THE clan association buildings in George Town are not just architectural gems thatprovide a tangible link to a past era, but also spaces that preserve and practise the tradition and culture of the community. Join Elaine Lau and Grace Chin as they go on a historical journey of the various kongsi, as they are referred to colloquially.

** This story first appeared in the September 1, 2008 issue of Options, the lifestyle pullout of The Edge. 

THE first things that come tomind when you hear of acity that is a Unesco WorldHeritage site are the century-old buildings that havesomehow managed to survive wars and the onset of modernity and industrialisation. These startling architectural gems,which are a testament to the creativegenius of the people of that time, provide a tangible link to a forgotten era. They add colour and character to a city — they give it

George Town boasts a total of 4,685heritage buildings of colonial and prewararchitecture in both the core andbuffer zones, and many of them have been painstakingly restored. They are what earned the capital of Penang the prestigious Unesco World Heritage listing, but that is only half the story.

The other half, which is another important Unesco criterion for selecting George Town, has to do with the intangible aspects of heritage, the parts that are not immediately apparent unless you know where to look. According to Unesco’s World Heritage Centre website, the structures also have “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared”.

In other words, there needs to be evidence that cultures and traditions of old are being preserved. As Lim Gaik Siang of the Penang Heritage Trust puts it, “If you have a building, but no culture inside, it’s meaningless.”

In George Town, nowhere are these two aspects more evident than in the Chinese clan associations, known colloquially as kongsi.

History tells us that from the late 18th to the early 20th century, countless Chinese emigrated from China to our part of the world to seek a better life. People who came from the same lineage (surname), district of origin or who shared a common vocation, began to form mutual benefiting guilds or associations.

Derived in large part from Confucian ideals of group welfare, these associations gave new immigrants a footing in settling down in the new land, as they often came with nothing but the shirts on their backs. The associations provided accommodation as well as financial aid until these people found employment and could then contribute back to the association.

This concept of mutual help and consolidating of resources is how the associations got their name: kongsi means “sharing” in the Hokkien dialect (Hokkiens made up the largest Chinese dialect group who settled in Penang). The word, when pronounced with a different intonation, also means “company”. We were told that as the British at that time did not allow for such associations, the kongsi had to register themselves as businesses.

The basic layout of a kongsi has a main clan house as its nucleus, surrounded by terraced houses on three or four sides of the perimeter that served to demarcate its territory as well. As ancestor and idol worship were at the core of Chinese beliefs, the clan houses are essentially temples that housed tablets carved with the names of ancestors and graven images of the patron saint worshipped by that particular group of people. There was also often a space that served as a meeting hall.

The kongsi functioned as self-sufficient, independent units with their own self-governing body, laws and regulations. In addition to financial and welfare organisations that took care of not only new immigrants but also provided subsistence allowance to widows, the kongsi set up schools for educating their children. During important Chinese festivals, clansmen and their families gathered at the clan house to celebrate and partake in social activities.

Many of the clan houses in inner-city George Town have survived modernisation. Beautifully restored to reflect its former glory, the architecture is inherently unique to our part of the world. While it is primarily Chinese, there are Malay and colonial influences as well. This design philosophy is what’s formally known as Straits settlement architecture, affectionately named bylocals as “rojak” architecture. Whereelse in the world would you find such a unique blend of styles that speaks specifically of a confluence of cultures?

Teochew Kongsi
Along Chulia Street is the Teochew Kongsi, which has two buildings, the Han Jiang Ancestral Temple built in 1870 and an office block that formerly housed the Han Jiang School. From September 2003 to April 2005, the kongsi underwent restoration to the tune of RM1.5 million collected through fundraising efforts from the Teochew community. To ensure that the buildings were properly restored, meticulous research onthe buildings’ history and architecture was carried out both in Malaysia and China, led by Lim of the Penang Heritage Trust. Herself a Teochew, Lim recalls fond childhood memories of practising Teochew opera and playing badmintonon the premises. When talk of restoration first surfaced, she was more than keen to be a part of the committee and came on as a conservation consultant.

To match the workmanship to original standards both in terms of materials and techniques, master craftsmen were brought in from China to aid in the restoration. Their efforts in ensuring that the kongsi was properly restored paid off — in 2006, the Teochew Kongsi was awarded the Unesco Asia Pacific Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.

The Han Jiang Ancestral Temple, where the Penang Teochew Association is currently housed, presents the only example of traditional Teochew architecture in George Town. As you walk through the double doors of the main entrance, you’ll see fine woodcarving that depict stories and legends in Teochew culture lining the ornate archway, such as one that tells of Toahua and the ferryman, an episode from the famous Teochew opera, Madame Su. The truss structure that supports the roof is unlike the traditional Chinese one where the horizontal beams and vertical struts are fixed in a rigid pattern. In Teochew architecture, the crossbeams and short poles above the main crossbeams are constructed in the form of rectangular spirals. Another distinctive feature in a Teochew building is the extra beam placed under the main ridge (traditional Chinese structures only sport one beam), called the “descendant beam”.

Inside, after crossing the spacious courtyard, you will come upon the middle hall that opens out into another smaller courtyard, and then the rear hall, which is where the temple is. The three black and gilded altars inside the temple are characteristically Teochew. Mounted on a table the height of an adult, the delicately carved altars are designed like cabinets with doors and have panels decorated with bas-reliefs.

