11C: Festival, Community and Identity: The Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Singapore

Festivals constitute an important dimension of Chinese cultural, socio-political, and economic life. The Nine Emperor Gods (NEG) festival is one of the largest traditional Chinese festivals in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and parts of western Indonesia. Its history and forms are very much situated in the history and structural dynamics of China-Southeast Asian migrations and circulations, and of Chinese communities in the region. Between 2016 and 2017, an island-wide research project was conducted to document the festival at different temples and sites in Singapore. This chapter provides some preliminary insights into the festival, highlighting how it is embedded within the broader Chinese cultural and social landscape and history, on the island and beyond, as well as broader networks of the NEG Festival in the region. By showcasing the NEG festival in this volume, our project hopes to encourage more research into Chinese festivals to provide new insights into the history of the Chinese in Singapore and Chinese cultures, communities and identities.