Fuk Tak Chi Museum

I visited Fuk Tak Chi Museum which can be found at Far East Square.
This small little temple managed to withstand the effects of modernisation and had its architecture conserved among a row of post-modern shophouses.
Fuk Tak Chi was opened in1824 by the Hakka and Cantonese immigrants whom were part of the pre-war early settlers on Singapore.

Fuk Tak Chi Museum
Admission: Free
76 Telok Ayer Street S (048464)
Tel: 6532 7868
Opening hours: 10am-10pm (Daily)

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A small courtyard and the door on the rear leads into Far East Square.

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Chinese writings on stone slabs.

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An old buring furnace for offerings to resident deity of Fuk Tak Chi.

At Fuk Tak Chi, you can find wax/clay figures that tells stories of early Singapore.

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This very realistic figure of an old Chinese scholar was moved here only recently together with a business promoting Chinese Tea. Visit to learn more about him.

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In the centre of the museum is a huge enclosed diorama depicting the scene of early Singapore river, where people work, play and live.

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A wayang troupe getting ready for a performance.

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The emblem on the pink chests is one representing 'Tao'.

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Along the river was people would sit down and enjoy a bowl of warm soybean milk.

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Coolies (google it aka labourers) toiled day and night moving goods and making a living, while some children provide a trade like shoe polishing to the rich merchants.

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Coolies take a break and play a game of narrow cards. My late grandmother used to play and I stood by her side and watch. The card game consists of a thick stack of narrow cards with chinese characters found on Chinese Chess. These cards comes in various colours as well (if I am not wrong, there are 7 colours).
If you know the name of this card game, please contribute the info. Thanks.

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A tired troupe member sleeping on a hammock while coolies toiled.

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On the left is the traditional barber while the right is a letter writing service, which is necessary for the early immigrants since they were usually not educated, to write to their homes in China.

Fuk Tak Chi is also a repository for many artefacts of that period. They were once thought to be trash, now it is a heritage artefact. Next time, you decide to throw something, think twice and call the museum.

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The currency used during the Japanese occupation and later known as 'banana' notes post-war.

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A classic telephone.

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Tools that can be found in a shop, such as the liang for weighing and abacus for calculations.

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Smoking was always a past time for the poor locals. Better the cigarettes than the opium.

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Traditonal kerosene lamps. Notice that the Milo tin? On it wrote Tonic Food! Nevertheless, Milo during that time was considered luxury beverage.

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Tool of trade of the kok kok mee seller.

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Lot tickets for devotees at this temples.

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A charcoal operated iron.

All pictures taken with SE k750i.

I definitely need to find a way to make sure that my blog do not get flooded by pictures. Meanwhile, please bear with this formatting.

Any contributions are welcome via comments.


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Comments

Anonymous said…
The traditional card game played by the Chinese immigrants might be the 'si sek pai' or 'four colour cards' in the Hokkien dialect. Check out this website on history of traditional card games http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards39.htm
Ivan Chew said…
Hi, nice post. Why don't you submit an excerpt to Yesterday.SG and link it back here?