Chinese Singaporeans

Chinatown was an enclave for the early Chinese immigrants in Singapore in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Chinese in Singapore are people of Chinese descent who are born in or immigrated to Singapore and have attained citizenship or permanent residence status. As of 2000, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 78% of Singapore's population, or three out of four Singaporeans.

Chinese in Singapore today commonly recognize themselves as Singaporeans rather than Chinese. Many Chinese too have married Peranakans, who are Chinese who have married ethnic Malays and have adopted a mix of Chinese and Malay culture, and increasing numbers are marrying outside their ethnic group.

Dialect Groups

The Chinese in Singapore are "Han Chinese" with the exception of the Peranakans. The Peranakans are classified as a separate ethnic group. The Chinese in Singapore belong to several linguistic-cultural dialect groups, originating from mainly the southern parts of China. The Hokkien, Teochew and Hainanese, all of whom belong to the Min-nan group, jointly form more than three-quarters of the Chinese population. The Cantonese and Hakka account for most of the remainder.

Government policies, such as banning dialect-medium subjects in schools and the media, have resulted in an entire generation of young Singaporeans distanced from their various mother tongues, leading to considerable difficulties in communication between the young and old.

Hokkien (Fukien)

Thian Hock Keng is the oldest Hokkien temple in Singapore.

The Hokkiens (Fukiens) constitute around 41% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Most came from the southern parts of the Fujian province, primarily Xiamen and Quanzhou. They speak Amoy Hokkien, a Min-nan (閩南) dialect, which is 50.4% comprehensible with Teochew, and less so with Hainanese.[1]

Early Hokkiens settled around Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street, enclaving around the Thian Hock Kheng Temple and subsequent clan headquarters Hokkien Huey Kuan, later expanding to Hokien St and the vicinity of China Street.

As the early settlers come from the southern coast of China, they tended to live off sea trades and worship one of the patron-deities of Taoist pantheon, the Heavenly Mother or "Ma Zhu" who supposedly look out for seafarers. Thian Hock Kheng temple houses "Ma Zhu" and is also known as Ma Zhor Kheng. Another popular patron group of deities being the Nine Emperor Gods, a commemoration of the Emperors who brought peace and prosperity to the people and the prayer to the Jade Emperor on the 8th day of Chinese New Year.

An occult Taoist practice by a Taoist a priest call "Tangki" is also popular amongst Hokkien. Basically, the priest (Tangki) goes into a spiritual trance and acted as a medium between the mortal and the chosen deity. It is said that the Taoist deity enter the Tangki's body and act as an oracle for mortal consultation usually concerning domestic queries and request like a talisman to protect their love ones.

Teochew

The Ngee Ann Kongsi is based at the Teochew Building on Tank Road.

The Teochew (also spelt Teochiu) in Singapore constitutes about 21% of the Chinese population in Singapore. Teochews originated from the Chaoshan region in Guangdong Province of China, namely Jieyang, Shantou, Chaozhou, Chaoyang, Puning, Chao'an, Raoping, Huilai, Chenghai and Nan'ao.

The Teochew speak Teochew, a Min-nan dialect, which has an overall 50.4% mutual intelligibility with Hokkien.[2]. However, despite similarities linguistically and culturally, the Teochew and Hokkien considered themselves distinct and never got along well, especially during the British colonial era. Like the Hokkiens, superstitious Teochew also shared the Taoist belief of Tanki.

The Teochews were the dominant Chinese dialect group for a period of time during the 19th century. Mass immigration of Chinese from Fujian later outnumbered the Teochews, especially in the south. The majority of the Chinese living along the banks of the Straits of Johor were largely Teochew until the HDB initiated mass redevelopment from the 1980s onwards.

However, the majority of the Teochew settled along the banks of Singapore River in Chinatown during the 19th and early 20th century. Teochews who settled in Chinatown professed in many commercial sectors as well as fishery. Traditional commercial sector Chinatown, are dominated by Teochews include Circular Road and South Bridge Road.

