Culture

Singapore’s oldest Buddhist monastery, the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, is set for a fresh round of restoration works. Its bell and drum towers, which are in severe disrepair, will be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $7 million, and will open to the public by the second half of 2022.

Professor Ho Puay-peng of NUS is an architect by training. His signature architectural work is the HK$1.5b Tsz Shan Monastery in Hong Kong, commissioned by business magnate Lee Kah Shing. Interestingly, Prof Ho’s father Ho Beng Hong was also an architect whose designs include several Chinese architecture-inspired modern buildings in Singapore. ThinkChina invited Prof Ho to reflect on how classical Chinese architecture has evolved and changed in contemporary times outside of China, through an exploration of his own works and those of his father.