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From 'feng shui' to 'asta kosala'
Connections: Balinese architect Popo Danes reflects on the influence of China on Bali
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Connections: Balinese architect Popo Danes reflects on the influence of China on Bali.
Scratch the soil across much of the country and you'll turn up fragments of ancient Chinese porcelain, while iconic Chinese temples give vivid splashes of color to the country and the horseshoe-shaped graves of Chinese-Indonesians can be found on the edge of many towns.
With the start of the Year of the Wood Horse on Jan. 31, one of Indonesia's leading architects, Popo Danes, takes a loose-rein walk into ancient history to examine Chinese influences that are still alive in Bali.
Popo points to the most basic motif seen in local architecture, walled compounds and angkul, or arched gateways, that open on to other walls.
'Look at asta kosala, the Balinese philosophy of building forms, and the Chinese feng shui,' says Popo. 'Balinese and Chinese never let people enter a space directly. There is always a reflecting wall ' in Bali called the aling aling, which is a small wall to stop someone entering with negative ideas' and to give time to 'hesitate and rethink bad plans'.
He continues. 'We suspect that the angkul, or Balinese gate, that the inspiration for this came from China, as it is quite similar to gates of houses in China.'
Contemporary plumbing, which aims to group pipes together for economic reasons, can wreak havoc when planning to build or renovate a home according to the principles of feng shui or asta kosala.
'If you talk about double-story houses,' Popo says, 'you never want to have the kitchen under the upstairs toilet, because that means 'waste to the food, not food to the waste'.'
It's a dictum of ancient design that makes good sanitary sense.
In religious life, Popo says that architectural traces of past influences can be seen in the maru, or stacked roof temples, that are dotted across Bali.
'The maru are very much like a pagoda, with the layers representing the layers of life [and] of the world. Balinese bell towers also are similar to Chinese bell towers, but the Chinese are octagonal and Balinese are square ' perhaps because the building techniques here were less developed.'
He adds that daily life on the island provides much evidence for cross-cultural fertilization between the Balinese and Chinese, especially in religious ceremonies, the arts and even family organization.
'Between Bali and China, we have so many interactions in so many ways. You can see in every Balinese ceremony [that] ancient Chinese coins are used, so we appreciate the Chinese as our older brothers. I have found a lot of similarities between the Balinese and Chinese, like the philosophy on how important it is to have a boy for the family.'
Despite the unsuitability of male child veneration today in either China or Bali, Popo believes that ancient influences gave the Balinese direction on how to manage life.
'The Balinese and Chinese have great respect for our ancestors,' says Popo. 'Daily, the Chinese light incense fot their ancestors ' and that happens every day in Balinese households. Also cremations: Like Balinese, the Chinese offer up the ashes of loved ones to the seas.'
A stroll through any carving village ' whether residents work with stone, wood or precious metals ' will also show the hallmarks of China.
'In the motif of Balinese carving that we call Patra is the Patra Cina, the Chinese pattern in the carving. This can be seen in the patterns of carving in the Karangasem palace. This is a Chinese style of carving,' says Popo of the rich floral designs.
He also points also the influence of Chinese culture over hundreds of years on Balinese weaving, sculpture and performing arts. 'In dance, there is the Baris Cina and the Barong of temples, to mention just a couple. The Balinese are strong in textiles, but I believe the patterns have some influence from India and China.'
Popo says that the red-and-gold color scheme typically adorning family temples is another indicator of the ancient sharing of ideas between Indonesia and China with.
'Chinese influence is all around us. The Chinese are very good immigrants and make diplomacy through business and culture,' he says. 'In that ancient time, life was all about dedication. Everything had a spiritual basis, when people did something good, not for themselves, but for their gods.'
Popo continues. 'We were doing our best for God, like in dance or structures. Everything we did in the past was for a spiritual reason and in that way appeared the real value of something.
'Today we are not thinking of that real value, but rather the price of something,' says Popo of why, perhaps, China's influence on Bali has survived millennia.
Photos by J.B. Djwan
