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Contents 1 Attention Required 1.1 Language 2 Archive 2.1 Facts Right? 2.2 Hokchew & Foochow 2.3 Disputes 3 Suggested Additions 3.1 Celebrated Festivals 3.2 Alternative Religions 3.3 Celebrated Dieties 3.4 World Famous Singapore Chinese Crusine 3.5 Religion: Deleted content and suggestion for merge

[edit] Attention Required

• The following sections required much alteration to the original text before returning to the main article.

[edit] Language

Traditionally, Chinese Singaporeans used to use the dialects of their place of origin as their main avenue of communication.

But today, the languages spoken by Chinese in Singapore exhibited a diversity including English, Singlish, Mandarin, Sing-darin (Singapore Mandarin), Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese and other dialects. Most Chinese Singaporeans are generally bilingual, in which they can speak both English and Mandarin or some other chinese dialects. However, the main languages spoken by chinese Singaporean are influenced and vary according to their educational background, family language, social circle, religion, class, age group, cultural influence etc.

Before 1980s, Chinese Singaporean were either english-educated or chinese-educated. The english educated chinese were educated in the english language and learnt little or no chinese in school (chinese is an optional language for some). As a result, they usually speak english only and sometimes little or no chinese at all. On the other hand, the chinese-educated were educated in the chinese language but learnt little or no english. They usually speak chinese only and sometimes little or no english at all. There were of course a portion of Chinese Singaporean who were both english-educated and chinese-educated (for e.g. they attend primary school in chinese-stream and then later attend secondary school in english-stream). They are usually bilingual (i.e. able to speak both english and chinese).

After 1980s, all schools (including former chinese-stream) in Singapore began to use English as their medium of instruction. Thus, those Chinese Singaporean who were educated in the 1980s onward were usually educated in the english-language (as their medium of instruction), apart from the compulsory chinese language to be either taken as a 1st or 2nd language. They are usually better in their english than chinese, although most of them are bilingual.

The language statistics of the year 2000 for Singaporean chinese can be found at http://www.singstat.gov.sg/papers/c2000/adr-literacy.pdf.

English is generally the 1st language spoken by all Singapore residents. This was partly due to Singapore government's policy of making English the medium of instruction in all schools in the 1980s (including former chinese medium schools),as well as making English the working language for administration and business in Singapore (in short the lingua franca among all Singaporean). The presence of English language in Singapore has its roots originating from Singapore's british colonial past, in which Singapore was part of british colony. As a result of the government's policy, English or Singlish has become widespread among the Singapore residents, including the chinese Singaporean (esp. the young people). The increase of English/Singlish speaking chinese family in Singapore, where the family language (mother tongue) has been replaced by English, is another factor leading to the widespread use of English among the chinese Singaporean. It was estimated that 25% of Singaporean Chinese spoke English as their language at home. But at work or in the city and business district, English is often used as the working language.

Mandarin is another widely spoken language among the chinese Singaporean. It was estimated that 45% of Chinese Singaporean speak Mandarin as their language at home. Evidently, Singapore government's Speak-Mandarin campaign was launched in 1980s with the intention of making Mandarin the lingua franca among all chinese in Singapore. It was intentionally a way to unify all chinese from different dialect groups. In the 1990s, this campaign began to target the english-speaking chinese Singaporean. As a result of this campaign, Mandarin became widespread in places outside the business district, esp. in residential area, HDB, neighbourhood shopping districts. Evidently, Mandarin is also often spoken in most "traditional chinese-stream" schools, despite the fact that English is their medium of instruction. The widespread use of Mandarin is also due partly to a large number of Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Malaysia, China and Taiwan, who had come to Singapore to stay, work and study. Colloqually, Chinese Singaporean speaks a mixed form of Mandarin (known as Sing-darin), in which Mandarin is often mixed with words from English, Hokkien and some other dialects, in a similar way to Singlish. Most young Chinese Singaporeans are capable of conversational Mandarin, but are weaker in their ability to write Mandarin.

