Singapore was a unique place created by the Chinese diaspora, and continued to draw the Chinese diaspora to its shores — it was Chinese diaspora central! I also felt at home there because it was the one country in the world where I felt truly comfortable as an English and Manglish/Singlish speaking overseas Chinese. Finally, I was in a place where the majority population looked like me and spoke like me too.That's understandable; she had found a place to live where she had a sense of living amongst her own ethny, namely the Chinese diaspora.
But what's really fascinating is that the Chinese diaspora population has such a sense of its own existence that it doesn't like the idea of large numbers of mainland Chinese migrating to Singapore.
Christine's story runs as follows. Whilst living in Singapore she became aware of increasing numbers of mainland Chinese living there:
But as time passed, I started feeling a disparity — it certainly seemed like there were more mainland Chinese than other Chinese foreigners in Singapore.
However, she then moved to mainland China herself:
I’ve been here two years, the typical overseas Chinese girl who has gone back to her ancestral land.
Living amongst the mainland Chinese put her mind at rest about what was happening in Singapore. That is, until she found out about the extent of mainland Chinese immigration into Singapore. It turns out that 1 million out of 5 million people in Singapore are from the People's Republic. This statistic startled her as it did Singaporeans:
According to a population census dated September 2010, Singapore’s population currently stands at about 5.07 million. That makes nearly one in five here a Chinese national.Christine wrote:
Netizens largely react with shock and dismay to this news, calling it a “staggeringly huge number”
...this news comes as a shock to me as well. Knowing that there are “many mainland Chinese” in Singapore is one thing; being given a figure like 1 million — when your country’s population is only 5 million — is something else. I can understand why Singaporeans are upset. Take away the mainland Chinese aspect and replace it with “nearly 1 million eskimos are living in Singapore” and you would still get an uproar. Tell any country a fifth of its people are all from one other place, and you’d get a strong reaction. It’s not so much hating on PRCs and more about uncertainty over your own identity, isn’t it?Christine, well put, but for some Westerners the situation of Singaporeans seems relatively luxurious - the immigrants to Singapore are, after all, a closely related population (the differences being mostly limited to those of language and manners). The stress on identity is much greater for, say, an Englishman in London or a white American in Los Angeles.
Or an Australian in Sydney...
ReplyDeleteIt is funny you write about this I was listening to a conversation between English speaking Chinese recently.
The discussion was about how they can identify PRC Chinese immigrants immediately while westerners have trouble.
I detected the same disdain the White liberal elite have for the white working class.
However it was different, they felt it was great they were Chinese.
When will you ever hear a Liberal say the working class is great for being just like them...
Nice find, Mr. Richardson. It's rather like the large-scale African immigration into South Africa which has been protested (at times violently) not so much my whites but rather by black South Africans.
ReplyDeleteThis post is so full of insight. It would never have occurred to me until a traditonalist such as yourself reformatted this lady's comments and made a post out of it.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and keep up the great work. I'm not sure if you take requests but I would surely appreciate it if you could do one on Sweden next.
She also has the advantage that Asian multiculturalism (which might be the worst that could happen with no real genetic conflict of interests) is different from the Western version.
ReplyDeleteIn this ten and a half minute YouTube clip, Frank Salter explains what makes the Western version different.
"much greater for, say, an Englishman in London"
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, within the last decade, there seems to have been an influx of Chinese into London as well. That is, even in east London, where the previously predominant immigrant population was from the Subcontinent, Far Easterners are very noticeable.
Not that the Englishman seems to mind. Another observable phenomenon is the number of white men who are going out with Oriental women.
Singapore was created by the BRITISH not the mainland Chinese.
ReplyDeleteIt's rather ironic that it takes a Malaysian Chinese to understand the problem.
ReplyDeleteI'm a 22-year-old Singaporean with Chinese ethnicity. This influx of PRC nationals - I shall not use "Chinese" here, since that is more of ethnicity, whereas the issue at hand is about nationality - has been growing steadily over the years.