The Cheah Kongsi
The Cheah Si Hock Haw Kong Kongsi on Armenian Street is a perfect illustrationof rojak architecture. Founded before 1820, it is the oldest of the Hokkien clans to be established in Penang.

The existing clan house on Armenian Street, completed in 1873, is unlike the clan houses of the other kongsi, which lean towards a more Chinese-centric design. The Cheah Kongsi, while keeping to the typical Chinese courtyard layout, is a two-storey bungalow, with the temple on the upper storey supported by heavy foundation pillars, while a school occupied the ground floor. It has a typically ornate Chinese roof with Malay-influenced details such as latticework. The 1930s saw the addition of British stone lionheads placed at the entrance of the school.

Adjoining the clan house is the old office building with an interior that also combines Chinese, Malay and European elements. Today, this space has been converted into a museum, and its rooms showcase the more than 180- year history of the clan. The thematic rooms offer a glimpse into the life of the early settlers, with antiques and artifacts from that time. Several rooms are dedicated to Baba-Nyonya culture, with items like clothes, house-wares and furniture donated by an antique
collector on display.

Khoo Kongsi
Undoubtedly the largest and most majestic kongsi in George Town is the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi on Cannon Street, whose clan house is an embodiment of the splendour of Chinese architecture and design principles. We were given a guided tour of the premises by an elderly but sprightly gentleman, Cheah Cheng Seang.

The first Khoo clan house, built in 1850, was destroyed in a fire in 1894 and a smaller version, which is what we see today, was rebuilt in the early 1900s. It was restored in 2001 at a cost of RM4.2 million. Four distinctive traits of the clan house are the handcrafted stone carvings, wooden gilded carvings, porcelain shard works on the rooftop and the wall murals inside.

Stone and wood artisans were brought in from China during the re-building of the temple, and the intricate workmanship of these craftsmen is trulyawe-inspiring. Every inch of the temple is covered in some form of ornate artwork, precisely crafted and with fine, incredibly lifelike details. Many of the pieces, such as the granite pillars and lion sculptures, were carved from one piece of stone. We spotted statues of two Sikh guards that looked out of place at a Chinese temple, and were told that they were carved in honour of the Indian guards who used to watch over the temple.

The carvings are either symbolic in nature or tell a story, specifically those that emphasise loyalty to country and filial piety, which were considered the two most important qualities for a person to possess. Hence, many depict the tale of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or love and respect for one’s parents, such as the 24 chapters of Confucian teachings on filial piety depicted on both sides of the wall at the entrance to the temple.

Inside the temple, two Victorian lamps hang from the beam, which point to the European influence of that time. The 36 guardians of heaven are painted life-size on the walls, and in the centre is of course, the altar.

The other two kongsi we visited, the Kew Leong Tong Lim Kongsi on Ah Quee Street and the Lum Yeong Tong Yap Kongsi on Armenian Street, had clan houses resembling that of the Khoo Kongsi but on a much smaller scale.

Today, the associations still serve the community with their places of worship, allocation of scholarships and financial assistance as well as the organisation of community events, traditional games and performing arts. In the case of the Penang Teochew Association, for instance, events like cooking competitions of Teochew cuisine and performance of Teochew opera are open to not just the Teochew community but anyone else interested in learning abouttheir culture. Also realising the power of the mass media, entire television series have also been made on Teochew traditions and culture in partnership with private broadcast channels.

Tourist traffic is common at the various kongsis during peak seasons, but the Penang Chinese diaspora usually only return for special occasions, particularly Chinese New Year. The associations take turns to host annual Lunar Year celebrations in their environs: Armenian Street, Ah Quee Street, Chulia Street, Soo Hoong Lane and Acheh Street.

Last year’s celebrations, organised by 80 Chinese clan associations and guilds, saw both locals and tourists participating in the state-level open houses. It was a showcase of Chinese cuisine and culture, with drum performances, opera shows, classical songs, dragon and lion dances and martial arts demonstrations.

They also showcased traditional trade and crafts, Chinese calligraphy and art, antiques, the Chinese tea ceremony as well as Chinese chess.

Aside from cultural communication in their locality, the Chinese Clan Council and Penang Clan Associations Youth Committee also organised a symposium that gathered 300 clan associations throughout Malaysia as well as 200 Southeast Asian participants. It is reported that the inaugural three day international conference on Sino- Southeast Asian communities, held two months ago, was organised to exchange views on the Chinese mother tongue and culture, including site inspections in Penang and a dialogue on Southeast Asian Chinese clans and their heritage and ancestral culture.

“We have organised carnivals to encourage other dialect groups to promote their own culture. This is how the intangible heritage is revived. The Teochew Kongsi was not awarded [the Unesco title] only because it was restored well. It is also because it inspired the community to do something different. We spent RM1.5 million for a total restoration programme, which also included distributing brochures, DVDs and other information for free,” Lim says, adding that the association makes public its spaces and facilities for tourists and religious worship.

From what we gather, Lim views the kongsi not just as a structure or a mere congregation of people who are culturally united. “After the restoration (project), we hear more and more people say, ‘I am Teochew’.” She pauses, before continuing, “That is enough for us already.”

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