Others, mainly businessmen, set up gambier and pepper plantations in the dense forests of Singapore, parts of northern Singapore as well as Johor Bahru. The Chinese first started their plantations with the approval of the Sultan of Johor from the nineteenth century onwards. This attracted more Teochew businessmen to start their plantations in these areas over the years. As such, the "Kangchu" system eventually started to form. The Chinese word "Kang" (江) means river, while "Chu" (厝) means house. However, in this context, "Chu" is the clan name of the first headman in charge of the plantations in the area.

Like many other dialect groups, early Chinese immigrants (Teochew: Sengkhek) cluster themselves to form clan and dialect associations. These clan associations or Kongsi serves as unions for the mostly illiterate Chinese laborers and their colonial ruler/ employer. Subsequently there was a decamp from colonial bosses when the Kongsi contract their own import/ export, which in the colonialist eyes was considered competition and labelled piracy. And to safeguard their rice bowl, members of certain clans were sworn in with elaborate rites of passage which the colonialist termed as secret societies. Mostly, such associations were formed to look after the religious and welfare needs of Chinese immigrants in Singapore. One of the more prominent clan assosciation for the Teochew include Ngee Ann Kongsi, a Teochew-oriented association formed in 1845, and has established themselves since then.

The Straits Times highlighted that Hougang has a relatively high concentration of Teochew residents.

Cantonese

The Cantonese makes up 15% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Unlike the Hokkien, Teochew and the Hainanese, the Cantonese speak a dialect belonging to the Yue family. The Cantonese community is also further sub-divided into several sub-dialect groups. Yue Hai is considered to be the purest form of Cantonese because of its close proximity with Guangzhou. Other variants include Luoguang, Seiyap and Gouyeung. The Gwainaam variant is largely based in Guangxi and shares close affinity with Pinghua.

The Cantonese mainly worked as goldsmiths, tailors and restaurateurs during the early and mid 20th century. Cantonese businesses predominated along the shophouses of Temple Street, Pagoda Street and Mosque Street.

Many Cantonese women left behind their families in China and came to Singapore to work in construction sites for a living during the 20th century. This group of Cantonese women came from the Samsui district in Guangdong were later known as Samsui women. They are noted for their distinctive navy blue outfits and bright red headgear, which were meant for protecting their hair as they worked. The headgear was first worn by Wang Chao Yun 王朝云 字子霞, a concubine of Su Dongpo, in the Hakka Fui Chiu district of Guangdong province and it eventually became the traditional headgear of Hakkas. Cantonese women who worked alongside with female Hakka labourers and adopted the use of the headgear. To the average person, Samsui women normally evokes the image of a woman clad in blue top and trousers and the invariable headgear.

Cantonese women from the Seiyap district in Jiangmen prefecture wear a black headgear similar to the Samsui women. Seiyap women who wear black headgears mainly work in shipyards at the old harbour along Singapore river as well as at Keppel Harbour.

Hakka

Ying Fo Fui Kun is the first Hakka clan association in Singapore.

The Hakkas constitute 8% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Since their dialect was initially somewhat intelligible to Mandarin, although strongly influenced by Min-nan and Yue, they were believed to have migrated from Northern China between the 16th and the 17th century. Recent genetic studies, however, have shown that the Hakkas originate from Southern China, like the other Chinese dialect groups of Singapore.

Many Hakka women who came to Singapore during the early 20th century. They worked in construction sites wore headgears similar to the Samsui women. Unlike the Samsui women, these Hakka women wore black, rather than red headgears.

Hainanese and Northern Min

This group constitutes 5% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Of them, the majority are Hainanese, from Hainan, speaking Hainanese, a Min-nan dialect with its roots from the Hokkien dialect.

The others, who included the Hokchew (Fuzhou), Hokchia and the Hinghwas, who came from Northern Fujian and Southern Zhejiang. They speak various Northern Min dialects. As late-comers to Singapore (late 19th century), most of them worked as shop helpers, chefs, and waiters in the hospitality sector. Hainanese Chicken Rice is a famous dish.

Mandarin and Wu

Mandarin speakers from Beijing and other northern provinces, and Wu speakers from Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, constitute only 2% of the Chinese Singaporean population. Most of them immigrated to Singapore much later than the other groups. They can all speak Standard Mandarin Chinese, the lingua franca among all the Chinese dialects, and are able to speak their own dialects as well, though their own dialects are rarely used in daily life even among those from the same region.

