Genesis

The Kuala Lumpur Engchoon Association is the earliest among all Engchoon associations in Malaysia to complete its own historical research. During its 90th anniversary celebration in 2014, it launched “Overseas Utopia: A Brief History of the Kuala Lumpur Engchoon Community,” a specialized study in history. Ten years later, the Kuala Lumpur Engchoon Association reached another milestone by establishing an online cultural and historical museum. This is a groundbreaking initiative in the history of Malaysian association, setting an example for Chinese association organizations and paving the way for preserving their own history and heritage.

Chinese traditional associations are currently facing a common problem of a lack of participation from the younger generation. Firstly, the new generation lacks awareness of the functions and historical significance of these associations. Secondly, the associations have failed to create sufficient motivation to attract young people to join. Undoubtedly, Chinese traditional associations possess rich historical resources and profound cultural heritage, but they struggle with how to carry out the work of inheritance.

From the 20th century to the 21st century, the advent of the computerized era has brought about revolutionary changes in human life. If Chinese organizations can seize the opportunity of the internet age and realize that the boundaries of the Chinese community have entered an era of “drifting boundaries”, by leveraging computer technology to transfer the affairs, history, and culture of the association to the internet through textual and visual records, it will inject new vitality into Chinese traditional associations and propel the century-long transformation of Chinese traditional associations.

The establishment of an official website for the association has become an irresistible trend in the information age. The website serves as an interface for members to connect and communicate with each other. Moreover, snippets of the association’s history and significant past events can be explored further with just a click on the website, signaling the association’s move towards digitization and innovation. Following its brave step in conducting historical research a decade ago, the Kuala Lumpur Engchoon Association has courageously taken the second step by creating an online cultural and historical museum. This initiative holds the promise of changing the perception of the association among young people, igniting their curiosity to explore the causes behind historical events, and preparing them to shoulder the heavy responsibility of historical inheritance in the future.

The establishment of this online cultural and historical museum provides the Engchoon people of Kuala Lumpur with their indispensable historical origins. Through this, they can trace back to their respective roots and further deepen their understanding of Engchoon culture. By retracing various aspects that relate to Engchoon people such as customs, dialects, cuisine, festivals, traditional clan cultures, and more, it will help outline the profile of the Engchoon people. At the same time, we can also learn about after migrating to Southeast Asia, the journey of Engchoon people rooted in Kuala Lumpur, during the process of localization what were their contributions to this land? In the process of across border social engagement, what roles and functions did the Engchoon people play? In the process of development of the broader historical narrative, what are the significant contributions that did they leave?