The writer’s wife is one of the granddaughters of TKK. She and I were just two of the many of his extended family members from Singapore and overseas who attended this memorable seminar. My wife was too young to remember much of her famous grandfather, but can still recall vividly her family’s post World War II annual visit on Chinese New Year Day to pay their respects to him at his favourite club, Ee Hoe Hean, where they would meet numerous relatives and an endless stream of other visitors who would also call on him on this auspicious day. This club had become his home where he would spend most of his time holding meetings and discussions with others on community work, often well past midnight. He had less and less time for his own large family and seeing them only on special occasions. I had never met TKK but had garnered my knowledge of him through my late mother-in-law who had lived with her father both in Singapore and in China for a period before her marriage, and through reading books and other publications about him. I was both amused and impressed by his business acumen to marry off her daughter to my father-in-law, who was one of his ablest staff, in order that he would not lose his services to others!

TKK emigrated from his native Jimei Village, near Xiamen City in China’s Fujian Province, to Singapore in 1891 at the age of 17 in order to seek his pot of gold there. Despite having had only eight years’ schooling, he was nevertheless highly literate. He joined his father’s sundry goods business as his assistant and book-keeper. He quickly proved his entrepreneurial flair in commercial matters. By 1906, he had already become a wealthy man through the widening of his initial business activities to include rubber trading and manufacturing, rice mills and pineapple canning. From then on his businesses expanded further to encompass enterprises like shipping, real estate, shoes manufacturing and newspaper publishing. By the time he was 45, he had become one of the richest men in Singapore and in this region. He also made his mark as the undisputed leader of the Singapore’s Chinese community and his views and support were often sought by the colonial government, especially on matters which affected Chinese Singaporeans. At the peak of his commercial career between 1918 and 1925, his business enterprises throughout Southeast Asia and China employed more than 10,000 people. He had amassed a colossal fortune exceeding $12 million Singapore dollars.

By this time, he had already founded and funded many schools and colleges in his native Fujian and in Singapore and had also generously supported other charitable causes too. The poor pupils in China enjoyed free of charge schooling. In 1920, he established the first private university in China, the Xiamen University. He had earlier sought funding support from among the many wealthy Chinese business tycoons both in Singapore and in the region.To his great disappointment, not much was forthcoming. He had no choice but to almost singlehandedly funded its annual operating expenses himself in order not to delay the launch of this ambitious but much needed project. He bore this heavy financial burden for several years until financial help emerged from others, especially from his wealthy close relatives and friends. TKK continued to help finance the university and other educational institutions in China with his vastly reduced fortune even after his businesses failed because of the severe worldwide depression of the late 1920s. Altogether, he had given away virtually all his wealth of more than 12 million dollars, leaving nothing for his large family. It is estimated what he had donated to support education would be equivalent to today’s several hundred million US dollars (based on present day purchase price parity computation).

What motivated TKK to give away all his wealth to advance education in China and elsewhere? In a nutshell, he believed with unwavering conviction that it was only through education that a nation could become economically and technologically advanced. In the context of the then China, the bulk of its massive population were illiterate as they could not afford basic schooling. His own native Fujian Province was no exception. With a population of more than 10 million, it had a paucity of schools and no university until he established the Xiamen University there in 1920.

Besides being a philanthropist extraordinary, TKK was a passionate believer in social justice for Singapore’s Chinese Singaporeans. Whenever they were unfairly treated by the colonial government. he would fearlessly speak up for them or take firm action to protect their interests. As a Chinese national living overseas, he remained patriotic to his motherland. For instance, when Japan invaded China in 1937 and an eight-year war ensued between them, TKK took immediate decisive action to raise large sums of money from the Chinese community in Singapore to support China’s war efforts against the Japanese invaders. He also organised a contingent of Chinese Singaporean volunteers to participate in the war. In view of his unflinching anti-Japan stand, the Japanese military regime would have had him killed when they conquered Singapore in 1941. He managed to escape to Indonesia, which also fell to the Japanese, and succeeded to survive there, largely because he was loyally shielded by the Chinese community during his four years’ stay. I learnt that he always had with him a packet of poison substance so that he could swallow it and die as a patriot if needs be, rather than falling into the enemy’s hands and be executed by them. TKK returned to Singapore after the war and was accorded a rousing welcome by its Chinese community.

