A Tour to the Chinese Heritage Centre and Wang Gungwu Library – An Enriching Experience for Understanding Chinese Overseas
Waiting for the guided tour to begin
24 LAS members participated in a tour to the Chinese Heritage Centre (CHC) and Wang Gungwu Library on 10thJune 2009.
The Centre is the first organization to specialize in the study of Chinese communities outside China. To create an awareness of the history of Chinese Overseas, the centre arranges a guided tour for visitors. One such tour was organized for LAS members.
We were divided to two groups, guided by two professionals separately, to walk through the exhibitions.
Introducing Mr Tan Lark Sye, founder of Nanyang University
After the guided tour of the Centre, we visited the Wang Gungwu Library. Mrs Pauh Boon Nia (Head of the Chinese Library of NTU) and Mrs Ruan Yang (Chinese Studies Librarian of NTU) gave an overview of the Wang Gungwu Library. This was the resource centre of the Chinese Heritage Centre before 2003. In 2003, Prof Wang Gungwu donated his collection to the resource centre and hence it was renamed the Wang Gungwu Library in recognition of Prof Wang’s generous donation and contribution to research on Chinese Overseas.
Despite their tight schedules, Mr Choy (University Librarian of NTU), Ms Isabella (Deputy University Librarian of NTU), Ms Catherine Tan (the Head of Library Promotion & Senior Assistant Director of NTU) and some other NTU Library staff also joined in to welcome us.
We also visited the book collection and special collection. With about 40,000 volumes specializing in Chinese Overseas and related topics, it is truly a treasure trove for people interested in this area.
Many non-commercially published materials, such as school magazines, commemorative publications of clan associations in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as thread-bound Chinese books can be found in the library. In fact, one of the participants commented that “ although it is quite a small library, it is really very interesting.”
At the end of the tour, we were treated to a nice spread of refreshments kindly prepared by NTU Library. We enjoyed an enriching afternoon at the Chinese Heritage Centre and Wang Gungwu Library.
Contributed by Luo Biming, Project Librarian, NTU
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