Welcoming the Year of The Goat

Members of Shuntak Association of Taiping celebrated Chinese New Year on 21 February 2015. This year, the celebration was held at the heritage Shuntak Association Hall for the first time after an interval of a great many years.   Renovation works on the Hall is still on-going but, still the Shuntak clan members have decided that it was most appropriate to have the celebration there, on the third day of Chinese New Year, so that the younger family members who have returned from near and far, could have a look at the work being done to restore an important part of their social history.    

As could be seen from the photo above, the response from members was very good.  Posing with pride at the doorway of the great Hall, everyone hoped that such a memorable event would be repeated there year after year with more and more members attending.   

As a normal practice, education awards were given out to members' children who have done well in public examinations.  These young members have done us proud and it is hoped that one day, this younger generation would take over the leadership of this association and lead it to greater heights.  

Paying homage to our patron deity Kuan Ti. 

On the whole. the celebration was a successful one. Thanks to the hard-work done by the members especially the committee members, to arrange for setting up the venue and for the food served.  With co-operative effort, one could move mountains.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE !     KONG HEI FATT CHOY !!

Visitor to our Heritage Building

On 11th Dec, 2014, a surprise visit to the STA Heritage Building was made by a DR Paul Recher. Fortunately, our Restoration Chairman, Tung Lay Chun, was there too.  She took a picture of him (below), and they had a lengthy discussion. In short, he is concerned with heritage issues in Taiping since he has made Taiping his second home.  He was impressed with our progress.  One, of course, would like to know more about this distinguished visitor.  Well, below is a brief introduction based on an email sent to Tung Lay Chun from Dr Paul Recher himself. 

 Bio data of Dr Paul Recher:

 Dr. Paul Recher aged 67, ethno-botanist, horticulturist, farmer & heritage lover emigrated from New York to subtropical, wet east coast of NSW where he single-handedly transformed a run down dairy farm into a verdant 32 ha. /80 acre jungle botanical garden & wildlife refuge comprising more than 2000 plant species, 14 species snake, 9 spp. lizards, 11 spp. frogs, 80 spp birds plus bats, koala, platypus, kangaroos, sugar gliders and invertebrates galore e.g. every subgroup of spider and the fascinating land lobster Eustachus sp. For 2 years Paul a a presenter on an ABC TV national gardening show, and for seven years wrote a weekly column covering politics and human behaviour for the regional newspaper circulation 22,000.

Welcome to Taiping Dr Paul Recher and thank you for your support towards our restoration project.

Renovation in Progress

On the 18 August 2014, a visit to the heritage hall by Tung Lay Chun saw renovation and restoration work being done.   Every few days, she will pay  a visit to the site to monitor the progress done and report to the work manager, if she's not happy with anything there.

   

As can be seen in the picture above, workmen are working on the roof - changing what's necessary - beam and tiles.

As replacing the old roof may take days or even months, our eagle-eyed Tung Lay Chun noticed that without a roof, the fresco on the walls just below the roof, might be washed away by the rain.   Her complaint was met with prompt action, and now we can see the exposed roof being covered with a blue plastic sheet.      

Inside the heritage hall, this altar for the Bat Deity was again uncovered after being blocked for years behind a huge wooden door.   The Bat Deity, Fu-Hsi or Fu-Hsing, is the god that rules over  happiness, destiny, love and success.    Although in the west, bats are usually associated with things evil, in Chinese culture the bat is a symbol of things positive.  May the "uncovering" of the Bat Deity altar brings success to our restoration project.

Beginning of Re-construction Work

On 24 July 2014, a simple ground-breaking ceremony was held in front of the Shuntak Association Taiping heritage building to mark the beginning of re-construction and restoration works.   Present were our committee members,  the appointed construction contractor, the architect, the President of the Taiping Kwangtung Association, and members of the press.   That event was followed by the formal signing of agreement for the restoration, at the architect's office. 

James Foo, the president of Shuntak Association Taiping performing the ceremony.

The vice-president's turn to continue with the ceremony.

Treasurer, Loo Peng Wah, presenting a token of appreciation to the President of Taiping Kwangtung Association 

The symbolic ground-breaking act by Lay Chun and James Foo.

Restoration Committee chairman, Tung Lay Chun, signing the agreement while architect Lee looks on. 

The contractor signs and stamps for  Razo Construction. 

A final signature from our president to seal the deal.

Symposium of the Taiping, Matang & Kuala Sepetang Ecology and Cultural Heritage Conservation

Shun Tak Association was a participant at the Symposium of the Taiping, Matang & Kuala Sepetang Ecology and Cultural Heritage Conservation which was held from 7th to 8th June, 2014.  The attendees of 120 came in 4 groups between 2 to 6pm.  A briefing on the history of our Association and our restoration project was given by our Chairman of the Restoration Committee. 

:太平顺德会馆参与了2014年6月7日至8日，在太平华联独中举行的太平、马登、十八丁古迹与生态保育研讨会暨工作坊。
120名的参加者，分成4个团队，在7日下午2时至6时，先后参观本会馆，并由本会修复工程小组主席，简述会馆的历史和修复工程。

本会感激研讨会参加者，捐助本会修复工程基金，而他们也对于本会出钱出力，确保这座太平古迹建筑，能还原雄伟壮观古貌而感到高兴。有些更说，当修复工程竣工后，会再次前来参观。

We are thankful for their contribution to our Restoration Fund.  They were glad that we are the only Chinese Ancestral Hall in Taiping putting an effort to ensure that the heritage building will be restored to its former glory.  Some of them mentioned that they will make a return visit when the restoration is completed.

Shuntak AssiciationTaiping in Rough Guides

Richard Lim, a travel writer, who is based in London, paid a visit to the Shuntak Association, Taiping on 11 June 2014.  He was welcomed by some members of the association and was given a guided tour around the association building.  Richard Lim is the author of the Rough Guide travel books and he intends to include a mention of the Shuntak Association Taiping in his forth coming book, which would be published in 2015.   Do keep a look out for this book and make sure you get a copy of it for yourself!

Here is a brief extract on Richard Lim from journals.worldsnomads.com :

 Richard Lim swapped Singapore's sultry climate for a life in the UK more than 25 years ago. He has worked in various editorial roles in book and magazine publishing, and was on the staff at Rough Guides for several years before turning freelance.

Richard is one of the authors of the Rough Guides to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and also works on the(city edition) Rough Guide to Singapore.

Besides the Far East, his favourite part of the world to travel in is the Middle East and North Africa. He has a particularly soft spot for Morocco, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine.

Richard Lim  (centre, in blue shirt), posing for a picture with some Shuntak Association Taiping committee members, at the association building.  

 Another shot in front of the scaled-down model of the Shuntak Association Taiping heritage Hall

Our best regards to Mr Richard Lim . 

Cheng Ming at our touched-up Memorial Grave

The Shuntak Association of Taiping has carried out a project to touch up the association's Memorial Grave, just before the Cheng Ming festival. 2014.

The whole grave is given a fresh coat of paint, staying as close as possible to its original colours.

The inscriptions were also re-painted over in red and gold.

It needed great skills to touch up the original floral designs.

Members of the Shuntak Association, Taiping, proudly stand in front of their Memorial Grave.

Cheng Ming by our association members