The main languages spoken by chinese Singaporean vary according to the age group. Most young chinese Singaporean speak either English or Mandarin. But for the elderly, many can only speak chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka or Hainanese. As the south-eastern Chinese dialects are not taught in school, the number of their speakers has steadily declined. Many of the young Chinese in Singapore are unable to use their dialects fluently - most can utter no more than a few words. This is even more common among the westernized Chinese Christian community, who speak acrolectal English. In addition, many parents have begun to communicate with their children solely in English, in the belief that the language is essential to attain upward social mobility. This is perceived by some to be a loss of cultural heritage.

The question of which language is preferred in Singapore seem to have caused a series of debate among the chinese Singaporean recently. The question of declining standards in the command of the chinese language among chinese Singaporean seems to cause several revision in the government's education package towards the chinese language. Some criticises it while some praises it. No doubt, the Singapore government's policy is to continue a bilingual policy for all chinese Singaporean, which is to continue to pursue English as the first language while making Mandarin the lingua franca (or at least the 2nd language or home language) amongst all chinese. The more english-speaking chinese Singaporean will generally prefer english language as the lingua franca or their home language, while the mandarin-speaker worries that English will replace Mandarin as the lingua franca, seeing English as a strong competition. Those who preferred preserving the dialect cultures in Singapore worry that dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Cantonese or Hainanese will one day die out in Singapore, as a result of strong competition from English and Mandarin.

With the rising economy of China, which has led to more Singapore companies requiring fluency in Mandarin, Mandarin has been viewed with greater importance amongst the Singaporean chinese than before. Both English and Mandarin will continue to dominate the language scene among chinese Singaporean. Unless government and Chinese Singaporean take their own initiative in preserving dialect culture, chinese dialects might probably decline or disappear from Singapore one day.

[edit] Archive

[edit] Facts Right?

I have edited the article to remove the use of 'class' or any form of biasedness in language.

I think some parts of this articles are not really NPOV, or even factually accurate, I quote a part of the text from the section headered "Language"

The usage of English is also common in the working society, and all students are required to master English as their master subject and speak only Mandarin in class. Singlish is also commonly used among the Lower-class Chinese notably among the contractors and blue-collar job workers. English is the first language among most Christians, as they attend church services in the English language.

Seems quite stereotyped and/or biased to me. I think this page beeds cleanup.

• Additional note, there are alot of factual inaccuracies. I mean alot. It's definitely biased and some secions I am totally unable to manage..

-- fiveless 14:47, Nov 21, 2004 (UTC)

• I Agree that it's not that NPOV. For example: "An extremely small minority follow either Islam or Hinduism." [1] --*drew 15:59, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • "speak only Mandarin in class", much of fiction I supposed. Not at all. 203.78.9.149 09:03, 6 August 2005 (UTC)
    • Not entirely right at all, though for some classes it appeared a norm (and perhaps one will associate that with classes of lower calibre, no offence though). Look at the situation entirely and analyse from a neutral point of view, most classes do purports the use of English, I for one speaks only English in class, and understands Chinese, and with Chinese students in class. Slivester 13:51, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
      • Also, there are great generalizations made, for example, the one on Shanghainese, "who insist upon speaking their own dialect whenever there are more than one of them, even though what they are talking about may concern others nearby who will not be able to understand them."

