Visible Differences lecture at SCCC · 看得见的差异

Date and booking

Saturday 31 October 2026, 2:00pm to 3:30pm. Recital Studio, Level 6, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, 1 Straits Boulevard, Singapore 018906. Free. Register on Peatix. A Zoom webinar is listed on the same SCCC page. The talk is in Mandarin. No age limit. Recital Studio holds about 120. Official English page: Visible Differences at SCCC. Chinese page: 看得见的差异.

Who is speaking

Speaker: Assoc Prof Yeo Kang Shua, 杨茳善, Architecture and Sustainable Design at Singapore University of Technology and Design. The English listing names him Hokkien Foundation Professor in Architectural Conservation. The Chinese listing uses 福建基金建筑修复讲席教授. He works on Singapore architectural history and Chinese temple architecture. Restoration work under him has twice received UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, and he has chaired that jury. Books named on the SCCC page: Divine Custody, Honourable Mansion, and Wak Hai Cheng Bio: A Dialogue between Architecture and History.

Moderator: Prof Kenneth Dean, 丁荷生, Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore, and director of the Wan Boo Sow Research Centre for Chinese Culture, 雲茂潮中华文化研究中心. Co-presented by SCCC, the NUS Department of Chinese Studies, and that research centre.

What the lecture covers

The SCCC copy starts on three buildings that sit a short walk from Chinatown: Thian Hock Keng, Wak Hai Cheng Bio, and the former Thong Chai Medical Institution. A century ago the roofs told you the dialect group. Hokkien work used terracotta red and swallowtail ridges. Teochew work used grey and white with dense ceramic shard decoration. Cantonese work used grey and white, straighter ridges, and wok-ear gables. The lecture asks how to read those differences now, and why they have become harder to see. It ends on the united temple, one roof for different deities and communities, as a possible Singapore-specific type of Chinese religious architecture.

This page lists the lecture and the three buildings named on the SCCC page. After 3:30pm you can still walk to Telok Ayer and look at Thian Hock Keng at 158 Telok Ayer Street as a building. Posted visitor hours there are about 7:30am to 5:30pm. Former Thong Chai is on Eu Tong Sen Street, on the way back toward Chinatown MRT.

Same building, different floor

SINGAPO人 on Level 2 closes from 31 October 2026. Do not plan an exhibition visit around this lecture. Last gallery day is Thursday 30 October. Notes: SINGAPO人 last days. Bit Bit Forest on the roof garden is still open until 13 December, 10am to 10pm, free.

How to get there

Shenton Way MRT TE19 Exit 3, about 3 minutes. Tanjong Pagar EW15 Exit D, about 7 minutes. Downtown DT17 Exit E, about 12 minutes. From Maxwell Food Centre, about 12 minutes on foot. Email enquiries@singaporeccc.org.sg. Phone +65 6812 7222. Zoom register: Zoom webinar.

中文要点

看得见的差异：新加坡华人建筑为什么越来越难分辨？2026年10月31日星期六14:00至15:30，华族文化中心六楼演奏室，海峡大道1号。华语。免费，须先在 Peatix 报名。主讲：新加坡科技设计大学杨茳善副教授。主持：国大中文系丁荷生教授。联合呈献：华族文化中心、国大中文系、雲茂潮中华文化研究中心。当天二楼《SINGAPO人》常设展已关，不要把讲座当成看展日。天台比比森林仍开至12月13日。地铁：珊顿道TE19、丹戎巴葛EW15。询问 enquiries@singaporeccc.org.sg，电话 +65 6812 7222。