The Halal Festival In Kamala

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Remembering Princess Mahsuri

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The Thai Hua School at Krabi Road, Phuket, is the oldest Chinese school in Thailand, founded in 1911.

Built in 1934, it is a splendid example of European-Sino-Thai architecture of the 1930s, when Phuket architecture began to depart from the Straits Settlements style.

Reinforced concrete is used for canopies, brackets and a hanging staircase, while the decorative forms of the earlier period are also incorporated.

The front gate is made of cast iron imported from Yates, Haywood & Co, Upper Thames, London.

When the school moved out to new, larger premises in the late 1990s, the Alumni Association initiated a project to conserve the old school building.

Public archaeology in and around the building revealed the foundations of old classrooms, built in 1926.

The old Thai Hua school was used as a venue for community consultations in the planning process. It was used as an exhibition space during the annual Old Phuket Festival.

In 2002, the Alumni Association resolved to turn the Thai Hua School building into a community museum.

In mid-2005, The Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, of Thailand’s Cultural Ministry, decided to refurbish the Thai Hua School into an art gallery. The purpose was to promote Phuket’s artists as a contribution to post-tsunami recovery. The repairs and renovation were completed in one or two months. Two art exhibitions ‘Flowers of the Andaman’ and ‘Sino-Portuguese’ were held in August and September 2005.

This building has gained a second lease of life as an exhibition space and performance space.

Group photo of Culture Ministry officials and artists. The specially commissioned painting hanging in the old school hall shows the Thai Hua School and its founders.

Phuket Baba women posing for a photo in front of the newly refurbished Thai Hua School Building.

Jay-Da & Watcharin Rodnit, an artist couple who have their gallery in old town Phuket.

The Phuket Thai Hua Museum committee is now seeking funds to create museum exhibitions to showcase Phuket’s unique Baba community. The building will also serve as a local community centre for culture, arts and languages.
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