TKK continued his active public work in Singapore and kept in close touch with the progress of his educational institutions in China. He finally decided to return to China for good in 1950 so that he could devote his time there to more closely supervising those institutions established by him. He died in 1961 at the age of 87 at a Beijing hospital. He was accorded a state funeral presided over by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai and attended by many top Chinese political elites and other prominent Chinese from other walks of life. Even Chairman Mao praised him as an outstanding overseas Chinese leader and a glory to the Chinese race. A rare honour indeed for TKK who had lived in Singapore for more than 60 years of his life and his passing was deeply mourned in his adopted country. He was buried in his beloved native Jimei Village, very close to some of the educational institutions founded by him. His entire asset exceeding one million RMB, a considerable sum then, was given to the educational bodies there, and none to his family.

TKK has often been compared with the legendary American multi-millionaires Dale Carnegie and Henry Ford, both of whom had richly endowed educational institutions in America and had also set up trust foundations to do so to this day. However, there is a fine distinction between him and them and the rich anywhere else. In TKK’s case he gave away virtually his entire fortune leaving practically nothing at all for his large family; his counterparts in other countries would always preserve a significant portion of their enormous wealth for their own family members, before giving the remainder away. It is quite unlikely that Singapore or any other country can produce someone as selfless as TKK for a long time to come. Another hallmark of his greatness was that he eschewed self-glorification for what he had done and had firmly declined repeated attempts by educational institutions founded by him to name some of the important buildings or other facilities in his honour.

Long after TKK’s death, another feather in his cap came from an unexpected source. In order to further enhance his international reputation as a life long staunch supporter of education, Prof. Y.T Lee, of the University of California’s world-renowned Berkeley Campus, who is a chemistry Nobel price winner and an ardent admirer of TKK, spearheaded a fund raising campaign in 1990 to have the new US$ 40 million 7-storey new postgraduate chemical engineering building named after him provided he succeeded in raising US$ 8.5 million by a certain deadline. The professor, who had never met TKK, believed that this would be a concrete recognition of TKK’s achievements and unwavering belief in the importance of education in national development, which has a universal value, and Berkeley would be the suitable place to do it. He then traveled to many cities in the States and to Southeast Asia and Hong Kong at his own expense to persuade would be donors to support this worthy project. His hard work over several years finally paid off and he managed to obtain the 8.5 million needed to name the structure after TKK. The bulk of the money came from donors in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and United States. The Tan Kah Kee Hall is commonly called the Tan (pronounced as Ten) Hall by Berkeley staff and students for ease of remembering it.

This brings to mind an article that I wrote in 1997 on TKK’s contributions to education and his achievements in business and in other fields, and the naming of the chemical engineering building at Berkeley in his honour . An edited version appeared as the Cover Story in Singapore’s leading newspaper The Straits Times’ Life! Supplement on September 11, 1997. I would like to share the original version of it with my readers and it is posted immediately after the above article.

Lam Pin Foo

Among the prominent ethnic Chinese business leaders in Southeast Asia, one man stands apart from the rest of the pack and achieved a stature and acclaim not accorded to others. His name is Tan Kah Kee (1874-1961), who became a legend in his life time. A man of great vision, drive and unflinching convictions, he was an indefatigable champion of education and social justice, and a philanthropist par excellence and patriot.

Throughout his long life, he utilised his considerable financial resources and personal influence for the maximum benefit of the communities in China, Singapore and the region. Tan Kah Kee’s greatest and most enduring contributions, for which posterity will remember him affectionately, are in the field of education.

He was the first Chinese to have founded a major university, the Xiamen University, single-handedly. He also founded colleges and schools in his native Jimei, near Xiamen in Fujian province, and provided the pupils there with free education at a time when this was inaccessible. His colleges in Jimei came of age in recent years and were upgraded to a full-fledge university in 1996, a dream envisaged by him long ago.

In Singapore, many schools and tertiary institutions had benefited from his farsighted leadership and munificence. The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce set up the Tan Kah Kee Foundation and also endowed a chair in history at the Nanyang Technological University to promote scholarship and innovations in his memory.

