, it is inevitable that it carries with it many stories of ghostly encounters. As I walked in the desolate building alone, tingles began to run down my spine. I must say that a surreal paper marche statue at an unexpected corner in the pictorial gallery did quite freak me out!
Next, I went to the "Chinese more or less", an exhibition on overseas Chinese identity. I must say that the interior was very well designed with projected documentaries and ancient documents and even something that resembles an ancestral plague. However, the exhibition hall was no better than the previous. With its use of mirrors and black & white pictures of people from the past, it was yet another freaky experience.
On the whole, the entire experience of visiting the Heritage Centre made me proud to be a Chinese and proud being in "Nantah" more than ever. I guess it really takes people to tell you stories to make cultures come alive.
Labels: life
