Talking of Singapore buildings (i.e. Keppel Road Station) who’s future is somewhat vague it’s worth highlighting the lovely Capitol Theatre which seems to be in a semi-permanent closed up state. I noticed that the once impressive sign on the front has been partially dismantled now (see before and now pictures below). The Capitol is a classic 1933 entertainment building of the sort once common in the UK and the colonies but increasingly now disappearing – many old theatres/music halls and cinemas in England have gone or are going and elsewhere too (interestingly Shanghai’s Cathay cinema on Huaihai Road remains as a good example in a city not known for preserving anything). The neo-classical Capitol was one of Singapore’s biggest theatres. The structure suffered some damage – but that’s OK in this case as it was a bomb by the anti-Japanese resistance during the war aimed at killing Japanese soldiers. It was restored and modernised (better air-con etc) as the Shaw Building after the war.
The Capitol a few years ago
The Capitol in early April 2011 – as you can see the sign has been played about with and the backing gone
The Capitol is listed for preservation but remains empty at the moment and you can see the closed up entrance above – here’s a few pics of the building that show it is in good condition and the nicely designed external stairways:
Actually I can’t confirm it, but it has been previously announced that Singapore’s lovely Keppel Road Railway Station (also known as Tanjung Pagar Station or Singapore Railway Station) is to close this July. It seems that the station will be redeveloped (hopefully restored – to knock it down would be a crime and I’m not sure Singapore would do that now, surely they have enough shopping malls?) and trains will go to the far less stylish Woodlands station (where you do immigration if you arrive in Singapore by train). So having to go from KL (where sadly you now board not at the beautiful old Moorish station but at the new Sentral Station) to Singapore recently I took the train. It’s a long ride – leaves KL at 9am and gets to Keppel Road about 4.30-5pm but if you have a day to spare it’s a nice trip – cheap and you can idle a day reading a book and looking out the window. Bizarrely even the coach is faster! So this is not high speed rail but it’s a damn site nicer than either another plane ride or staring out the window at a motorway embankment for hours. And of course there’s the carbon emissions or lack of.
Admittedly the carriages are a little shabby – at least the so-called Premier carriage (not very expensive though) had not been refurbished on my train but the ordinary coaches had new seats but a little less room. In case you’re interested here’s the premier seat and cabin.
And so to the station:
The station frontage – completed in 1932
The booking office still in use
Nice vaulted arches – the B&Q shed thing is a Malaysia tourism board hut and of course not integral to the design!
More vaulted arches and the rather odd Malaysian Swiss chalet shed!
The exterior of the station featuring the four white marble reliefs by the Italian sculptor Rudolfo Nolli (who worked often in Asia and did the decorations on the Fullerton Hotel – formerly the GPO) which are:
A brief detour to South East Asia, but worth it I think. Passing through Malaysia recently I noticed that there was a discussion in the New Straits Times about how the highly successful and popular refurbishment of St. Pancras railway station and the gorgeous St. Pancras Hotel could serve as an inspiration to the long overdue restoration of Ipoh’s Majestic Station Hotel. Like St. Pancras in London, the Majestic is attached to the old Ipoh railway station and has a strong Moorish and Victorian influence via the British Raj – built in 1917 it is known as the ‘Taj Mahal of Ipoh’. The building is not in a bad state at all – ‘faded glory’ is the phrase that comes to mind most readily – verandah rooms do overlook gardens but, reportedly, the service has dropped of and maintenance is not as good as it could be across the 100 rooms.
Now the management says they want to close the hotel and hand back the building to the Malaysian Railway Asset Corporation (RAC). They will then get to decide what to do with it. I have no idea whether RAC is a body we can trust or not with heritage buildings? Let us pray that their decision involves renovation – encouraging to see parallels being drawn to the renaissance of St. Pancras as an inspiration to save the Majestic Station Hotel. It actually sits alongside other excellent buildings in Ipoh -the white neo-classical Dewan Bandaraya (town hall), the High Court and the Saint Micheal’s Institute and Church – all within a 15 minute radius or so.