There are also gramatical and spelling problems.This article has to be editted.
User:@@ron 21:11, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I agree, the quote "all students are required to master English as their master subject and speak only Mandarin in class" seems quite wrong. This doesn't match the experience of my native Singaporean spouse. Classes are taught in English. Students aren't required to speak only Mandarin in class, they are required to speak English. If the author got this simple fact wrong, one wonders about the rest. Amatulic 02:23, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

I can't find that quote anywhere on this page. In any case, the original author probably meant either what you said, or that students are required to speak Mandarin in Mandarin class. -- Миборовский ^{U|T|C|M|E|Chugoku Banzai!} 02:49, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hokchew & Foochow

Isn't Hokchew same as Foochow? Yet they are listed as two items. A-giau 11:52, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Yes it is Maycontainpeanuts 08:23, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Disputes

I feel that something has gone wrong with Singaporean Chinese (presumably they are the ones who have created this entry) if so many people have, on the history page, claimed to have checked for spelling errors and yet we have "uneral ceromony" instead of "funeral ceremony" and "coloborium" instead of "columbarium". Moreover, it speaks volumes of Singaporeans' command of the language when they say that monks reside over prayers and not preside over prayers. Not to mention their use of the obnoxious and disagreeable phrase "ashy remains [of the deceased]" instead of the more sensitive and easier-to-type "ashes". Lastly, when you say "dominate most of the economy" the 'most of' is redundant, since 'dominate' already has the connotation of 'most of'.

• I'm going to correct the grammar on the page, but the facts will have to be verified and the content made NPOV. Frankly speaking, I find this article a disgrace to Singaporean Chinese. P 13:31, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
• Also, does anyone else think it necessary to distinguish between third/fourth-generation Chinese in Singapore (the current generation of youths) and other Chinese in Singapore, such as Chinese PRs, study mamas and Chinese students studying in Singapore, as their culture, language and loyalties differ significantly from the Singaporean Chinese? P 13:38, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Also could someone please provide a more politically correct and historically sensitive account of the race riots in May 1964 towards the end of the article?Maycontainpeanuts 08:23, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Firstly, I'm also a Singaporean Chinese. I agree that the article had (and still has) many grammatical mistakes. I have modified the May 1964 race riots to make them more politically correct and accurate, correcting the grammar at the same time. Feel free to correct it further if you feel that it is not up to standard. Oh, and the person who mentioned, "Moreover, it speaks volumes of Singaporeans' command of the language..." (I'm not sure if it's P), please keep your racist stereotyping where they belong. Not on a discussion page, where the main motive is to perfect the article. Thanks. -ccjx

I've corrected several grammatical errors, capitlized many of the "english", "chinese" etc. Rephrased sentences that seemed odd. By the way, "Chinese Singaporean" or "Singaporean Chinese", I've standardized on Chinese Singaporeans on my edit -Norman

[edit] Suggested Additions

I believe this article should explain the distinct yet not so distant cultural flavor of Singapore Chinese. This article should provide in addition to the "old topics", a fresh metropolitian view of Singaporean Chinese. For one, Singaporeans grow up in urban centers and most of the new generations have never experienced rural life.

The article should therefore describe how we as Singaporeans fuse the eastern and westerns way of life instead of differentiating "Westernized Upper class" with the "Middle and Lower classes".

[edit] Celebrated Festivals

Chinese Lunar New Year

  - Red Packets
  - Raw Fish (Lucky Fish)
  - Dragons and Lion Dances
  - Ban on Firecrackers

Mid-Autumn and Mooncake Festival

  - the trend towards upmarket mooncakes
  - Lantern Festival @ Chinese Garden
  - Moon cake festivals in Universities

Hungry Ghost Festival

  - Rituals and Joss Paper Burning 
      - Differences in scale and importance with Hong Kong
  - The 7th Month Auctions
  - The 7th Month Song Stage 

[edit] Alternative Religions

4D and Toto

Do elaborate? Slivester 12:54, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Celebrated Dieties

God Of Fortune

  - A patron deity in many Chinese Owned Business
       - Shopping Complex
       - Shop Houses
       - SMEs
  - The Rubbed off Statue of "Cai Sheng" in Waterloo Street

Confucius

  - The Examination Rush

Guan Yin

  - The famous Guan Yin Temple in Waterloo Street
  - The Thousand Hand Guan Yin Statue in Bright Hill Temple

