Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
One of only two noble houses of its type outside China. Like many Chinese houses it was built according to the Eastern Feng Shui tradition to achieve 'harmony' by the careful orientation of buildings and the objects and furniture within. The architect known commonly as the 'Rockefeller of the East', China's last mandarin and first capitalist, Cheong Fatt Tze chose Penang, then one of the main trading colonies of Peninsular Malaysia, as a base for his extensive business empire. For decades the house was neglected and unloved but in the 1990s it was bought by a small group of committed conservationists who restored the mansion to its former glory and opened it as an up-market guesthouse. Since then film directors and conservationists have fêted its remarkable transformation. Many of the scenes in the 1992 film 'Indochine', starring Catherine Deneuvre, were shot here, and the house won a coveted UNESCO Heritage award.
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Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: architecture, azure, blue, cantonese, cheong, china, fatt, georgetown, malaysia, mansion, penang, restored, tze
