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LITERATURE
Contemporary Malaysian-Chinese Painting: A Catalogue and Directory, The Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur, 1987, illustrated on page 8.

This painting shows the Song Kee Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. It was known for its Teowchew styled moon cakes which attracted hoards of customers despite 1985 being an economic recession year. Perhaps this implies it was a work commissioned by the restaurant owners. The shop is seen brimming with eager customers; some spilling onto the street happily bundling away the sweet purchases while some others wait in cars until their orders are delivered. The signboard, with prominent Bahasa letterings on its colonial façade with bay louvered windows, is repeated in a light-rimmed banner.

Painted in sunny cheerful colours, Song Kee depicts the Mooncake Festival, also known as the Zhongqiu or Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Chinese 8th lunar month. But the fabled origin has its roots in the Ming Dynasty ascendancy when the Han Chinese smuggled messages calling for revolt against the Mongol Yuan rulers inside the mooncakes which may light a layered reading of the work. This work is part of a series done by the artist to document streetscapes and the old buildings which he thought would soon be torn down in 1980s. A similar work, KL Street Scene (Lebuh Pudu) (1985) was sold at Henry Butcher’s Malaysian Modern and Contemporary Art Collection sale in 2010.

Born in Johor, Chia Yu Chian graduated from Nanyang Academy Fine Arts in 1958. He was the first artist from Straits Settlement to receive a French Government scholarship at Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris (1959-1962). He was commissioned to do a mural painting Life in Malaysia for Malaysian High Commission in Paris. Yu Chian received the awards of Honourable Mention, Salon des Independent and Societe des Artistes Francaise, Paris.