Visit to Asian Civilization Museum

First and foremost, the trip we had to the Asian Civilization Museum (ACM) was not my first. I’ve been there once before with my family and that place was more or less similar to what I saw a few years ago.

However, I feel that my trip to the ACM this time round was more fruitful and I managed to bring back more learning points this time as compared to the other time I was there. I feel that this is so as this time round I went to the ACM with a different perspective and for a different purpose. I went to the ACM in mind to find out how all the exhibits are linked up to what I am learning in my Global Citizenship class such as globalization, culture, values an sustainability.
I went through exhibits of different countries such as India, China, West Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Towards the end of this trip, I start to see that all these countries such as China and India have played a huge part in how Singapore is right now and the culture and practices that we Singaporeans have inhabited.

In this trip I realize that many of the exhibits portray what I have learnt in class such as globalization. For example, I saw an exhibit on the Chinese porcelain and potteries which were inspired by other countries such as Europe to the Chinese. The artifacts were dated way back to the 14th century. This made me realize that globalization had taken place not only in the 20th century but it has started way before I was even born. Religions such as Buddhism and Islam were also an effect of globalization as people start to travel around the world; they start to spread their practices and their culture to the place they went to.

As for culture, the ACM mentioned a culture practiced by the Chinese which is filial piety which states, “As long as their parents are still alive, one must not travel a far. If one must, ones whereabouts should always be made known”. This is culture that is being practiced by the Chinese from a long time ago. However, I believe that right now it’s being spread to some other races and not only the Chinese. This is because I personally believe in filial piety too, I feel that as a daughter, I am still under my parent’s guidance and I am obligated to inform them of my whereabouts and not leave them astray even when I am older and married. It is still my obligation to take care of them as they have for me when I was younger.

I feel that this is also practiced by majority of Asians. The westerns however are more independent as they start to live on their own perhaps as early as the age of 21. This is a form of valuing diversity. Different cultures have diverse values and cultures which may be due to socialization.

Overall, I feel that I have learnt a lot from this trip and it has definitely been a fruitful one. I managed to link what I see in the museum to what I have learnt in class and now I have a different outlook in global citizenship. Aside from that, I had fun visiting the site with my classmates. This trip has given me a different perspective about the stereotypical museums being boring. I look forward to visiting more of such sites in the future with my family and friends to learn more about my country and also other countries around the world.

Posted by Eka