新加坡南生花园中国特征的移植与本土化

The Replanting and Localizing of Chineseness in Whampoa’s Garden of Singapore

在19世纪的新加坡,尽管市区有多处地道、典型中式府邸,中式私家花园的设计方式却与同时期中国本土的园林不甚相同。为了研究这一现象,本文以新加坡最早一批中式私家花园中的典范——南生花园为例,阐释园主人在设计花园时如何及为什么选择性地采用某些中国特色,同时却又以非中式风格设计花园的其他部分。本文对南生花园的研究首先简要介绍了园主人、广东商人胡亚基的职业和文化背景,以及其社会关系、个人爱好和文化身份。由于花园已不复存在,我们研究了中国和西方的图文史料,以重现花园的空间布局和其他设计特征——其中一些可能具有浓厚的中国特征。继而对比南生花园与胡亚基故乡同时期建造的园林,以揭示它们在设计理念上的潜在联系。此外,本文探究了中国符号的选择与游园者文化身份之间的关系,以剖析是什么影响了中国特征的呈现,以及华南景观在当时是如何被移植到新加坡这个赤道附近的殖民地的。

Private Chinese gardens in 19th-century Singapore were rarely designed in the same way as their contemporary counterparts in China,though there were a few authentic Chinese mansions in the city.In response to this phenomenon,this paper attempts to use Whampoa’s Garden,the finest and earliest private Chinese garden on the island,as an example,to explain how and why garden owners selectively adopted certain Chinese features while designing the rest of their gardens in a way deviating from Chinese traditions.The study of Whampoa’s Garden begins with a sketchy introduction to the career and cultural background of the garden’s owner,Cantonese businessman Hoo Ah Kay,addressing his social connections,personal hobbies,and cultural identities.As the garden no longer exists,a study of available pictorial and written records from Chinese and Western sources is conducted in order to reveal the spatial layout and other designed features of the garden,some of which may have facilitated the display of Chineseness.Contemporaneous gardens from Hoo’s hometown will be compared to unveil hidden linkages between Whampoa’s Garden and Chinese garden ideas.Furthermore,the relationship between the selection of Chinese symbols and the identities of their audience is examined as an approach to studying what affected how Chineseness was presented and how the landscape of south China was transplanted to this equatorial colony.