Here’s some pictures (I’ll skip the rooms, which are not that interesting and basically the problem!)
Edmund Trelawny Backhouse (1873-1944), Baronet, arrived in Peking in 1898 and quickly became the city’s most respected transÂlator, working for both the British Foreign SerÂvice and London Times correspondent George Morrison. He was co-author, with J.O.P. Bland, of China under the Empress Dowager (1910) and Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking (1914). Considered a brilliant linguist and ChiÂnese scholar in his day and the subject of great controversy in the time since, Backhouse’s repuÂtation was posthumously tarnished when it was discovered that much of his work was based upon forged documents. His precise role in the alleged deceptions remains one of the great puzÂzles of Chinese scholarship.
Derek Sandhaus is chief editor of Earnshaw Books, and the author of Tales of Old Peking (2009) and Tales of Old Hong Kong (2010). He lives in Shanghai.
ENTRANCE: RAS Members: FREE (no drink included) OR RMB 65.00 (including one drink). Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the ‘Weekender’ Membership applications and membership renewals will be available this afternoon.
The top northern portion of the former International Settlement is not much paid attention to these days. North of the former Jewish Ghetto across Zhoujiazui Road (formerly Point Road) is mostly neglected. Outside of the nominal preservation zone of the former ghetto (the most nominal of nominals as we regularly see as bits get lopped of) the old Point Road is one of the least charming Shanghai has to offer; a combination of its straightness and the long spacing between traffic lights makes it more exciting than any F1 track if you are unfortunate enough to be in the back of a taxi trying desperately to make green lights all the way along. Just east of the junction with Dalian Road (Dalny Road) Point Road exited the Settlement into Chinese administered territory. Anyway, along Point Road, a block north and between Lingping Road (Ling Ping Road) and Zhoushan Road (Chusan Road) is Yuezhou Road (formerly Yoochow Road). Along here you can still see some nice 1920s era housing, but hurry up the bulldozers are slated to move in soon.
Yoochow Road was largely residential blocks with retail and commercial units at street level facing. Some blocks around the Chusan Road junction have already gone but there is a nice, and eminently refurbishable block at the junction with Ling Ping Road; blocks that run through to Point Road. Not far from here is the former Medhurst College campus. Anyway, some pics below.
Mid-1920s structures along Yoochow Road with arched entryways and retail premises street facing – as you can see the stone entrances, window frames and roof are all in good condition as is most of the lane housing behind.
As the entryway shows – constructed 1926 AD (I love the little AD flourish!)
However, one block further along Yoochow Road at the junction with Chusan Road things are coming down…
Strolled past the partially restored Union Church at the weekend – built in 1885 and designed by William Dowdall. It was wrecked by fire but the exterior has been restored – the interior still needs work and there’s no stained glass while, unsurprisingly, at the weekend it was all bolted up so forget the basic role of the place as, eerrr, a site of worship! No vicars around, just jackbooted, microphoned up Rockbund goons hassling poor migrant workers who stopped for a little sit down and made the place look untidy.
Still the church has become a major location for Shanghai couples to come and have their wedding photos done…on the outside only obviously…
Nice to see church weddings are still popular!!
Rockbund goons in the foreground…wedding couples in the background
The Party and its censors are getting rather too worked up over a few time travel entertainment dramas on TV. Of course even simple fun shows like these are political in China – getting history ‘wrong’ is a major crime of Orwellian proportions and opens a major can of worms. Getting history ‘wrong’ right in the here and now is complicated enough – what if the ‘line’ on history changes and then the show is repeated and reveals that the line has changed and….you see it’s Orwell redux in China once again so brilliantly. Oh if only old Eric Blair could have lived to see this!! And what if the person going back to the past is from the future like some Chinese version of Doctor Who – what’s the future like and the past he’s going to and….oh my brain aches (and the Doctor isn’t even human! – are Time Lords communist or just misguided but generally well intentioned alien patriots?? More censorship needed – there could be Trotskyists on Galifrey for God’s sake! Or maybe even alien Dalai Lamas!! As for China’s Communist Party – well, obviously they’re Daleks. But now this is another post altogether!! Back to the point….EXTERMINATE). And that’s just entertainment on TV…what about ‘real’ history!!!
