Matter and Principle

2012

The Tiong Bahru Transformations
​An Installation by Gilles Massot, in Collaboration with Mark Wong, for OH! Tiong Bahru 2012.

For almost a century now, the Qi Tian Gong Temple has been a focus for the religious and social life of Tiong Bahru’s community.  The aim of this installation is to express some aspects of the religious identity of the temple through artworks that will at the same time reflect its contemporary context.
 
The Qi Tian Gong is known in Singapore as one of the most important and oldest shrines dedicated to Sun Wukong, the Cantonese Buddhist name of the Monkey King. As the central figure of a highly popular epic novel, the Journey to the West, Sun Wukong became a paramount figure of Chinese culture, and one of the deities bridging the gap between Buddhism and Taoism when he is preferably addressed by his Hokkien name, Tai Seng Yah, the name generally preferred by the devotees coming to pray in Qi Tian Gong. This colourful figure is endowed with staggering powers among which a shape shifting ability known as the “72 Transformations”. This power allows him to transform into any possible form of existence, whether objects, animals or people, although the later transformation can never be fully completed because of his tail. Another important property of his is a technique of cloud travelling that allows him to cover 108,000 li in one somersault.
 
Based on these two powers of Tai Seng Yah, the initial project intended to take the visitors through a discovery of the temple,  from the altar hall on the ground floor to the committee meeting room on the 1st floor.  On the ground floor, a series of 72 photographs was to be displayed in front of the main altar,  depicting objects found in today’s urban landscape of Tiong Bahru. This “Tiong Bahru transformations” meant to suggest that Tai Seng Yah might have transformed into any of the objects seen around the temple’s surrounding. Directly above on the first floor, the second part of the installation used images of Tai Seng Yah printed at the back of floating acrylic mirrors hanging loosely from the ceiling to create a shimmering maze of mirrored images mixing the deity, the room and the visitors’ own reflections.The altar hall on the ground floor and the administration space above were to be linked by an installation of cut out silhouettes projecting shadows of the flying deity around the inner staircase.

Eventually, the requirements of the temple committee took the project on a different trajectory and the staircase installation turned out to be the only part of the first proposal that was fully realised. This is where the sound piece done by Mark Wong was playing in loop. By the end of my negotiations, the focus of the work became a multimedia 4D piece occupying the sheltered walkway on the side of the altar hall, next to the entrance to the staircase and framed by two majestic granite pillars featuring the powerful exuberance of two dragons in flight. The planned photographic allegory of Tiong Bahru's ordinary life was kept to contextualise the new 4D component: a column of ten mini video screen mounted on a wooden beam hanging from the ceiling. The videos  expanded the geometrical progression of a diagram showing the formal expansion of numerals from one to ten. This was a diagram taken from a book on Greek and early Christian esoteric tradition that explained visually the transformation of the fundamental essence of things, the One, the Principle, into the infinite expansion of forms as a physical world, the Matter. Although this was not formerly related to Taoism, it nonetheless proceeded of similar fundamental concepts in particular on the idea of constant transformation of a universe in permanent becoming and expansion. It fitted the power of the 72 transformations of Tai Seng Ya and his nature as a shape shifter cross-dimensional traveler. It eventually gave its title to the installation: Matter and Principle. 

In the end, the main part of the work turned out to be a durational performance of some sort that saw me become a living link bridging the gap between the local community of Tiong Bahru original residents and the unusual crowd of visitors in search of artistic experiences that the event OH! Open House (https://ohopenhouse.org/) brought to the district over two weekends. The project was initiated to the invitation of Alan Oei, artistic director and initiator of OH!, a contemporary art event curating on site exhibitions in collaboration with the communities of selected districts. Knowing about my personal interest for Taoist practices and my connections with the Singaporean Taoist community, Alan thought that I should be able to bring his event into the home of Tiong Bahru oldest resident, which I indeed managed to do. But Tiong Bahru residents and art visitors were two very distinct sets of people and the difference was particularly striking in the context of the temple. I quickly noticed how the visitors, to whom I first explained the  work, later remained in the walk way without venturing into the temple that was nonetheless wide open next to the work. I thus started giving explanations about the temple proper to anyone interested about this important piece of Singaporean vernacular, thus bringing together tradition and innovation as two sides of the same Singaporean identity. 

Project Proposal

Installation View

Exhibited Videos

Project Proposal

Installation View

Exhibited Videos

Unpublished Article

Accompanying Bckground Information

Qi Tian Gong

Qi Tian Gong 齐天宫 is probably the oldest Da Sheng 大圣 (Monkey God) temple in Singapore. Although established in this corner pre-war shophouse along Eng Hoon Street in 1920, its origin actually started earlier in the kampong further up from where it is now.


How was the temple started?

As in Chinese belief, every existing entity has its reason. And so does Qi Tian Gong. Its origin is indeed very interesting. From hearsay, it was said that sometime in the early 1910s or thereabout, there was this person by the name of Goh Kim Choon who became the first spirit medium of the Monkey God. His father died when he was young and so his mother had to bring up the children. There were four in the family, an elder sister, elder brother, Kim Choon, and a younger sister. He was the third. He was a filial son who helped to bring income to the family by selling flowers. They were very poor and when his mother fell ill, it fell upon his shoulder to look for money so that his mother could seek treatment. But he was not able to find money. He was so depressed that he decided to end it all.