Thirty-five years after his death, his fame has now spread beyond the shores of Asia, to far away United States. The world-renowned University of California, Berkeley, which has produced more Nobel prize winners than any other universities, recently commissioned a US$ 40 million major science building and named it Tan Kah Kee Hall, in recognition of his distinguished service to education.

How the Berkeley accolade came about makes interesting reading. In the 1980s, the University was planning to construct a major chemical engineering building to cater to its growing needs. It would consider naming it after a deserving benefactor who would donate a substantial sum towards the building cost.

Professor Y T Lee, then teaching chemistry at Berkeley and who was the fourth ethnic Chinese to have won a Nobel prize in chemistry in 1986, is an ardent admirer of Tan Kah Kee for his selfless and unwavering commitment to education for its own sake. He believed that Tan ought to have international recognition, such as extended to Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford, for his unprecedented efforts and exceptional achievements and that Berkeley would be an eminently suitable forum for it. This would also raise the level of American awareness of Chinese culture and civilisation, and their profound love and respect for scholarship, which most Americans were blissfully ignorant of.

With the active support of Prof. Tien Chang-Lin, the first Chinese-American to be appointed Chancellor of Berkeley in 1990 and himself an admirer of Tan Kah Kee, Prof. Lee spearheaded the unenviable and daunting task to raise the targeted sum of US$ 8.5 million in order to secure the naming right in honour of the famous educationalist. He then travelled around the United States, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other ASEAN countries at his own expense in order to seek support and donations for this worthy cause. Everywhere he went he received an enthusiastic response from many quarters, including Dr K K Phua of the Tan Kah Kee Foundation here, who immediately grasped the significance of his quest.

The aim was not to confine the fund-raising campaign to only the rich and powerful and those who knew Tan Kah Kee or were related to him. From the outset, the organisers felt that it would be more meaningful for those who simply admired his greatness but had nothing at all to do with him to also come forward spontaneously to support the project.

Through the untiring efforts of Prof. Lee and the numerous co-campaigners who shared his vision, widespread public donations from both continents poured in and the mission was thus successfully accomplished, several years after the idea was first mooted. The bulk of the donations came from Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and the United States.

The seven-storey Tan Kah Kee Hall is primarily used for postgraduate teaching and research, and houses a number of laboratories, a large lecture hall, a state-of-the-art computer facility, conference rooms and administrative offices. It is part of the College of Chemistry and has enhanced the needs of its School of Chemical Engineering.

The Berkeley project led to the formation of the Tan Kah Kee International Society, with Prof. Lee as its first chairman and Singaporean Dr K K Phua as Secretary, to further Tan’s aims to propagate education and culture including the raising of funds to expand the Overseas Chinese Museum in Xiamen and the conversion of the Jimei colleges into a university.

What propelled Tan Kah Kee to persevere in his abiding labour of love with education? What makes his achievements so unique, in view that many prominent business tycoons everywhere also actively support education and charitable projects? With only eight years’ schooling, he emigrated to Singapore at the age of 17 to help his father run his sundry goods business. He quickly showed his mettle in business. By 1906, he had become a wealthy businessman, with interests which included rubber trading and manufacturing, rice mills and pineapple canning.

His businesses continued to expand and prosper by leaps and bounds, and he ventured into new fields such as shipping, sawmills, real estate and shoe manufacturing. By the time he was 45, he had become one of the richest men in Singapore and Malaya. Tan Kah Kee believed passionately that, for any nation to be strong and economically affluent, its people must first become literate and well-educated. He often lamented that, while China is a country with 5000 years of continuous civilisation, a vast number of Chinese were too poor to attend school, and that education was a luxury that only the well off could afford to indulge in.

His own native Fujian province was a case in point. It was then one of the poorer parts of China. With a population of more than 10 millions, there was a paucity of schools and no university to speak of. His simple philosophy was that, as one derives one’s wealth from the community in which one operates in, it is imperative that this should be extended to the advantage of the community and not for personal glorification. He began to practise what he firmly believed in by initiating and establishing a succession of schools in Jimei from 1913 onwards, and providing the funds needed to uplift the children of poor homes in Fujian. This was followed by the founding of a teachers’ training college and colleges for agriculture and forestry, fisheries and marine navigation, also in Jimei.

