TacoCat’s Travels #184 (SG): Exploring Chinese Culture in Singapore! 👲

October 2022 · 7 min read · Singapore

Hey Hive!

If you missed the last post, I just finished recounting our trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from back in July 2019! It was the last trip before Sean was scheduled to start his full-time job so it was a good time for a short getaway and we decided to revisit Vietnam to see a friend! We also traveled with a mutual friend of ours and his family!

It was a really fun trip getting to hang out with our international friends (whom we actually met in Finland) and also see more of Ho Chi Minh since the first time we visited was on a volunteering trip in 2016 and we didn't get to enjoy the city much.

That trip was also the last trip we took pre-covid, and obviously with travel restrictions we didn't get to go anywhere for quite some time until 2022! But the government gave us extra incentives to boost local tourism so we did take some time post-quarantine to see more of our own country and I thought it'd be cool to share some cool places from Singapore!

15 March 2020. Sunday.

Sean had heard from his relatives that the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre was actually really cool to visit and since it's free admission we thought we'd go check it out!

Source: Straits Times

Unfortunately I didn't have pictures of the outside of the building but the inside was pretty nice!

The first thing we had to do was collect these wristbands that will unlock different stuff at the interactive exhibits!

After collecting the wristband you head to the kiosk and register your information like your ethnicity, gender and age group.

The kiosk says to tap with the wristband at certain points to unlock more experiences and scan QR codes for more fun facts! At the end you can collect a report to understand more about ourselves apparently.

The Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) collaborates with arts and cultural groups and community partners to promote and develop local Chinese culture. They also have plenty of cool exhibits highlighting the evolution of the Chinese Singaporean identity.

This was the first passage we saw upon entering and it was really cool! The side walls had screens showing Singapore's culture and classic buildings.

The passage led into this room, which looked really cool! I loved the neon lights.

The table in the center had different information about Singapore in general, like our multicultural society.

General geographical information; both physical and societal:

and more specific information about the Chinese race in Singapore and where we came from:

There was also some historical information like the growing percentage of Chinese population when we were a British colony.

And how far we've come as a country now being a global city.

Of course there were different thing to interact with on the table as well to make it more engaging. We actually studied most of the information here back in primary and secondary school in Social Studies class.

Along the walls of this room were also different interactive activities you could use your wristband on, like this Would You Rather have coffee or tea?

There was also this survey of what makes a Chinese Singaporean:

I think we had the most fun playing with the neon lights and shadows though xD

There was this interesting exhibit showing different values that utilised part of an old apartment/flat gate which made me so nostalgic. You could also open the drawers for more information!

Another wristband checkpoint was to ask if you still had a "chou chou" aka security blanket/soft toy.

And we found our ducky friend here!

There was also this display of how to address different family members in Chinese, where in English you would typically just say Auntie and Uncle:

This whole wall had different cupboards you could open for information like this Paiseh Piece, which is typical of Asian meals where the last piece is left since everyone is embarassed to finish it and will typically leave it for the youngest to have.

And of course the classic Asian capital punishment method - the cane.

There was this huge piggy and an old sewing machine too:

And of course, how could we forget Chinese New Year! Arguably the most important holiday of the year!

This whole wall covered various Chinese festivals like Yingming, and Mid-Autumn as well:

Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated because Chinese follow the lunar calendar and we eat mooncakes during this festival!

Some information of Chinese families outside China:

Who knew some traditions and festivals live on here in Singapore but not in China?

There were even some festivals we'd never even heard of like these:

There was a lot of information about how Chinese lived and thrived in Singapore, that's for sure.

And how we've grown with different cultures and their impact on our own culture and language!

Some common terms that have become the local lingua franca:

Then we came to our favourite section about food! There were the classic hawker dishes on display on the wall, and a special room beside it called The Kitchen!

Inside The Kitchen was a huge round table that looked just like the ones you'd see in hawker centers (but of course this one was a lot bigger).

And if you waited, the lights would turn off and there would be a projection of various food on the table!

There was also a coffee section about the different types of coffee you can order in hawker centers.

After that we ended up in a huge outdoor area called Huat Huat Land that had more exhibits and very cute illustrations!

There were also some huge Mahjong pieces in the background.

I loved the art style of the illustrations and found out the artist is known as Pok Pok & Away on Facebook! Turns out he's done quite a lot of illustrations and murals for Singapore!

It was really colourful and they even had a window here for pictures!

Thankfully it was a nice evening for a walk although it did get a little warm after a while.

We headed back inside after that and came across more history:

And ended with things Made in Singapore, which is not something you'd normally see.

But we do have a lot of local talent here like famous filmmaker Jack Neo and I appreciated that they showed Chinese instruments as well.

The last place was this area with different screens in what looked to be a factory of different local goodies!

I got my report in the end as a nice souvenir which was really cool!

Overall it was a pretty fun experience and while I knew most of the information here the exhibits were cool and interactive. They was really accurate and relatable too; you wouldn't think these local colloquialisms and habits would make it into a museum! I think it would be cool for tourists or students to come here and learn more about our culture.

If you're ever in Singapore and want to learn more come visit the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre for yourself!

Thanks so