These are mainly first and second-generation Chinese Singaporeans who came to Singapore in the 1990s. They tend to be highly paid white-collar workers in multinational corporations or academics in research and educational institutes. Also, there is an increasing number of Chinese teachers from the PRC working in Primary and Secondary schools and Junior Colleges in Singapore. This is because the Ministry of Education in Singapore finds it increasingly difficult to find qualified young Singaporeans to teach Standard Mandarin.

Peranakan

Peranakans in Singapore were once concentrated in Katong.

The Peranakan, also known as Baba-Nonya are early Chinese immigrants from Malacca, of which many of them later migrated to Singapore. As they contain mix blood of the Chinese and the Malays, the Peranakans are classified as a separate ethnic group from the Han Chinese in Singapore. The men are known as Baba while the women are known as Bibiks or Nonyas. Peranakans in Singapore were once concentrated in the Katong area. This is because the Peranakans were the wealthiest social group after the colonial English masters during colonial Singapore, speaking and trading in English, Malay and Chinese languages such as Hokkien.

Many famous Peranakans and Hokkien Chinese moved out of the congested town of Singapore - now the Central Business District (CBD) - and built seaside mansions and villas along the East Coast in Tanjong Katong ("Turtle Bay" in the Malay language) for their dynasties. Some famous Peranakan descendants include Ivan Heng and Dick Lee.

However, they have since dispersed off to other parts of Singapore after 1965. Peranakans in Singapore generally belong to the Hokkien and Teochew dialect groups and spoke Baba Malay and Chinese dialects as mother tongues. Many of them converted to Roman Catholicism during the 18th-century Portuguese colonisation into South-East Asia. Missionaries set up posts in Batavia (Indonesia), Malaya (Malaysia) of which Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore were parts of before the 1965 independent and separation movement of Singapore city from its Malayan hinterland.

The Peranakans were a transcultural race that blended colonial English style with indigenous Malay languages with Hokkien Chinese customs.

Religion

According the 2000 census, 42.5% of Singapore's population declare themselves to be Buddhist, 8.5% Taoist, 14.6% Christian and 14.8% non-religious. The Chinese form the vast majority in these four groups, due in part to their dominance in Singapore.

The majority of the Chinese in Singapore register themselves as Buddhist, and a smaller number claimed to be Taoist. Many Chinese have retained the belief of so called Chinese folk traditions or folk Taoism, an age-old Chinese tradition. Taoism was once the dominant belief system, but younger generations have either switched to Buddhism, Christianity or have become non-religious.

Taoism

The Yueh Hai Ching Temple is the oldest Taoist temple in Singapore.

Taoism is practiced by 8.5% of Singapore's population, which amounts to about 200,000 individuals. A backbone of folk Chinese culture among southern Chinese dialect groups, Taoism was once a popular belief held by many Chinese, Taoist beliefs has witnessed a sharp decline from the 1970s onwards, as most of the younger-generation, Chinese Singaporeans abstain from folk beliefs, viewing that superstitious beliefs would do harm to them.

Taoists in Singapore are generally polytheistic, and worship similar deities. Many of these deities are ancestral, and to their dialect groups suggest different levels of veneration for each deity. These southern Chinese also worship some deities of common origins, notably Matsu. Other deities that were venerated and frequently taken as decorative objects include Fertility (Hock in Teochew/Hokkien, Fok in Cantonese, Fu 福 in Mandarin), Prosperity (Lock in Teochew/Hokkien, Luk in Cantonese, Lu 禄 in Mandarin), and Longevity (Siew in Teochew/Hokkien, Sao in Cantonese, Shou 寿 in Mandarin). This includes ancestral gods such as Guan Yu. The God of Fortune is also venerated by many Chinese businessmen all over Singapore as well as Malaysia. Minor deities, especially ancestral, worshipped by different dialect groups may not share a common origin with other dialect groups.

The Hakka are an exception in this case. Unlike other Chinese dialect groups, some deities worshipped by Hakka are not depicted in the form of statues. Usually a stone or tablet is used to represent the deity instead, and this is particularly true side-temple deities that are not placed in the main altar.