His generosity extended to schools elsewhere in the province, where such support was most acutely felt. Not content with merely endowing these infant institutions, he took a continuing interest in their management through regular correspondence and by making periodic prolonged visits there in order to keep abreast with their progress and development. Tan Kah Kee’s enterprises reached their zenith between 1919 and 1925. He was now one of the richest entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, with a net worth of more than $12 millions, a colossal fortune in those distant days. His business empire became even more diversified and spread out in China and throughout the region, employing a combined workforce exceeding 10,000.

Tan Kah Kee was most fortunate to have had good people working for him. Two of his most able and trusted employees, Lee Kong Chian, the would be rubber magnate and founder of Lee Foundation and Oon Khye Hong, a chemical engineer from MIT, became his sons-in-law; while the third, the legendary and inimitable Tan Lark Sye, who also made his fortunes in rubber, co-founded the Nanyang University in 1955 and donated $5 millions to it.

In 1919, he launched his most ambitious project, the setting up of the Xiamen University. An initial funding of $1 million was needed, together with an operating budget of $3 millions for the next 12 years. With his characteristic decisiveness and resolve, he decided to shoulder the above financial burden himself, in order not to delay the launch of this momentous scheme.

He later described vividly his repeated futile attempts to raise the urgently needed endowment fund, from amongst the richest Chinese in the region for the long term viability of the fledgling University, as one of the most disappointing episodes of his life. Simultaneous with supporting education in China, Tan Kah Kee did not forget the needs of his adopted country. He led the establishment and funding of several Chinese language schools in Singapore from 1918 onwards, which were then grossly neglected by the colonial government.

Among the schools that owe their existence to his pioneering efforts are the Chinese High School and Nanyang Girls’ High School, both of which have become leading schools here. He also made substantial donations to the local English language institutions including the Anglo Chinese School and Raffles College, one of the predecessor institutions of the National University of Singapore. The dark clouds of the Great Depression of the late 1920s started to cast its sinister impact on his extensive business ventures, as the Malayan and Singapore economies took a precipitous plunge which resulted in drastic declines in rubber and tin prices, the two territories’ biggest revenue earners.

Even while Tan Kah Kee was trying desperately, to keep his businesses afloat and to cope with the mounting cash-flow problems, he continued to finance his educational projects in China, rather than let them flounder due to lack of funds. Even after the inevitable winding up of his business conglomerate in 1934, he still managed to remit monies to China, relying on his now greatly reduced personal resources and generous financial assistance of his loyal friends and relatives. It must have been a tremendous relief to him that the Chinese Government was finally prevailed upon to take over the financing and running of Xiamen University in 1940. He retired to Jimei in 1950, and devoted much of his time to overseeing the direction and development of the schools and colleges he founded there.

What makes Tan Kah Kee’s contributions to education so unique was his all-consuming belief in its importance and role in nation building, to the extent that, instead of giving only a portion of his wealth as other benefactors the world over would have done, he gave practically all he had for the advancement of education, leaving virtually nothing to his own large family. Moreover, it is a hallmark of his greatness that he eschewed personal publicity and recognition for what he had done and had consistently and tenaciously declined repeated attempts by his well-wishers to have some of the important edifices named after him.

He died in 1961 at the age of 87 and was buried in his beloved native Jimei. He left his entire fortune of more than ¥1 million RMB to the schools there, which he first founded almost 50 years earlier. Today, his birthplace has become one of the top attractions in Xiamen as visitors, both from China and overseas, flock there to pay fitting tributes to a visionary who was well ahead of his time.

Lam Pin Foo

In a recent speech delivered at the 21st Century Forum in Beijing, Singapore’s Senior Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, spoke optimistically of the renaissance of East Asia which would re-invigorate the world. His optimism was buttressed by the progress made by East Asians in the last 30 years. He predicted that, barring major unforseen events, “… China will quicken the pace of its development by using inputs from the industrial and newly industrialising countries to catch up with and become first, a fully industrialised, and next, a high-tech society – if not in 50 years, then in 100 years”.

“If the present concentration of economic growth and cooperation prevails in East Asia for another 10 to 20 years, Asia will be transformed… By 2020, East Asia’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product), at present rates of growth, extrapolated for 25 years, will be 40 per cent of the world’s total GDP in PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) terms, as compared to North America’s 18 per cent and EU 15 countries’ 14 per cent …”, he added.

