Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, also known as the Blue Mansion because of its spectacular indigo-colored exterior, is a historic heritage property on Leith Street in George Town, Penang, and a sight that appears to be the perfect backdrop for an evocative Asian Gothic tale. The mansion, which was built in the Straits Eclectic architectural style, is now a boutique hotel featuring a pool, a fine-dining restaurant, and a bar. Daytime tours of the public areas are also available for a fee. But, before you go looking for the Blue Mansion, here are some things you should know about Penang’s Blue Mansion to help you plan your visit.
Contents
Things You Should Know About Penang’s Blue Mansion
Who was Cheong Fatt Tze?
Cheong Fatt Tze, the mansion’s initial owner, was a Chinese industrialist renowned as the “Rockefeller of the East” who was born in 1840. Cheong was born to an impoverished Hakka family in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to Jakarta, then known as Batavia, when he was 16 years old.
He worked as a water carrier and a shopkeeper before rising to become a highly wealthy and influential industrialist, politician, and philanthropist. Cheong’s fortunes improved in Jakarta when he was mentored by his wealthy merchant father-in-law, who aided in the development of his financial acumen. Cheong then began on a series of prosperous business enterprises.
He expanded his business into Medan and eventually Penang, which became his base, by investing in rubber, coffee, tea, livestock, textiles, glasswork, and banks. He built Chang Yu Winery in China in 1892 and inaugurated the trans-Pacific shipping line between China and the United States. He also served as the consul general in Singapore and was an economic advisor – known then as a Mandarin – to China’s Empress Dowager. Until his death in 1916, the mansion served as his home and workplace.
Why is the Mansion blue?
Because white is connected with death and grief in Chinese culture, Cheong chose to brighten up his home by painting the walls bright blue. A natural blue dye from the indigo plant was blended with limewash to create the eye-catching blue paint. “At the time the mansion was built, indigo was a highly desired color. Indigofera arrecta or tinctora was a plant that was grown in India. Indigofera arrecta or tinctora, which was produced in India, “crossed cultural barriers and was used in mosques like the Acheen Street mosque in George Town, parts of Suffolk House, internal sections of Chinese temples, and a large percentage of ordinary houses in the Straits Settlements in the early 19th and 20th centuries,” according to Aja Ng, the Blue Mansion’s head of public relations. Limewash was perfect. Limewash was good for the tropics since it absorbed moisture and prevented mould growth in humid environments.
A love gift for his seventh wife
It was usual for affluent Chinese males to have multiple wives during Cheong’s period, and Cheong had eight in total. Marriage, for him, was about securing business relationships with the proper families as much as it was about passion. But all of that changed when, at the age of 70, he met Tan Tay Po, a 17-year-old who would become his seventh wife. The Blue Mansion, which he began building in the 1880s as a love gift to Tan and where the couple established their home, was similar to the Taj Mahal.
Straits Eclectic architecture
It was usual for affluent Chinese males to have multiple wives during Cheong’s period, and Cheong had eight in total. Marriage, for him, was about securing business relationships with the proper families as much as it was about passion. But all of that changed when, at the age of 70, he met Tan Tay Po, a 17-year-old who would become his seventh wife. The Blue Mansion, which he began building in the 1880s as a love gift to Tan and where the couple established their home, was similar to the Taj Mahal.
It was built using Feng Shui principles
Despite the many Western-style elements, the layout and design adhere to feng shui — the Chinese geomancy doctrine that claims that the arrangement and orientation of buildings can favor positive or negative energies or situations. Because the element of water represents wealth in feng shui, Cheong erected coin-shaped inlets on both sides of the central courtyard to collect rainwater, ensuring that only a small amount of water – the symbol for money – left the house. The remaining rainwater would be pumped through a system of pipes beneath the mansion’s floor. Cheong designed six rooms in each wing of the home because the number six is associated with good fortune and smooth business operations in feng shui.
