Lim Hak Tai, a Chinese émigré artist based in Singapore, was the founding principal and dean of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Established officially in 1938, with support from Jimei School Overseas Fellowship Association and the Society of Chinese Artists, NAFA was the first local academy offering tertiary art education in South-east Asia and was instrumental, under Lim’s leadership, in nurturing Malayan (present-day Singapore and Malaysia) modern art practitioners. Modelled primarily on the curriculum of Xiamen Academy of Fine Arts, NAFA offered training in both Western art and Chinese painting.