Adherents of Taoism would place house altars in their living room. This is more frequently seen among Chinese families, rather than individuals. The family god or deity would be placed on the top altar, and a spiritual tablet would be placed at the bottom altar, although ancestral tablets may be placed at the top altar as well. Often, urns, usually placed with some joss sticks, are placed in front of the deity. Oil lamps may also be placed at the sides, and fruit offerings are also placed in front of the deity as offerings to "appease" the deity.

A brazier, often painted red, may also be seen. They are meant for burning joss papers. They also hang small urns filled with sand and ash outside the house; this is where joss sticks are placed. The smoke that is produced whilst burning the joss sticks are believed to be messages of requests that can be received by gods in heaven. A small altar, painted red, with the words " 天宮賜福" painted on it. The altar is meant to be the image of heaven.

Traditional Chinese funeral customs is largely Taoist, even in the case that prayers are chanted by a Buddhist monk instead of a Taoist priest. Such funerals are usually conducted under the void deck of a HDB flat or condominium, or within the living premises of the deceased's private house.

In the past, Taoist priests were called in to chant mantras and prayers, although the economic trends among Chinese Singaporeans have changed their preference for Buddhist monks instead. Very often, the deceased is laid to rest in a wooden coffin, which is placed under void decks for around two to four days. Land spatial constraints have promoted family of the deceased members to be cremated in crematoriums and temples, and very few still maintain the trend to bury the dead.

Taoists in Singapore are influenced by Buddhism to some extent. Vegetarianism among Taoist priests and worship of the bodhisattva of compassion, Kuan Yin as an immortal are some influences of Buddhism. Folk Taoists are also influenced by the reincarnation theology from the Buddhists, and believed that the deceased's soul will reincarnate into another being in his next life, be it a human or an animal.

The economic growth in Singapore has led to a steep decline in the number of adherents of Taoism, from 30% in 1980 to 22.4% in 1990, and then down to 8.5% in 2000. Changes in lifestyles have also affected the belief system of many younger-generation Chinese Singaporeans to embrace evangelical Christianity as well as Buddhism.

Buddhism

The Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple on Race Course Road is often referred to as the Temple of 1,000 Lights.

Buddhism is practiced by 42% of Singapore's population, or a little more than half of the Chinese in Singapore. The growth of Buddhism and Buddhist teachings in Singapore is a historically recent development. Overseas missionaries from Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan and to a lesser extent, Tibet, have introduced Theravada, Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism to Singaporeans. The Buddhists in Singapore are almost exclusively ethnic Chinese, with the exception of a minority of Japanese expatriates, as well as minuscule numbers of leftists, Europeans, Americans and Eurasians who have converted from Christianity.

Buddhists celebrate the festival Vesak. Vesak is a festive day that commemorates the birth, Enlightenment and passing of Gautama Buddha.

In recent decades, Buddhist missionaries from other parts of Asia have made large number of converts, in a way similar to Christian missionaries. Books are one of many factors to propagate Buddhism. Other factors include Singapore's relations with Buddhist organizations overseas.

Buddhists in Singapore normally pay frequent visits to Dharma Centers of Monasteries for dharma activities like Dharma Talks or discussions, Meditation, Chanting as well as many other activities especially for the youth.

There is a strong presence of Buddhism from all 3 mainstream Buddhist traditions in Singapore: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.

Percentage of people declaring to be Buddhists in Singapore grew from 27% in 1980 to 31.2% in 1990 and 42.5% in 2000. Such growth rates is largely contributed to growing numbers of ethnic Chinese people who are attracted to foreign Buddhist missionaries belonging to various denomination.

Christianity

Charismatic churches in Singapore such as City Harvest and New Creation have been especially successful in attracting many Chinese youth.

Christianity is practiced by 14.6% of Singapore's population, the great majority of whom are ethnic Chinese. Most Christians in Singapore are either Roman Catholic or Protestant, with Orthodox Christians forming a minuscule minority.

Protestants in Singapore include Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Non-sectarian Churches such as Pentecostals, Charismatics have made large numbers of converts in the recent years, notably among youths.

