RUNNING between Burma Road and Macalister Road, Madras Lane does not generate much interest to the casual observer. However, it probably houses one of Penang’s best-kept secrets, and that lies within the Hu Yew Seah building in an inscription on the small marble plaque mounted on a wall of the hall in the main structure.

Dr Rabrindranath Tagore, Asia’s first Nobel laureate for Literature from Calcutta, Bengal, laid the first stone to the foundation of the building and officiated its opening in 1927.

The building was used by the Hu Yew Seah as a venue to promote and teach Chinese language. Because by the turn of the 20th century there were a number of English-educated Chinese, characteristically the Baba or Straits Chinese elite, who grew up not knowing their mother tongue.

The organisation was founded by Choong Thiam Poe in 1914 and specifically created to promote Chinese language education among the English-speaking Babas and Nyonyas in Penang. Ironically, Thiam Poe received an English education at Penang Free School. However, he had the privilege of learning Chinese and getting acquainted with Chinese literature through home tuition.

Thiam Poe’s involvement in the Tung Meng hui revolutionary movement propelled his desire to set up an organisation for his fellow Straits Chinese to have an opportunity to appreciate, learn and reconnect with their rich Chinese heritage and culture.

• Penang and the Indian Ocean (Think City)
• Hu Yew Seah, Penang (Penang-TravelTips)

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