Curating Buddhism, Fostering Diplomacy: The “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” Exhibition in Singapore

Abstract

In 2014, Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), in collaboration with the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, organized the “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition in Singapore. The exhibition featured artefacts excavated from the Famen Temple, as well as objects excavated from other sites in Shaanxi province. This article draws on the case of ACM’s “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition to explore the use of Buddhist artefacts in the diplomacy between China and Singapore. It argues that the exhibition demonstrates the intersection between cultural and Buddhist diplomacy, highlighting how Buddhist cultural heritage was used as a platform to foster diplomatic ties between two secular countries with predominantly Buddhist and ethnic Chinese populations. While Buddhist material culture and history might have been used to highlight the shared cultural ties between China and Singapore, differing perceptions over the exhibition’s presentation provides ground for contemplating the varied meanings behind the use of religious objects in cultural diplomacy.

Keywords:

• Buddhist diplomacy
• cultural diplomacy
• Asian Civilisations Museum
• Famen Temple
• Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
• Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference in March 2023. We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to Yoshiko Ashiwa, Conan Cheong, Kan Shuyi, Denisonde Simbol, David Wank, and two anonymous reviewers for their kind support and helpful advice. We would also like to thank Asian Civilisations Museum for permission to use their images.

Notes

1 While the Famen temple is believed to have been founded during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220), it was only in 625 that the monastery came to be known as Famen Si (Dharma Gate Monastery), when it was renamed by the founder of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu as such. The earliest known inscription referencing the Famen Temple relic is dated May 16, 778, where in addition to narrating the circumstances under which the relic was found and enshrined, the same inscription also recorded that the then-regional governor of Qi prefecture, Tuoba Yu, had sponsored religious activities at the site of the Famen Temple in 555. A later inscription dating to the year 874 also mentions this, thereby corroborating the point that the Famen Temple was active even before founding of the Tang Dynasty. See Kan (2014) and Sen (2014).

2 For a list of visits by Singaporean leaders to China in the 1980s, see Singa Sino Friendship Association of Singapore and China–Singapore Friendship Association of China (2000, 11).

3 There is an interesting urban legend about Hong Choon and the design of the Singapore one-dollar coin. See Stolarchuk (2017).

4 For recent studies on China’s Buddhist diplomacy, see Chung (2022); Raymond (2020); and Scott (2016).

5 According to an article published by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, artefacts from the Famen Temple crypt were subsequently also exhibited, perhaps as a part of a larger travelling exhibition on a different theme, in Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece, and Hong Kong. See SCIO (2015).

6 According to Article 3 of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics (文物保护法), cultural relics in China can be classified as either being First-Class/Grade-One, Second-Class/Grade-Two, Third-Class/Grade-Three, or Common Cultural relics. As noted by Timothy Lau (2011), guidelines on how to classify cultural materials are set out in documents such as the Rating Standards for Collections of Cultural Relics (文物藏品定级标准); though Kong (2021) also notes that the classification of objects is not nationally standardized as museums are often in charge of assigning their own ratings to objects before submitting them to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH, 国家文物局). The impact of variations in the ratings for cultural materials would then have an impact on which, and how many, of such materials can be loaned for exhibitions abroad (Kong 2021).

7 After stepping down from his role as the Minister of Justice, Liao devoted his time to founding and maintaining the Tosun Public Interest Foundation (财团法人向阳公益基金会) and the Association of Cross-Strait Legal Exchange (海峡两岸法学交流协会). Both organizations were listed as organizing parties for the exhibition.

8 Khaw Boon Wan was a prominent figure in China-Singapore relations at that point in time, having served in various capacities that would have allowed him to interact with Chinese officials. From 2008 to 2014, Khaw served as an Adviser to Business China, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening ties between Singapore and China through cultural, social, educational, economic, and business initiatives. As Minister for National Development from 2011 to 2015, Khaw was also the Co-chair for the Joint Working Committee (JWC) of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Project. In 2014, following the opening of the “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition, Khaw made two official trips to China—to Beijing in April 2014, and to Tianjin in July 2014.

9 The other exhibitions were: (i) The Way of the Buddha (November 2 – December 19, 1993); (ii) Gandhara: Buddhist Sculptures from Pakistan (June 1 – July 3, 2005); (3) On the Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China, and Southeast Asia (November 2, 2007 – March 23, 2008); and (4) Enlightened Ways: The Many Streams of Buddhist Art in Thailand (November 30, 2012 – April 17, 2013).

10 The SBL has been a notable supporter of the National Heritage Board, such that in 2007, it was awarded the Friend of Heritage award, which recognizes donors who have cumulatively contributed S$50,000 to S$149,999 in a single calendar year. This was also the year when the “On the Nalanda Trail” exhibition was staged, for which the SBL was known to have sponsored the exhibition (NHB 2008).

11 According to Kong (2021), based on the Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics, approval by the State Council is required for loans of more than 120 grade-one cultural relics, or if more than 20% of the total cultural relics to be displayed are grade-one. For the “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition, the 24 grade-one objects or sets of objects on show equates to 20% of the total number of objects or sets of objects on loan (展品 120 件 [套]), and beyond negotiations with both the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center and the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, the loans had to also be approved by the SACH (ACM 2014; Kan Shuyi, Personal Communication, February 1, 2023).

12 The phenomenon of localizing exhibitions for both institutional and practical reasons in Singapore came to the forefront once more in 2016, when the National Gallery Singapore (NGS) hosted the special exhibition “Artist and Empire: (En)countering Colonial Legacies,” which was previously on show at the Tate Britain in 2015 as “Artist and Empire: Facing Britain’s Imperial Past.” Aware that the Tate’s rendering of the show was subjected to criticism over its failure to generate conversations on British colonialism, the NGS’ staging of the exhibition chose instead to examine colonialism from the perspective of those who were colonized by the British empire (Devi 2016; Raja 2017).

13 According to the 2020 Census conducted by the Department of Statistics in Singapore, 31.1 percent of residents identified themselves as Buddhists, 8.8 percent as Taoists, 18.9 percent as Christians, 15.6 percent as Muslims, and 5.0 percent as Hindus. Buddhism remains the largest single religious demographic in Singapore despite falling from 33.3% in 2010 to 31.1% in 2020 (See DOS 2021).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship [Grant number: MOE2020-SSHR-003].

Notes on contributors

Jack Meng-Tat Chia

Jack Meng-Tat Chia is Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford, 2020), which was awarded the 2021 EuroSEAS Humanities Book Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 Friedrich Weller Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Darryl Kangfu Lim

Darryl Kangfu Lim is Assistant Curator for Southeast Asia at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. His present research focuses on the everyday expressions of ethnic and religious identity in Southeast Asia, as well as on the materiality of religion in Thailand.