He went to a cluster of trees near to the kampong preparing to hang himself. Meanwhile, somewhere in the kampong, there was a Guan Yin Temple in session. The Guan Yin medium told her assistants that someone was about to commit suicide and instructed them to go and save him. They went to the trees and saved him in the nick of time. They brought him to Guan Yin who scolded him, saying that he should be thinking of how to save his mother and not killing himself. He asked her how he could save his mother. Guan Yin replied, “by becoming Monkey God’s medium.” It seemed that Monkey God was looking for a medium to help him in “saving the world” as they say in Hokkien “Kiu Seh” 救世.  Saving his mother was all he wanted to do and so he agreed.
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The Guan Yin medium then helped and guided him to become a Monkey God medium.

Interestingly, his mother had a small Monkey God statue with her. And so, with that statue, they started a small service to the community. And through Monkey God, he saved his mother. This statue could still be seen in Qi Tian Gong today. 

Goh Kim Choon was already a third generation Peranakan in Singapore. His ancestors came from Jeo Beh, Chiang Chew (ZhangZhou) in Fujian, China. Kim Choon was only 16 years old when he became a medium.

Soon devoteeship grew with most of them being Peranakans. The devotees suggested moving to a bigger place so as to be able to serve the community better. In 1920, with the support of the devotees, Goh Kim Choon and family moved to this corner house (now indicated as #01-44) where they lived upstairs and have the Monkey God altar downstairs.

In those days, rental at $20 per month was considered expensive. The staircase to the upper floor was on the right side of the house. Since the renovation in 1992, the staircase has been shifted to the side making bigger space for the altar.


Celebrations in honour of Qi Tian Da Sheng (Monkey God or The Great and Venerable Sage)

In this temple, the celebration dates are 16th of the first lunar month and 16th of the eighth lunar month. During the festival celebrations, there will be the inevitable Chinese Operas (known as wayangs or street operas) that would be performed for the Monkey God, the resident Deities and the guests. During those days, the operas would also be a welcomed entertainment for the devotees and the neighbourhood. With devotees who are Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and Peranakans, depending on the sponsorship from devotees, there could be days of operas, from one dialect opera to another. The interesting story about this temple is that because of its big Peranakan devoteeship, they even had Rongeng sessions!

There was also the procession, with the Monkey God presiding, through the streets of the neighbourhood. Many of the devotees in the neighbourhood placed temporary altars outside their house to welcome the Monkey God. The procession was also meant as cleansing the kampong. The medium of Monkey God (in trance) would also visit the devotees’ shops or homes to bless them. The procession was and is still a very colourful affair with a riot of colours and sounds, carrying of sedan chairs and palanquins with lion and dragon dance and the drum & gong percussion troupe, known as Kong-Kuan in Hokkien/Teochew. 


A story about the Monkey God.

It was said that during the festivals (the16th of the First Lunar Month, 1M16 and 8M16) when the Monkey God came (through the medium – Goh Kim Choon), he would climb up the betel nut tree and swing onto coconut trees growing just opposite the temple. He would do that stunt from tree to tree in the neighbourhood. Goh Kim Choon being young then, thought, he could play truant and avoid going into trance to give consultations. Monkey God had his way to punish him. It was said that once, during the festival, when in trance, the medium climbed up to the top of the coconut tree. Just as he was about to pluck the coconut, Monkey God left him. He was left clinging for his dear life!


Cap Ji Kee

For the poor, the fastest way to make money must be in this form of lottery. In those days, cap ji kee (12 sticks in Hokkien was most popular. It was said that the main operator was in Johor Bahru. So, when the Monkey God came, the devotees begged him for a good number to win some money. Monkey God decided to give them a set of numbers – for cap ji kee, two numbers, each from one to twelve. The devotees went to buy from a local agent who collected and passed on to his HQ. In this case, he thought he could “makan”(take) the bid. The next day, the number came out exactly! All the devotees were delighted with the win. This poor agent had to cough out money to pay the people. The next day, a woman came outside the temple, wailing and accusing Monkey God of causing the death of her son. Apparently, her son, the agent, committed suicide because he lost all the money. Since that day, Monkey God has decided that he would not give any number to the devotees.


Gao Sng

Known as Gao Sng in Hokkien, it is a phenomenon occurring mostly in young children (probably from the age of 6 months) when they seemed to stop growing and would crouch like monkeys. At that time, doctors were not able to identify the cause of the problem. It was said that the child of one of the doctors in the then Singapore General Hospital (SGH) had this problem and they could not find a cure. The amahs working in SGH at that time had their dormitories in that area. They would pass the temple on their way to SGH to work and back. One of them introduced the case to the temple for treatment.