The Senior Minister said that, as Asia develops, its people would master the media. Asian documentaries would interpret world events to us from an Asian perspective. This would take several decades to achieve.

While China could acquire economic and military strength (hard power) in 30 years, he believed it would take it much longer time to attain cultural influence (soft power ). This would come about “… only when other nations admire and want to emulate aspects of that nation’s civilisation. Before others will want to do so, that civilisation must be seen to be superior and it has to be open, receptive and generous, allowing easy access to its knowledge and culture. American aid and investments helped many developing countries. This was the difference between the soft power of America and that of the former Soviet Union …”

The development of East Asia, he stressed, would lead to a re-affirmation of Asian culture, its traditions and values. To appraise China’s future prospects to become both a hard and soft power, it is instructive to comb through Chinese history, to ferret out the periods where Chinese influence was at its greatest. Was China ever an international soft power in the sense described by Senior Minister Lee?

The Dynastic Contenders

Throughout its 5000 years of history, four periods stand out for the purpose of our investigation. The first period when Chinese civilisation and military might reached a high point was the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). During this period, China established trade relations with countries in Asia, the Arab world, Iran, Turkey ,and through them, with the Roman Empire. Other nations were greatly attracted by Chinese silk and other luxury goods, which were symbols of an advanced and gracious society.

While China was undoubtedly rich and powerful, Han’s ascendance, 2000 years ago, came too early for its influence to be widely transmitted to other Eurasian civilisations. Transportation and communications technology of the period did not permit much cultural transmission, beyond the osmotic impact of mercantile trade. Also, while Han was rich and powerful, so was the contemporaneous Roman Empire. Proximity to the ancient centres of the Middle East ensured that the Romans were the dominant civilisation throughout much of antiquity.

Another period to consider was the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). Its Mongolian rulers created the most powerful empire in the 13th Century, with its territories spread over Asia and Europe. While this was one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, it was essentially a Mongolian rather than a Chinese empire. Also, while it was clearly a hard power given the Mongol’s military prowess, it was not a soft power in terms of cultural influence.

Indigenous Chinese prestige was briefly rekindled during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when Admiral Zheng He’s fleets sailed through Southeast Asia, India to Arabia and East Africa. Many countries from all over Asia came to China to seek trade or protection against their stronger neighbours.

From the mid-15th century onwards, however, Ming China had lapsed into a self-imposed isolation from the outside world due to its Court intrigues. Its once powerful navy was drastically reduced in strength until it ceased to be a force to be reckoned with. A cocooned society, the late Ming Empire was a force primarily within its own boundaries.

The Splendours of Tang

Only the Tang Dynasty (618-906) came close to possessing soft power, in the sense defined by Senior Minister Lee. What then were this dynasty’s contributions to China’s internationalisation?

Historians generally agree that China was, in the 7th and 8th Centuries, the strongest, most advanced and the best governed country in the world. It possessed a then unprecedented population of over 50 million. Its capital Changan (now Xian), with an estimated population of one million, was the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the world. In both cultural and material terms, the country was better endowed than anywhere else.

The splendours of China were a magnet which drew a continuous stream of visitors to its capital. They came to China via the “Silk Road”, which was at its busiest. during Tang time. This began at Changan, on to the neighbouring states along its northwestern border and through to Central and South Asia, Middle East, Iran, Turkey and ended in Rome.Official foreign envoys came to pay tributes at the Chinese Court. Foreign traders brought their exotic merchandise to exchange for Chinese luxury items which could be sold for huge profits back home. Students and officials came to learn what made China tick. Monks,too, came and spread Chinese religious cults to their own people.

Tang China had official relations with some 70 countries and states, a feat unsurpassed by other countries. The foreign community, which numbered more than 10,000 in Changan alone, were generously treated and had special quarters set aside for them. Every assistance was extended to them in order to make their stay a successful and happy one. Many stayed for years, or even decades, while a few were appointed Court officials and took up Chinese nationality.

The Tang government was liberal and receptive to foreign ideas and culture. These enriched Chinese life and contributed to its intellectual development. Two-way trade was of mutual benefit. Most coveted among the Chinese quality goods were silk, textiles and porcelains. The Chinese, in turn, were fascinated by novel foreign products like grapes, cotton, precious stones, exotic arts and crafts and the famed sturdy stallions.

