Travels with Zen-Aida

Stepping inside the cool front hall of the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion is like stepping into a bygone era. It is easy to imagine the soft padded footsteps of wives, concubines, children, relatives, servants, and hangers-on scurrying in long silk gowns through the high-ceilinged rooms, most likely whispering intrigues behind intricately carved ivory fans.

The sounds of modern Georgetown fade away behind the thick walls of this flamboyant 38-room mansion built by the leading entrepreneur of South East Asia in the late 19th century, Cheong Fatt Tze - nicknamed “the Rockefeller of the East” - for his favorite (seventh) wife.  She bore him a son, whom he doted on and made universal heir, much to the chagrin of the other wives and children he had sired. One of the stipulations of his will was that this house would not be sold until the last son died. By the time he passed away, the vast inherited fortune had been squandered and this house had fallen into desperate disrepair.  37 families were actually squatting in the rooms, rent being collected by an aged daughter in law. When she passed away and the completely dilapadated mansion came upon the market in 1990, it was bought by Penang-born architect Laurence Loh, his wife Lin Lee Loh-Lim and a group of local conservationists with the purpose of restoring it using as much of the original fabric as possible.  The Lohs, along with a team of artisan experts,  dedicated the next years to painstaiking restoration, going to great lengths to retain the original integrity of  the construction.

The Mansion had been built keeping strictly to traditional geomantic or Feng Shui rules.  During the process of restoration,  the house revealed its secrets, such as the back part of the house being raised by one stair in order to give the impression of being on a hill, several gold coins being buried in auspicious corners to attract wealth, and certainly using flowing water in ways that bring harmony to its inhabitants.   The restoration efforts of the new owners were rewarded by receiving the UNESCO “Most Excellent Project” Award 2000 as well as many others.  In 1992, the Mansion was used as a main setting for the movie “Indochine” with Catherine Deneuve.  Currently it a most lovely hotel to stay in.

Interestingly, symmetry seems to be of equally strong importance for buildings built according to Feng Shui principles as it was to Antonio Palladio, the Italian master architect of the 17^th century.  But that is just an aside...

If/when I return to Georgetown, I will certainly make sure to stay there again – not only was it a wonderful experience to spend the night with the overhead fan gently swaying the mosquito netting, but also in sipping a drink in the quiet of the central courtyard and being visited by the resident cat, who deigned to sprawl – most unladylike – next to me on the cool marble floor.

Related posts:

1. Santiago: Museo de la Moda