Ancestor worship is permitted among Roman Catholics but is considered taboo among Protestant denominations. The continuation of ancestor worship is commonly seen among the older Catholics, especially during the Cheng Meng festival.

Christian church services are mainly held in English, though some churches have services in different languages, notably Mandarin, Tamil, Tagalog and on rarer occasions, Chinese dialects. Latin services are occasionally conducted in Catholic churches.

Corresponding to the trend towards modernization and westernization, the Christian population in Singapore has grown from 10% in the 1980s to 18% in 1988. In recent years it has dropped to below 15%. Many youths have moved from traditional churches to the charismatic churches such as New Creation Church, City Harvest and the Faith Community Baptist Church.

Other

Another 13% of the Chinese Singaporean are non-religious and they call themselves "free thinkers". In Singapore, this term means that the person does not believe in any religion and doesn't care. However, some may practise Chinese traditions and practices.

A small minority of the Singapore Chinese follow either Islam or Hinduism. Most are converts who have married Malay Muslims or Indian Hindus. Some may be raised by Malays or Indians. Some by personal choice by choosing Islam as their religion.

History

There are records of the Chinese presence in Singapore as early as the 14th-century. Imperial Chinese sources state that there was a significant amount of Chinese inhabitants in the region. According to the Chinese explorer Wang Dayuan, the Chinese inhabitants of Singapore were dressed in local traditional costume and were largely intermarried with the local South-East Asian women, following an amalgam of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. These were the earliest Peranakans of Singapore.

After Singapore became the capital of the British Straits Settlements in 1832, the free trade policy attracted many Chinese from mainland China to trade, and many settled down in Singapore. The large influx of Chinese to Singapore led to the establishment of a large number of Chinese associations, schools, and temples in Singapore and within a century, the Chinese immigrants exceeded the population of the Malays. During this period, Christian missionaries from Europe began to evangelize the Asians, especially the Chinese. By 1849, the Chinese formed half of Singapore's population.

During WWII

The Lim Bo Seng Memorial at Esplanade Park commemorates Lim Bo Seng, a World War II anti-Japanese Resistance fighter who was based in Singapore and Malaya.

The Second Sino-Japanese War, started in 1937, revived a perceived sense of patriotism in the local Chinese to China and soon the Singaporean Chinese imposed an embargo against Japanese goods and products in Singapore. During the war, fearing for the safety of their relatives in China, some of the immigrants returned to China to fight the Japanese, while established entrepreneurs sent economic aid or military equipment to China. After the Japanese took Singapore in 1942, the Kempeitai tracked down many Chinese who aided the Chinese war effort against Japan. However, the Kempeitai's Sook Ching Operation was simply a massacre designed to drive fear into the local populace, so the Kempeitai simply picked out people based on accounts of masked informers, which in many cases are false accounts based on personal vendettas. There were also active anti-Japanese resistance during the war, such as Force 136, headed by Lim Bo Seng.

Racial Tensions

Race riots were common during the early post-war period, predominantly the period between self-governance and independence in 1965. One major riot took place during Prophet Muhammad's birthday celebrations, on 21 July 1964. There were records of high casualties (23 killed and 454 injured). There were evidences which pointed that the riot was politically motivated with hopes to oust the then incumbent Prime Minister (Lee Kuan Yew) and his cabinet, to prevent the ideology of a Malaysian Malaysia to spread north towards Peninsular Malaysia.

See also

• Overseas Chinese
• British Chinese
• Buddhism in Singapore
• Taoism in Singapore
• Singlish
• Malaysian Chinese
• Jook-sing
• List of common Chinese surnames in Singapore
• Chinese language romanisation in Singapore

References

• Statistics of adherents of different religions in Singapore
• http://weecheng.com/singapore/9eg/index.htm
• The Straits Times, April 28, 2006, pg 15, Prime section
• Profile of the Singapore Chinese Dialect Groups

External links

• The Peranakan Resource Library - A resource website for all things Peranakan
• The Online Peranakan Antiques Boutique - An online exclusive boutique to buy exquisite & rare Peranakan antiques
• Peranakan For Kids - A Peranakan educational site for both kids & teens
• Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods
• 2003 speech by Lee Hsien Loong on Teochews
• Spoken Cantonese in Singapore