You essentially have three groups of Singaporeans involved in this issue, two of which are essentially opposites: firstly, you have your "peace-loving" immigration apologists. These are the ones who argue that Singapore was a nation of immigrants (true; my paternal grandmother is from Samsui in China), and so we should not forget we were all once immigrants and therefore we should be more accepting of our so-called Chinese brothers and sisters. In the meantime, they ignore the huge gulf between PRC culture and Singaporean culture, blinding themselves to the general misbehaviour of PRCs, as well as the fact that they are mainly responsible for driving up housing prices, especially resale flats, and taking away precious university places (places in the STEM fields are notoriously difficult to secure, and there is a quota for foreign students, most of whom are PRCs). It's my observation that this group mainly consists of youths, especially youths in university or have just started working.
Secondly, you have your extremely vocal anti-PRC lobbies, who spout so much vitriol that sometimes, it can be argued that the reactionary views of the first group are justified. They rail and rant away from their armchairs online about the evils of the PRCs and Indian immigrants, and suggest things to do to them amounting to genocide. These tend to be the people in their 30s and 40s struggling to find a job.
Your third group comprises the rest of the Singaporeans: the silent majority. These are the people who just want to make a living in a country which is already suffering from the first few stages of an impossibly high standard of living. Don't get me wrong; these people know there's something terribly off about the increase in PRCs: the jobs start getting lesser, the bus drivers suddenly don't know how to speak English or at least Singapore's brand of English, the waiter at that fancy restaurant has a strange Chinese accent.
So you have Groups 1 and 2 beating each other over the head alternatively with "Why can't we all just get along?" and "Why can't you just get out of my country?", while Group 3 is wondering who the hell is making all that ruckus.
It'll be interesting to watch, especially with the PRC diaspora now settling all over. My only fear is that my country, for whom I gave 2 years of my life in military service, will in that process turn out like the proverbial pearls thrown before swine, devoured and turned into waste.
Interesting to read an East Asian perspective on mass immigration and culture. The similarities to mass immigration to Australia, NZ, US, Canada, UK and Europe, have similar overtones, though ours comes done to race predominately, due to our lower birth rates, and the demand for economic growth.
ReplyDeleteMark I was thinking over your comment in this post about Asian girls now appearing to have the advantage over White girls and i had a thought that was made more clear with your latest post
ReplyDelete"It's such a long distance away from the kind of relations between men and women that you would need to uphold a civilisation. That's why it's pointless for Suzanne Moore to complain that her daughters' generation has fewer choices than her own. How could it possibly be otherwise? If you trash the family, if you trash the men of your own nation, then how can you possibly expect the swing of society to be onward and upward?"
The reason we see less White girls now is because the White family unit has been so utterly trashed that its impacting their performance.
Since the system has been tailored for females already. Asian family commitment and study ethic (What is increasingly disappear in Whites) + female orientated system means Asian females are now in the most advantageous position they will ever be in, in history. Their femininity also means they are in the best position for affluent White and Asian male courtship.
Now I'm not a proponent of this event.
But I love the universal anger White women get for Asian women.
Universal in that I've witnessed the hatred and jealousy of Asian women by white women on the other side of the world and here.
I'm a China Chinese according to Singaporean classification LOL. But I lived in New Zealand for 6 years before moving to Singapore. I was surprised when our SingChi English teacher in Secondary 1 was like 'All of you are from China.' (Well there were 2 Malay Singaporeans but...) Well what she meant was that all Singaporean Chinese can be eventually traced to some early migration from Southern China and we should not look down on PRC's. I was like, thinking, um, did like, no one know that? And most SingChi are pure Chi LOL. It's not like the Philippines where you can wonder if you have a Chi ancestor... FROM THE 15TH CENTURY LOL. But of course I am not offended because we are all Chi... But I do wish they would make immigration for Chi students easier. :)
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