All right, so in I Not Stupid, one thematic element is the resurgence of the ethnic Chinese identity in the characters. I'm guessing this is a big shock because Singapore before tried to distance itself from China to show off its "SEAness". I wanted to know what Ethnic Chinese Singaporeans see their Chinese identity.
Is the affiliation with China purely cultural? Is it national also? Or is it just seen as a localized ethnic community in Singapore completely separate from China?

I am afraid that u wont get much responses here as there are not many Singaporean Chinese on this forum.

I will migrate to Singapore one day though

Not a big fan of Malaysia?

So who's the genius who made a Singaporean chat then?

Errrr.... i didn't think chinese in SG shared culturally affinity with China, it's more like Taiwan or HK that they are culturally closer, but this could change as there is a huge influx of chinese migrants and also China is exporting lots of cultural shows (soaps) that are viewed by SGs..

SG chinese definitely do not identify nationally with China nor HK nor Taiwan.. its mainly a cultural thing. But older generations who still speak the original dialects of their provinces in China (be it fujian, swatow, canton, kek etc..) may identify with China on a national basis, thats why some of them fled with the communists to china back then in the 50s after their insurgency against the colonialists failed..

Peranakans - mixed chinese/malay/indians - have adopted only certain rites and food items from China, but attire and language wise, we have largely followed straits malay customs.

I have the dvd for hte movie u mentioned, but can't follow it as much of it is in dialect (Hokkien)... most of our younger generations no longer understand nor speak dialects properly and as such, have no affinity with China proper. Alot of my classmates are into K-pop and J-pop these days.

I will still be a Malaysian at heart,afterall I was born and raised here no matter how similar the climate,culture etc between these two countries.Its in order to provide a better future and living environment for younger generation.While at the same time I will have all my properties located in Malaysia.

There's another Singaporean film - Singapore Dreaming which I enjoyed a lot/highly recommend.This film portrays the lives of most Singapore families-their dreams,hopes,social issues etc etc (Acually it also reflects how it is like for Singaporean/Malaysian Chinese families)

^theng, remain Malaysian but get Singaporean PR. All but one of my Malaysian colleagues in Singapore do that.

^^^ Haha okay,will seriously consider about that instead of giving up Malaysian citizenship :P

Thinking of migrating to Singapore as well, the Malaysian government is bias against Chinese. Problem is I have no Idea if Singaporean Chinese in General are very supportive of China, so may have to do the supporting discreetly.

why dun u migrate to china instead and u won't have to support itsecretly??

Because its much easier to get Visa if you are from Singapore, also been studied in Singapore for a long while and know the culture and don't intend to start all over again in China until later on.

Anyway if you are saying this, it means I would have to be discreetly then in supporting China since the general Chinese population is sort of anti-China which is bad in my taste.

yeah, i think there's a general anti-China feeling, u are right! but u can actively support China all u want, no one will blame u for being a poor fool for being misled by China's ultra nationalism.

China's nationalism is a lot less ultra than America's and especially Malaysia/terrorist Indonesia.

really? how come americans are more ultra nationalist than the chinese?
are u basing yr sentiments on this board?

You can't measure nationalism.

Within nationalism, there are patriotism, pure blinded brain-washed nationalism, and pure ignorant nationalism.
I hate to say this, most nationalism turn out to be blinded brain-washed nationalism.

All nations on earth are nationalistic in some nature, otherwise there wouldn't be Nation and country boarders.

Could explain why Nationalism is pretty much dead in Singapore, if they all think that way. At lease the government has more intelligence then this; supporting China on the Taiwan issue, which is another reason why I moving to Singapore.

Infact I'm going to be very supportive of the PAP government.

yes of course!
they feel chinese because they are ......................

but
..... not CHINA :p

Americans are blindly dogmatic. Chinese people are not.. it's just very apparent.

Most Chinese singaporeans, despite being generations removed from the Chinese homeland will have some degree of connection to their ancestrial land. This is most evident from the disportionately large amount of aid given by the Singaporean public in response to the May earthquake. Infact, with any chinese person, regardless of where they currently reside, USA, Australia, SG etc can in all probability tell you the very location where their ancestrial village/town etc is in the PRC.

In public, Chinese people overseas generally stay low key and put up a display of apathy or even outright hostility to the PRC just so that either: they don't draw attention to themselves or for the sake of social harmony. Call it fitting in, or whsatever, but deep down, they will secreetly support the PRC even if only on the basis of ethnic background. This is true also in SG, else how do you explain the disportionately large public donations to the Sichuan earthquake, most of the sino-centric singaporean people on CHinaHistoryforum.com and hell, even anti-commie lee kwan yew spends most of his time these days city plannng in the PRC.

So Singaporean Chinese do support China just very secretly.

Why would Singaporean support China?
have you ever visited Singapore before?

So are you a Singapore chinese, like robot_devil

I was only born there, technically I can apply for Singaporean citizenship.

I'm a Singaporean chinese.

No, I dun support wholesale based on ethnicity but on merit.

Like most of my friends here, I think we're just a pragmatic lot.

So if you do want to come to Singapore, welcome. Your support for China won't have a dent in your bearings here. You're pretty much free to support what ever cause or belief provided they don't become a public nuisance, incite violence, hate or racial prejudices.

So back to the question. Do I feel "Chinese"? Well, I feel Singaporean.

from what i observed, the chinese sg dont really feel like they are chinese (i assume 'feel chinese' means loyal to the mainland). in fact, if we asked those ethnic chinese in malaysia, indonesia, sg, myanmar, vietnam, philiphines, etc.. i dont think they see themselves as the 'chinese'. i believe they are proud to be as what their born i.e. malaysians, philipinos, burmese, indonesians, etc.

As far as I can see, most of the Singaporeans/SE chinese have been mixed, they dont looks exactly like the mainlanders

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If I'm not wrong. I think I saw a survey before that says only 10% are mixed. Anyway Singaporeans probably look darker because of the climate.

Looking at your profile you spend quite a lot of time in Korean chat, I take it your family were from Korea ?



My family is not mixed since they left China in 1949 and we still speak in Mandarin and even sound like mainlanders !!! And which area of the mainlanders are you talking about ? Is it north, south, center most Chinese don't look a like even in the mainland.

My family was from Singapore.
Btw, I'm not Korean, not even close.

But my older sister and brother married to Koreans, they are now settled in Sydney Australia.
I'm currently staying with my Korean-American partner in Melbourne.

My parent were divorced long time ago, my mum is in US with her new hubby and my dad married Chinese from Beijing, now they travel back/forward China and Singapore.

You can say I have connection with Koreans since my half of family in law are Koreans and I have more Korean friends than Chinese /Singaporean.

Why yr dad supports China over Msia in the Olympics Badminton??

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