the visit to SAM and SNM

27/04/2011

Learning journey to Singapore National Museum and Singapore Arts Museum

After an intense time of the progress test, our second learning journey came.

1 Singapore National Museum

Museum is a place where we put history together and playback it. In SNM I mainly skimmed through the evolution of Singapore from 14th century to 20^th century, during which a lot of things happened and Singapore changed to what it is now. Just drawing out several things from what I have come across. The first one is the United Kingdom established a colony in Singapore. Generally speaking, in the eyes of history, Singaporeans appreciated the colony of the British. It was the English that introduced advanced science and technology to this uncivilized fishing country. this country is still benefiting the heritage. The second one is the huge change of the social environment in last century. What made me excited is that I found Sun Zhongshan’s footprint here again. In that unrest era, I cannot imagine how many Chinese people left their home full of tears and settled down on the island in the South Ocean. At this time, great man Sun was trying to save our suffering nation. What he wanted to conquer was not just dozens of warlords but also many western countries’ thread to China. It is more or less the same with Singapore, Malaysian and Indian were trying to strive for their equal rights. All kinds of group competed here, and a story that an English officer who was the only one can speak Chinese settled down a dispute between two groups just by playing an instrument. According to many pictures of historical people and events, I can imagine that how terrible the life and how disordered the social environments it was at that time, you will only feel unbelievable when you see how beautiful the city and how well organized the society it is now. In this sense, we can see that there happened a great positive change to Singapore. Did people lived in that era predicated the future as we are in, and what the future Singapore will be. It is worthy everyone’s expectation.

2 SAM.

How can I say about Singapore’s art? It is hard to say. Maybe I can say that artists in Singapore are trying to find art in everyday life and they may regard some objects as an art thing in the eye of future. Especially those objects that are displayed in the special exhibition room shook my heart. As a Chinese, I am more comfortable with the arts that are more peaceful and closed to nature, such as mountains-and- waters paintings. I know that there a lot of stories behind those pictures, only when one is into it he can figure it out why it should be displayed in a national museum. Maybe that is where we foreigners can fit in to find the distinguishes from our own ones.

To sum up, it is a journey full of new things to learn, to think of, and to apply to daily life. The main point is it is free’.