A Tour of 60 Asian Port Cities with Ex–ACM Director Kennie Ting
To write a book about 60 Asian port cities, ex–ACM director Kennie Ting travelled to as far as the Middle East and Africa. He tells us how port cities can tell a different history of Asia, and what his "eat pray love" cities and his favourite ACM artefacts are.
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What Kennie Talked About
02:00 – How Kennie found time to write his book The Great Port Cities of Asia in History while
heading two museums
04:17 – Kennie’s travel experiences
05:37 – How his fascination with port cities began
06:57 – His writing approach and themes of the book
10:09 – How he categorised port cities into six eras in his book
13:18 – The hardest thing about writing this book
14:36 – His favourite artefacts in the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM)
16:00 – Wuhan’s significance as a historic port city
18:23 – Kennie’s research process
18:59 – His “eat, pray, love” port cities
22:19 – The port cities Kennie would pick to live in
26:32 – What he misses about ACM
27:14 – What’s next for Kennie Ting
About the Guest
A writer and museum professional fascinated by the history, heritage and culture of Asian port cities, Kennie Ting is the former director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum in Singapore. He has written The Romance of the Grand Tour: 100 Years of Travel in South East Asia (2015) and Singapore 1819: A Living Legacy (2019). His recent book, The Great Port Cities of Asia in History (2024), re-examines Asian history from the perspective of 60 port cities across the region.
Resources
Kennie Ting, The Romance of the Grand Tour: 100 Years of Travel in South East Asia (Singapore: Talisman, 2015).
Kennie Ting, Singapore 1819: A Living Legacy (Singapore: Talisman, 2019).
Kennie Ting, The Great Port Cities of Asia in History (Singapore: Talisman, 2024).
John Darwin, Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam, 1830–1930 (London: Penguin Books, 2021).
Derek Heng, “Continuities and Changes: Singapore as a Port City Over 700 Years,” BiblioAsia 1, no. 1 (November 2005).
Credits
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven . Special thanks to Kennie for coming on the show.
About the Podcast
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.