This year I’ve moved around China a bit for work – still based in Shanghai and up in Beijing for a few days most months. Trips around my bit of the world, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi as well as (most importantly for this story) Nanjing. A quick slide through Guangzhou and Shenzhen en route to Hong Kong and a couple of longish trips to Taipei. In Taiwan the Xinhai centenary is well underway and everywhere on the street and in media (see previous posts here, here and here). Yet, on the mainland I’m yet to see any events or references to the downfall of the Qing, the creation of the Republic and the subsequent that led to 1949. So, as the young folk say, what gives?
Seemingly no special place for the harmony disrupting doctor this year
Some people tell me not to be paranoid – wait until the autumn, October, when the Double Ten comes along. They’re just saving themselves. Perhaps, but so far I see no indication that the PRC is planning to even mention the anniversary. Of course current historical tautology in China goes something along the lines of revolution to establish republic led by ‘well meaning patriots’ (Dr Sun etc), who got led astray by slightly less well meaning patriots (Chiang etc) but everything eventually righted itself thanks to the CPC in 1949. Not my version of history but what gets punted out of The Ministry of Truth in Beijing these days (which admittedly is an improvement on a decade ago).
My own theory at the moment is that China’s historians and politicians (communists) cannot agree on how to interpret or to present the Xinhai to the masses. A similar impasse seems to have led to the botched historical job that is the new National Museum. The problem, I suspect, is that dealing with the issue of 1911 as a progressive and necessary change means accepting the, now highly problematic, contention that upheaval, or a little suspension of harmony while things get resolved, is essential. Nobody seems to be able to deal with that whether it be in regards to Libya or Xinhai. So, best to just ignore it and find some Party anniversaries as an excuse to get out the minority dancers and the fireworks.
Flags out in 1911 in Shanghai…but not in 2011
As the year rolls on and October approaches we shall see….we are of course getting some Catherine Wheels and marches linked to the 90th anniversary of the CPC (perhaps, like my old grandfather, having a big bash for their 90th because there’s only a slim chance of making it to 100?? Let’s hope so!)
By the way would I be totally paranoid to think that actually Beijing and the Party now finds it easier to deal with the cultural Chernobyl that is Disney than Sun Yat-sen? While seemingly being completely unable to deal intellectually or ideologically with Xinhai, Shanghai seems to have rolled over and offered itself up completely willingly to a dose of American soft power via the toxic rat – have we reached the point where American culture appears less threatening to the Party than modern Chinese history (what would that old bastard Joe McCarthy have made of that) and that, in fact, the former is to be welcomed while the latter is to be run away from?
Personally of course I’ll take Xinhai, or just about anything, including obviously the trash that is Disney.
The new literary journal from the Chengdu Bookworm, Mala, has issued its second number and it’s chunkier and slicker than the launch issue so things must be going well out west in the literary sense. Gotta support initiatives like this really.
MaLa – the Chengdu Bookworm Literary Journal is a collection of short fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry and work in translation, supported by art works and photography. The MaLa Faultlines issue looks at geological fractures and beyond, to intersections of gender, class, age and culture.
Featured in the Faultlines Issue:
Original works by award-winning American writer, comedian and radio contributor David Sedaris, Leave Me Alone Chengdu author Murong Xuecan, the Inspector Chen series author Qiu Xiaolong, Hong-Kong based humorist Nury Vittachi.
Interviews with Bi Feiyu, Jonathan Watts, Peter Hessler
Chengdu photographer Zhou An’s images of Shuijingfang
Photojournalist Lei Yu’s documentation of the Wenchuan Earthquake
New Fiction from China and Beyond
Reportage and Memoir from Wenchuan
Poetry in Translation by Xi Yongjun, Han Dong and Ma Yan
Excerpts from Ian Buruma, Fergal Keane, Graham Earnshaw, Roy Kesey and Michael Kohn
Mala’s web site is here – so you can send them submissions or order copies
The Capitol a few years ago
