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Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, also known as Wan Qing Yuan, and formerly as the Sun Yat Sen Villa, is a two-story colonial style villa in Balestier, Singapore. The villa is now a museum commemorating Sun Yat Sen (1866–1925), the founding father of the Republic of China who visited Singapore nine times between 1900 and 1911. Located at 12 Tai Gin Road off Ah Hood Road in Balestier, the villa occupies an area of approximately 3,120 square metres (33,600 sq ft) and played a crucial role in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution by serving as the Tongmenghui’s base in Nanyang (Southeast Asia) in the early 20th century.
History The villa was designed in 1900 and built in 1901 by Boey Chuan Poh (梅春輔; 1874-1926), a businessman who owned the newspaper Union Times. The villa was rumoured to be a home for his mistress Bin Chan, hence it was called “Bin Chan House”. In 1902, Boey sold the villa for 7.5 million. It was reopened to the public as a museum on 12 November 2001. In 2009, the SCCCI appointed the National Heritage Board (NHB) to manage the museum, and redevelopment works took place in October 2010. One year later, the villa was reopened to the public on 8 October 2011 by then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean to commemorate the centenary of the Xinhai Revolution, who is also the grandnephew of Teo Eng Hock.
Current status The villa currently houses a collection of nearly 400 artefacts, including calligraphy works, photographs, old books, paintings and sculptures, spread throughout the five galleries in two levels. The villa is redecorated in the style of an old Peranakan house and has 180 new artefacts added. The Lee Foundation paid for most of the paintings, the bronze wall mural, and bronze statues and busts, which were worth over S$1.5 million in total. Just alongside the villa is Zhongshan Park, also named after Sun Yat Sen, an integrated hotel, commercial and retail development completed in 2013. Connecting the development to the villa is a similarly named 0.46 ha (4,600 m2) public park.
Highlights A two-metre tall bronze wall mural which spans 60 metres to the back of the building and depicts Singapore’s history from the 1840s to the 1940s. It was sculpted by artists from China between 1999 and early 2005 at a cost of around S$1 million. It depicts scenes of Singapore as a fishing village in the 1840s and the Sook Ching massacre in 1942. Bronze statues scattered around the garden, including those of persons who helped Sun Yat Sen in the Xinhai Revolution. There is a one-metre tall sculpture of Sun Yat Sen seated on a chair, which was presented by the Chinese government in 1937. More bronze sculptures of Sun Yat Sen line the hallway leading to the museum’s entrance. Oil and watercolour paintings and calligraphy works by Singaporean and Chinese artists, such as painter Liu Kang, Buddhist monk and renowned calligrapher, Venerable Song Nian (松年法師), and Cultural Medallion-winning artists Ong Kim Seng and Tan Swie Hian. These are found in the galleries on the second level. Photograph of Sun Yat Sen and members of the Tongmenghui’s Singapore branch, taken at Wan Qing Yuan around 1906. Nanyang and the Founding of the Republic, the Memoir of Teo Eng Hock, a book by Teo Eng Hock, providing a detailed record of the Tongmenghui’s activities in Southeast Asia. Wan Qing Yuan and the Chinese Revolution, a recollection by Tan Chor Lam, a book printed in the 1940s, containing records of the Tongmenghui’s activities in Singapore. A work of Chinese calligraphy, bearing the Chinese characters bo ai (博愛; “universal love”), presented by Sun Yat Sen to Teo Eng Hock’s nephew, Teo Beng Wan. Seal belonging to Tan Chor Lam, engraved with the Chinese characters jie ai guo yuan (結愛國緣; “love for country and fellow countrymen”).
See also Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Sun Yat Sen Memorial House Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
References The Straits Times, “House of history”, 29 December 2005
External links
Official website of the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Former Sun Yat Sen Villa