Culturally prodigious, Tang China’s painting, sculpture, calligraphy, poetry, literature, music and dance reached a new high. Important scientific innovations, such as woodblock printing on paper and silk, helped to speed up knowledge and literacy. With peace, prosperity and an efficient bureaucracy, life was orderly and pleasant. The Tang elite were refined and accomplished, their lifestyle cosmopolitan and elegant. The game of polo, introduced from Iran, became the favourite sport of the Emperor and his Court.

The glory of Tang has been so deeply implanted in the collective folk consciousness of the Chinese, especially those of the coastal South, that, even to-day, they still call themselves “ Men of Tang”. Chinese quarters in overseas countries, ungrammatically called “Chinatown” by Westerners, are habitually referred to by the Chinese themselves as “Tang Quarters”.

The Emergence of East Asian Civilisation

It was during this period that the Chinese language, culture, and the distinctively Chinese creed of Confucianism were firmly transplanted in Korea, Japan and Vietnam, providing East Asia with a common cultural heritage.

The Japanese, whose first contacts with China date back to Han times, were the greatest admirers of Tang culture and society. Their scholars and Buddhist monks who came to Changan were awed by the powers and magnificence of the Tang Court and the efficient way the country was governed. They perceived Chinese civilisation to be superior to Japan’s. On their return, they spoke glowingly of what they saw and this created excitement about China.

The Japanese government decided to send official missions to China by arduous sea journeys, with the prime objective of observing and studying exhaustively all aspects of its system of government and society that Japan could draw upon for its own development. The envoys and their subordinates were the creme de la creme of the Japanese elite who were carefully handpicked in accordance with their rank, learning, technical or vocational skills. The size of each mission varied between 100 and 500. Many remained in China for years or even decades in order to accomplish their assigned tasks.

The Tang government was favourably impressed by the sincerity and humility of the Japanese in their desire to learn from China and gave them unstinting help and guidance to make their quest a fruitful one.

Between the years 618 and 894, numerous such study missions came to China. As a result of their strong recommendations, the Japanese government finally decided to overhaul its society by adopting the Chinese language, its government structure, the tenets of Confucianism, its cultural and religious practices, in order to propel the Japanese nation forward.

Through the above process, coupled with the Japanese genius for imitating and improving on their imported models to suit their own needs, the country was irreversibly transformed into a sinicised culture underpinned by Confucianism. After the collapse of the Tang Dynasty in 906, the Japanese stopped sending official missions to China as they started to build up their own public institutions and culture more independently, with new found national confidence.

Soft Power After Tang: Confucianism and Art

The dynasties after Tang – Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, had their high points, but none could match Tang in terms of its international prestige and influence. Nevertheless, two aspects of Chinese soft power have achieved widespread interest and admiration down to modern times: Confucianism and art.

In traditional China, the Confucian precepts were the bedrock upon which government and the social structure were built upon. Among its admirers were European rulers and philosophers such as King Louis XIV of France and the philosopher Voltaire. The latter regarded the sage as a “precursor of Eighteenth Century rationalism” and the Chinese government as an “Utopian” role model worthy of emulation.

As for Chinese art, its products rapidly became the prized possessions. First introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages, perhaps after the publication of Marco Polo’s travels in China in the early 14th Century, Chinese porcelains were in great demand from kings and nobles, and were often depicted in Renaissance paintings.

The West’s love affair with Chinese porcelains and other works of art such as carved jades, lacquers, furniture and paintings continued unabated during the Renaissance, and into modern times. Large quantities were imported and sold in Europe at highly inflated prices, especially between the 16th and 18th Centuries. These gave Europeans a glimpse of the unsurpassed Chinese standards of elegance and delicacy, and greatly enriched their life.

So highly esteemed had Chinese porcelains become that the German Elector of Saxony was reputed to have bartered a regiment of his grenadier guards in exchange for a set of Famille Verte vases of the Kangxi reign (1662-1722 )!

