A PASSAGE TO INDIA: 157. THE SUN YAT SENG NANYANG MEMORIAL HALL

The verandah - old buildings are sexy - they have shape and curves - they don't make them like this anymore - and the wrought iron work....what can I say...

It's so happening down at Balestier, an area I don't go to if it wasn't for this community outing. I seized the opportunity to check out this museum and its new gallery.

These 2 performances were by 2 local high schools - not bad! Now if only the drummers, in focusing so hard, didn't look so robotic!

Heartland aunties.....

This tembusu is estimated 120 years old - majestic as old trees are...perfect in an environment with a large conserved building, a former private residence, often associated with Sun Yat Sen, so is apt that it was chosen to be the site for this museum...

The compound is interesting enough - sculptures and lush greenery make the difference...

Sculpture of the man himself - looks like an ABC to me...he's best known as a revolutionary...some exhibits are commie inspired. There are similar memorial halls in Taipei and Penang...
I came for the exhibits, not the personality, any gossip on the man and his life can come from Wikipedia or books...

The museum's neighbours are this Burmese Buddhist temple and a Pentacostal church. So because it's located in Singapore, this temple had to be a big, golden mousetrap...like those back in Yangon!

I came for this new gallery. The collection was beautifully done, unique pieces, well preserved...from the 19th and the 20th centuries...

These are hand-stitched bonnets. The animal faces and demon looks are to keep harmful forces away from the child...

This hat is in the shape of a roof...love it!

These adorable little booties are in the same animal or demon looks to keep negative energies at bay...young Chinese women like my mother, grandmothers and lots of women in Malaysia spent their leisure time on embroidery work. They married early, are housewives their entire lives, they took pride in the needlework they produced for their homes, children and grandkids. Many earned a small income as seamstresses and I saw the truly beautiful art they produced on their manual sewing machines, some operated by a handwheel, in which they churned out nyonya kebayas...

I saw this in Vietnam where young women, some merely girls of 13, embroidered extremely beautiful artwork with silk threads which are framed and sold for a high price to tourists. Their tailor shops did fine work too, especially binding work with Chinese frog buttons...

In China, I took note of ladies during lull in business, embroidering all manner of small goods. Every single soul is creative....it's our very core...you can't learn how to be creative in universities...the more schooling a person has, the less creative that person becomes. They think they are smart and therefore, creative, they don't know its meaning. Even war can be creative - ask Sun Tzu, ask the Vietcong, ask the Japanese when they invaded large parts of Asia, now ask those young jihadists...

Even a pair of tiny shoes for bound feet receive lots of detailed attention. Poor little rich women, for they did this to young girls from well-to-do families. Such shoes must be really hard to get these days for the gallery had only this pair on show...

Ear muffs receive the same loving attention to details...beaut!
Likewise, these headbands below - clearly these are all made for ladies with stature...I doubt very much the womenfolk who embroider these are allowed to wear one!

These 2 are quirky leg warmers, I call them, as what else can they be? Probably new to add a bit of whimsy to the opening of the new gallery. Why would any Mandarin want to dress up the legs of his tables when the legs have so much to show with its rich carvings and mother-of-pearl inlay? There's an opening to reveal the computer monitor below!

The same yarn was knitted to produce this cutie for photo opportunities for it was the school break and youngsters were encouraged to visit and perhaps in time to come, may appreciate museums...