[edit] World Famous Singapore Chinese Crusine

Seafood

  - Seafood Restaurants in East Coast & at Marina Bay

Fried Kuay Teow

  - Cockles
  - Tiramisu (Upcoming TV Series)

Laksa

Satay

Others

If there are sufficient responses, I will add more. -DK 18 October 2005

i am 'chinese' singaporean and i think that it is a fair article. language in singapore largely follows class divisions at least for ethnic chinese singaporeans. however, there are significant numbers of chinese speaking christians.

it's also a fair comment that a pidgin form of mandarin, one which incorporates many hokkien, malay and english words, is the lingua franca for the majority of chinese singaporeans.

however, i think to describe the speech of many middle class and upper-middle class singaporeans as acrolectal is inaccurate. many speak singlish, but increasing american influence especially amongst the younger generation has led to the use of many Americanisms, which is generally perceived as less than formal, and hence not acrolectal. it's also interesting to note that even amongst upper and uppermiddle class young singaporeans, singlish is not uncommon. hokkien words like 'chio' and 'wah lao' often find their way into daily usage, though usually it carries novelty value.

i think its worth pointing out the racial classification system in singapore, which attempts to slot people into CMIO, based on the father's determined ethnicity. a person of mixed parentage, eg. chinese-indian is classified according to the father's race.

I think even in the upper/middle class, although people may start up with formal english, like when they first meet, as they become closer to one another and their relationships become more informal, a lot of them start to communicate in Singalish or even Mandarine.

[edit] Religion: Deleted content and suggestion for merge

I've just made some major edits to the Christianity and Other sections. I've deleted the following unsourced statements:

"If a Chinese Man marries a Malay, the children will still follow the surname/language/culture/race of the Chinese father." - needs much more detail and sourcing to be a meaningful statement. As a one-sentence statment it is a vast oversimplification.

"viewed as unorthodox by many Christians" - not relevant to this article. Defamatory statements really need to be attributed to specific makers of those statements, not something as vague as "many Christians."

"Other denominations such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Unification Church are being banned by the government as deviationist cults." - not relevant to this article. It would be relevant to Religion in Singapore if reworded to attribute the "deviationist cult" label to a statement by a specific person or by the government.

"Christians are known for their taboos towards other religions among non-Christians. Catholic taboos are more accentuated towards human rights, notably abortion and IVF. Protestants, on the other hand, holds taboos against other religions, notably ancestor worship, worship in all Chinese temples, be it ancestral, Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist. Such practices are deemed as Pagan among Protestants. Catholicism, on the other hand, only prohibited worship of Taoist deities and Buddhism." - Oversimplification and POV stereotyping. This is supposed to be an article on an ethnic group, not an essay on religion.

"Fundamentalist Charismatic and Baptist denominations made use of such opportunities to proselytize the wealthier Chinese during the 80's and early 90's." - This kind of statement is inflammatory and borders on being unverifiable. If it is to be included it needs sourcing and discussion of opposing points of view. It's also much more relevant to Religion in Singapore or Christianity in Singapore than here.

"Some Catholics own home altars like the Taoists and Buddhists. Symbols such as a crucifix, a statue of the Virgin Mary or various other saints are placed on the altar. In addition, candles and incense are sometimes used. Eucharistic objects like the Thurible and Chalice are only seen in church altars. Home altars are not seen among Protestant families." - Maybe this kind of thing belongs in an article about Christianity, but is way off topic for this article.

In general, I think all the sections on religion are very long for an article on an ethnic group. It would make sense to include descriptions of religious beliefs and practices here if they are unique to the Chinese in Singapore. Would it make sense to move most of the religion content to the articles about religion in Singapore? Or just delete it from this article if it is better covered elsewhere.

The sections on Buddhism and Taoism also need attention. They are full of inappropriate commentary such as speculation on why people convert. Su-Laine Yeo 03:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)