Europe’s insatiable appetite for Chinese art ushered in an era of “ Chinoiserie” during the 18th Century. Fanciful European notions of China were reflected in its arts and crafts. “Chinese taste” was also reflected in European gardens and architecture. Pagodas and palaces were erected all over Europe and embellished with dragons, mandarin figures and Chinese genres. Prominent examples of these can be seen in London’s Kew Garden and the Chinese Pavilion in Brighton.

Today, Chinese art continues to fascinate foreigners. The country’s objects d’art are among the most keenly collected in the world. Ms. Jessica Rawson, Editor of “Chinese Art” and Keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, said, “…Day to day life in the West was transformed by the introduction of Chinese silks, teas, spices and porcelains…In addition, Chinese technology – printing, the making of gunpowder, iron casting and methods of mass-production – altered the West beyond recognition. By contrast, Western products, technologies and ideas had very little impact on China before the twentieth century.”

Soft Power in Today’s World

There is a direct correlation between a nation’s cultural influence and the state of its political and economic fortunes. Great Britain provides a classic example. At its peak, the proud boast was that “the sun never set” on the British Empire. However, by the end of 1960s, the British colonies had virtually disappeared as that country became weaker and nationalism re-emerged everywhere.

With the British decline, world leadership passed to the Americans. It inherited from the British, and built upon, the all-pervasive soft power of the English language. Even one of the most august and admired of British institutions, Oxford and Cambridge, have lost some of its gloss over the years. By contrast, the image and prestige of the better endowed and equipped American universities, such as Harvard, Yale, MIT and Stanford, have risen. They are increasingly attracting many of the world’s best talents into their folds. In my native Singapore, both the National University of Singapore and the National Technological University now look to Harvard and MIT for inspiration in their quest for world status.

It is a truism that one can best imbibe and appreciate a country’s culture and civilisation if one is familiar with its language. In this respect, both Britain and United States have a tremendous advantage over China in that English is an international medium of communication. Also, unlike China, both these countries have efficacious adjuncts, such as the Voice of America, United States Information Service, British Broadcasting Corporation and British Council, and a powerful print media, which are well placed to spread their respective cultures and to influence the world opinion accordingly.

I agree with Senior Minister Lee that for China to acquire soft power, the road ahead will be a long and difficult one. Much needs to be done before it can again achieve the well-deserved fame of the Tang era. Nevertheless, as China’s economy expands further, more foreigners will see the palpable benefits of being familiar with its language and culture, if not for its intrinsic value, at least for economic advantage. In this regards, more and more foreigners are now learning Chinese in their own countries or in China itself.

Whether or not China will ever acquire the soft power which the United States now has over other countries, only time will tell.

Lam Pin Foo

The Chinese feat was recently confirmed by France’s authoritative auction body, Conseil des Ventes Volontaries. This emerging Asian super economic power now commands 34.3% of the global art market share, after its auction industry registered remarkable growth of 137% (Euro 7.6 billion) in 2010. In 2004, it overtook France in No.3 slot and ousted Britain as No.2 five years later. The French report covers sales in “art and other collectibles”, which goes beyond “fine art”. They comprise not only paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, photographs but would also include antique ceramics, other artifacts, jewelery and stamps.

The report also noted that Chinese collectors have been especially active in major auctions in the West too, buying back ancient Chinese artifacts, which have been chalking up record-breaking prices because of the scarcity of rare and outstanding pieces coming into the various auction houses. For example, in November 2010, an 18th century Qianlong vase, looted from the imperial collection by French and British troops when they sacked the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860, fetched a staggering price of almost US$70 million at a London auction house sale.

The affluent Chinese art treasure buyers, both individuals and corporations, have made it a patriotic move to go after those treasures that were illegally stolen from China during the 19th century; their country was too weak and powerless to prevent invading foreigners from helping themselves to these war booties. They would have to pay millions of dollars for a single such acquisition and then donate it to the Chinese government for display at one of its leading museums. One example was the purchase and donation of a 18th century bronze ox head by Mr Stanley Ho, the mogul of Macao’s world-renowned casinos.

It is noteworthy that, out of the 25 top priced art objects sold at international auctions last year, 10 were bought by Chinese collectors. Even during the world financial turmoil in 2008, which affected China much less than elsewhere, the Chinese buyers were still actively collecting and reaping some very rare pickings as prices ebbed but not significantly.