Monkey God had taught his medium to identify and treat the cases. Where the cases were deemed severe, then, they would refer the case to the Monkey God when he “came”.  It was said that they could identify the severity of the case by looking for the nodes underneath the armpits. For nodes of three and below, the medium could treat with the help of Monkey God’s talisman and an elaborate process. Approval was sought from Monkey God through the use of divining blocks. It must be a three-time affirmation in succession to get a clear approval. This is indicated by the divining blocks appearing with one of the pair having the smooth side facing up and the other with the rounded side facing up. It would take about 49 days to complete the course of treatment. The child would go for treatment every 3, 6 and 9th day of the lunar month. It was said that the treatment included using wet chicken dung (gui sai kou) spread on a Chinese biscuit (pong bnia) and steamed over the child’s clothing which could only be in white. The child would then wear the clothing so that the smell would chase the mischievous monkey spirit away. In addition, the child would also be required to bathe in a tub of water mixed with a smelly Chinese herb known as gui sai ding. This smelly herb would also act to chase the mischievous monkey spirit away. During treatment, the kid was to avoid bright lights, fruits and be kept indoors (for 49 days). The kid was not to be exposed to “red” and “white” matters – red meaning happy occasions such as wedding or baby month-old celebrations and white meaning death. For protection, the kid would become the godchild of Monkey God.

For children found with 4 nodes and above, they would need the attention of the Monkey God. Monkey God will advise if the case was curable. The wife of the medium also learnt to treat such cases.


The medium passes away

It was in 1961, on the 18th of the 8th Lunar month when Goh Kim Choon passed away in his sleep. His son, Geok Swan, called out to him on his way out to work and he responded. But when his wife came to wake him up for breakfast, he had already left this world.

On the night before, which was the last day of the celebrations in the 8th Lunar Month, the temple members were seated around him in front of the altar where he sat on the dragon chair apparently in conversation with Monkey God. They noticed that his face became red, but he did not say anything to them. He then retired to sleep in the backroom at the ground floor of the temple. The members later guessed that he must have failed to get the approval to extend his life.

With the blessing of Monkey God, the funeral wake was held in the temple. After 5 days of the funeral wake, some 1000 people turned up for the funeral procession, many of them the “god-children” of the Monkey God, who cured them of the gao-sng (a term in Hokkien on cases of children who could not grow up, acting like monkeys).

After 100 days of his death, another medium by the name of Ah Tor took over temporarily to continue to give consultations.

During this time, the family was thinking of giving up the temple. After 100 days of mourning, the son, Geok Swan went to Poh Ann Keng (another Monkey God temple which was at Peck Seah St then) to ask if the Monkey God wanted to continue. The answer was “Yes” and that he would find the next medium. So, in consultation with his mother, the temple continued with the temple supporters.


The search for a medium

A year later, Monkey God “approached” Geok Swan, asking him to become his medium to continue his father’s work. But he refused. Monkey God tried. But each time when they beat the drum and gongs with the chanting, he would rush back to the temple tearing his clothing in the process and went into semi-state of trance. He must have resisted as he did not get into full trance. He would vomit (as is typical of most cases just before the Deity enters a medium’s body). He could only convulse and shake his body. It was only when his mother used three joss sticks to plead with Monkey God to let him go that he then returned back to his sober state.

It went on for quite a long time, but Geok Swan refused. Finally Monkey God gave up. That was also the time when the temple members decided amongst themselves that perhaps one of them might be able to take over. So, with drums and gongs, sitting on the chair, smoked by a big bunch of fuming joss sticks, they took turns.

Finally, one of them, Soh Teow Peng was the chosen one. He served Monkey God for 42 years, starting when he was in his 20s. He retired from this mediumship a couple of years back. The temple is now without a medium.


The temple continues its commitment to the community

As with the wishes of Monkey God, the temple supporters who formed the core temple members with the family of the medium continued with its good work towards the community.

With Monkey God’s support and advice, the members continued to operate from the same place when the temple started its community service since 1920, until this day, renovating and improving the temple over time. It also had to defend its occupancy since the old days to maintain its existence at this place with the ever changing landscape of Tiong Bahru. Through these years, the temple has seen how many of its devotees’ kids have grown up to become community leaders and even government leaders.  One of the earliest known English record of this temple could be the book “Chinese Temples of Singapore” published in 1958 by Leon Comber. Geok Swan remembered Leon came to interview his father. This out-of-print book is now re-published as part of a collection of Leon Comber’s book entitled “Through the Bamboo Window”.

In the 1979, in response to the government policy to preserve the historical monuments, a Qi Tian Gong Temple Management Committee was set up to apply for the retention of the temple. In 1985, the committee acquired ownership of the temple and applied for a permit from the government. The temple is now registered as a public temple.

Acknowledgements:
1. Mr. Goh Geok Swan for sharing with us his memories of his late father, Mr. Goh Kim Choon and Qi Tian Gong in its early days
2. Qi Tian Gong website

Online Reviews

First Quarter Notebook, Reflections on Art in Singapore Jan - Apr 2012
A Forage into the Heart of Gentrified Tiong Bahru
May 3, 2012 by Cheryl Lim Xin Rong

First Quarter Notebook, Reflections on Art in Singapore Jan - Apr 2012
Authenticity and Specificity
Apr 26, 2012 by Nurliyani Abdul Rahman
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