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FEBRUARY 2012
A Fragile Heritage, China Counts its Lost Ruins
January 2012
A Chinese Conundrum: Hong Kong Sales Slow Down
NOVEMBER 2011
Hong Kong Autumn Sales: Reading the Mixed Messages
OCTOBER 2011
Museum der Kulturen Basel Opens After Refurbishment
September 2011
Cover: World Heritage List New Sites
JUNE 2011
Thai Border Clashes Continue Around Preah Vihear Temple
June 2008
Singapore’s New Peranakan Museum
Singapore’s New Peranakan Museum
PERANAKAN CULTURE is one of Singapore’s most distinctive. Otherwise known as Babas and Nonyas, the Peranakans were early Chinese immigrants to the English Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang who embraced the predominantly Malay local culture. They are often assimilated with the Straits Chinese, who, according to some members of the community, adopted the indigenous life-style but in ethnic terms, remained wholly Chinese. Beyond this genetic hair-splitting however, the mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Arab and European heritages that characterises the Peranakan and indeed Straits Chinese way of life is responsible for some of Singapore’s most interesting indigenous art and architecture.
Yuken Teruya
Yuken Teruya
Yuken Teruya’s artwork occupies the space between opposite poles. Currently a resident of New York, Teruya was born in 1973 in a rural village on Okinawa, one of Japan’s southernmost prefectures, consisting of the Ryukyu Islands. In one of his works. Teruya uses the traditional Okinawa technique of bingata, stenciling on cloth and material, to create a striking kimono
Bactrian Treasures
Bactrian Treasures
Present-day perils continue to endanger Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage while the rest of the world remains largely unaware of this ancient region’s historical significance. Here could be found the easternmost extent of the Greek empire established by Alexander the Great and the westernmost reach of the Indian emperor Ashoka. Sites along its segment of the ancient Silk Road received and passed along not only sumptuous items of trade from the Mediterranean world and the Far East but also ideas, beliefs, and artistic influences.
Xu Beihong in Nanyang
Xu Beihong in Nanyang
ALTHOUGH the Chinese painter Xu Beihong (1895-1953) came from a generation that was proficient in brush and ink, he was aware that it was a tradition gone stale by the late Qing (1644-1911). When the imperial system collapsed, one of its casualties was the literati artist. He was considered irrelevant to the cause of nation building in republican China (1911-1949) that was making a transition into a modern state. A product of his time, Xu was a patriot, preoccupied by reform of literati painting that had ‘degenerated into mere copying’ since artists ‘still copied the four Wangs and the two Stones’ (Shitao and Kuncan). Xu found his solution in Western scientific realism.