International experts and auction houses believe that prices for exquisite antique pieces and paintings will continue to rise as their limited supply would not meet the insatiable demand of the growing number of super rich Chinese millionaires and those from the West to own them. They know that such works of art are a profitable investment, apart from being an enviable status symbol.

The Chinese royalty and other rich and powerful Chinese have had a long tradition of collecting works of art dating back to more than two thousand years. The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was a celebrated collector and so were some of the Tang Dynasty emperors. But the most famous of them all was the scholarly and artistic Song Emperor Huizhong (1082-1135) who had accumulated thousands of pieces of superb works of art in his royal collection. This was subsequently enlarged by the succeeding Ming and Qing emperors.

Besides Emperor Huizhong, the other famed avid royal collector was the formidable Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796) who largely expanded the imperial collection during his long reign of 60 years. His collection of tens of thousands of varied art treasures of different eras was painstakingly catalogued and the choicest of these would be kept in his private study for him to gaze at and admire; the rest were stored within the precincts of his palace in Beijing under strict security. During his reign, China was enjoying a long period of peace and prosperity and its economy was by far the largest in the world.

Just before the defeat of the Chinese Nationalist regime by the Chinese communist forces in 1949, the bulk of the Chinese imperial collection amounting to about 80,000 pieces were removed to Taiwan, escorted by warships of the American Seventh Fleet across the Taiwan Straits. They are now housed in Taipei’s Gugong Museum complex, which has the largest and the best collection of Chinese art in the world.

With the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, collecting Chinese art by individuals was frowned upon as a decadent pursuit of the rich. The collectors were encouraged to either donate them to the state as a patriotic gesture or to sell them to the Government at prices that were substantially below their intrinsic worth. Many did so and this greatly expanded the art resources of the state. Those who did not sell their high quality pieces and managed to keep them secretly until now, will be in for a bonanza if they now part with them by auctioning them in China.

In the early years of the communist rule, works of art were not greatly valued by the Government as there was still an abundance of them. On the other hand, Chinese works of art were much sought after in the West and in Asia; they became a vehicle of trade between China and these countries at the twice yearly Canton Trade Fair. China urgently needed foreign currency to import the necessary goods and equipment for its economic development. Foreign buyers eagerly snapped up the art pieces on offer as they were well below their international market value, especially the better pieces. In this way, much of China’s art pieces were depleted over the years and foreign buyers made a fortune reselling them in their home markets. The Government then passed a law prohibiting the sale and export of works of art produced earlier than certain period. To overcome this restriction, smuggling of these prohibited art pieces became widespread and they could be bought in Macao and Hong Kong by both local and foreign buyers. Consequently, much of these ended up overseas to satisfy the growing demand of international collectors who were prepared to pay increasingly higher prices for them.

The outflow of Chinese art treasures through international trade and smuggling activities were somewhat offset by the continuous discoveries of new ancient artifacts through government sponsored excavations of burial sites of royalty and nobility of different dynasties; these resulted in the recovery of an abundance of ancient artifacts, some of which had never come to light before or known to exist. The new discoveries have greatly enriched the museum collections in different parts of this vast country. It was the practice of ancient Chinese to bury with them their favourite earthly objects as funerary wares in their burial chambers for their needs in the hereafter. This had ensured their survival for posterity; had they remained above ground they would surely have perished.

As China became prosperous from the 1990s, the Chinese art dealers have been scouring the West and Asia (including Singapore) to buy back, at higher prices, what they sold to them earlier. They would then resell these in the home market at even more handsome prices as the Chinese art market has continued to boom and the demand for better quality pieces keeps on rising. It is estimated that there are about 4 or 5 million collectors in China today, both big and small. This is more than anywhere else in the world.

The Chinese auction houses have continued to grow in size and in volume of sales with no end in sight. Of the 10 biggest auction houses in the world, 5 are Chinese. Their supplies come not only from within China itself, but more and more from the West, Asia and elsewhere. Experts are confident that the Chinese auction industry will become even bigger than now in the years ahead, provided China’s economy continues to grow.

It looks likely that collectors of Chinese art everywhere who have high quality Chinese art works in their collections will profit even more from their exoteric hobby in the years ahead. So, do hold on to them and continue to enjoy them in the privacy of your own study in the mean time. They certainly look more attractive than your share certificates!

Lam Pin Foo