50 Years of the Chinese Community in Singapore

The following sections are included:

• Photographs
• Preface by PHUA Kok Khoo
• Foreword 1 by Thomas CHUA
• Foreword 2 by CHUA Thian Poh
• Introduction by PANG Cheng Lian
• List of Contributors
• Contents

In 1906, when the Chinese business community founded the “General Chinese Trade Affairs Association” (新加坡中华商务总会) the original name of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) (新加坡中华总商会), the intention was to serve as a self-help group for the Chinese community. Today, after the passage of more than 100 years, the Chamber is the apex Chinese business chamber in Singapore, and plays an important role not only in the areas of commerce and industry and overseas networking, but also in culture, education and community development…

The following sections are included:

• The Genesis
• Promoting Understanding and Appreciation of Chinese Culture and Values
• Publications
• Cultural Performances
• Chinese Language
• Galvanising the Clan Associations
• Lending a Helping Hand to the Community
• Reflections at 20
• Changing of the Guards
• Appendix: SFCCA's Seven Founding Members

The following sections are included:

• An Illustrious History
• The Heart of CDAC: Education and Training
• Laying a Lasting Framework
• CDAC and Nation–Building
• Concluding Notes: A Cherished Relationship

The following sections are included:

• Telling the Story of a People
• Advancing Knowledge and Understanding of the Chinese Overseas
• A New Chapter — Integration with NTU

The following sections are included:

• When We were a Community, a Colony, but not yet a Country
• Now with Nationhood
• The Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC)
• Incentives for Philanthropy
• Conclusion: The Evolving Philanthropic Landscape in Singapore

Networking to establish the right guanxi (relationships) is a feature of Chinese business communities. The Singapore Chinese community is no exception to this. There is a host of social organisations catering to the interests of the different segments of the community. In this essay we examine the histories and activities of some of the more prominent private Chinese clubs in Singapore in the past 50 years…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• A Chinese Community Divided
• Early Chinese Clan Associations and Schools
• Chinese-Language Publications and Newspapers
• Rise of the Chinese Language and Birth of Nanyang University
• New PAP Government and Language Policy Changes
• SAP Schools and National Stream Schools
• The Speak Mandarin Campaign
• Chinese Language Teaching Reviewed
• Conclusion

Right from the start, the Chinese population in Singapore has comprised people of different origins and backgrounds. Shortly after Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819, many Chinese from the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia moved to the island. From the mid-19th century, Chinese immigrants from the southern coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong constituted a significant part of Singapore's population. From the early 20th century till 1970, the proportion of the Chinese population in Singapore remained largely unchanged, but there was a major change in its composition. There was a sharp decline in the number of non-local-born Chinese within the community. The figure dropped from 76.4% in 1921 to 64.2% in 1931, to 42.3% in 1947, to 32% in 1957, and then went further down to 23.4% in 1970. The change in these data can be attributed to Singapore's morphological evolution from a colony to an independent state, as well as the changing emigration trends of mainland China…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Buddhism in Singapore
• Taoism in Singapore
• Chinese Christians in Singapore
• Conclusion

During the 1970s and early 1980s, when Singapore was pre-occupied with nation-building by concentrating on economic growth, the arts and culture were given less attention. S. Rajaratnam, one of the ministers in the first cabinet who rose to be Deputy Prime Minister even warned that Singaporeans only knew “the price of everything and the value of nothing”. This was the stage when Singapore was often but erroneously described as a “cultural desert”…

The diversity of visual art reflects Singapore's plural communities in the last 100 years. In the field of Chinese painting what is not often acknowledged is how the national fervour nascent in the first republic of China in the early 20th century was catalytic in endeavours to create a new, indigenous art centred in this region popularly referred to as Nanyang…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Chinese Calligraphy before Singapore's Independence
• 20th Century: Economic Survival after Independence
• 21st Century: The Singapore Vision of a Renaissance City

The following sections are included:

• Prelude
• The National Orchestra — Singapore Chinese Orchestra
• The Nanyang Musical Voyage
• Postlude

It is believed that Chinese dance was in existence even before the earliest written Chinese words. A study of Chinese ceramic artefacts indicates that as early as 4000 BC, the people of the Neolithic Yangshao culture were already performing group dances that involved participants locking their arms and stamping their feet while singing to the accompaniment of musical instruments. Until today Chinese dance remains an important element of celebrations, folk rituals and religious ceremonies…

Singapore's relations with China today are strong and substantive, and in many ways are unique and special. The two countries interact and cooperate in many fields ranging from politics, economics, business, the arts and culture, to education and the environment. The relationship between the two countries is also manifested at many levels, from government-to-government ties involving the top leaders to people-to-people exchanges of tourists and students…

When Sir Stamford Raffles “discovered” the small island sandwiched between the Malayan peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago in 1819 he envisaged that Singapore's strategic location would make it the centre for maritime Southeast Asia and beyond. What he did not foresee was the huge influx of Chinese immigrants who not only built Singapore into a trading centre but also transformed it into a socio-cultural centre for the Chinese in the region…

The following section is included:

• Acknowledgements