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Yes, about 70% of Singaporeans are 'ethnic Chinese' but anyone who is familiar with Singapore and has visited, and has had a proper acquaintance with it, will realise the multi-ethic, multi-cultural and 'multi-racial' nature of Singapore. The 'three race model' of Chinese, Malays and Indians is simplistic: Singapore is now a magnet from people from all over Asia, and often it seems locals are outnumbered by foreigners from India, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and an increasing number from the West.
While Singapore is of course influenced a lot by Chinese culture, from the language, some holidays/festivals and beliefs, the food, mentality of a lot of the young people, the diversity, globalisation.etc is totally different to China. If I showed you another side of Singapore you might think it was also very close to Indian.
That's one of the great things about the city state - it's the perfect introduction to Asia before you head off to other places...you can find almost any kind of Asian food you could want as well as the famed hawker food.
I would say that it seems pretty true that people who do not know Singapore some do have the perception it is a Chinese enclave and even a part of CHina.. Locals have been talking about it since quite some time.
Of course as Singapore grows in presence in the international stage, awareness of Singapore as a country grows.
It will improve as time pass along.
As for food, there are some foreigners who do not seem to take a liking to our food variety here.. As usual, some people click, some don't ...
I would say that it seems pretty true that people who do not know Singapore some do have the perception it is a Chinese enclave and even a part of CHina.. Locals have been talking about it since quite some time.
Of course as Singapore grows in presence in the international stage, awareness of Singapore as a country grows.
It will improve as time pass along.
As for food, there are some foreigners who do not seem to take a liking to our food variety here.. As usual, some people click, some don't ...
What do you think of the influx of people from the PRC? Do you think Singapore is getting more Chinese? I mean more mainland Chinese? Do you fear the loss of culture there? I mean there are 1.4 billion Chinese vs 5 million Singaporeans...yet the government welcomes foreigners totally.
That could be a thing making it more Chinese vs Western...if not for that I think Singapore would be becoming more westernised, in some ways as connected to the West as it is to Indonesia.
Most people seem to at least like some things...Singapore doesn't have a lot of weird food like China or other Asian countries...even the fussy tend to like things like chicken rice or roti prata.
The influx of PRCs currently i do not feel it is making Singapore more mainland Chinese.. As for loss of culture, i think the culture here have since the beginning been strongly influenced by Chinese culture so it wouldn't make a big difference.
I was at Burger King's on Sunday, the crew at the service counter was a Malay Lady and a PRC lady was in the queue, and the PRC lady was making her order in Mandarin, and the Malay staff basically was able to comprehend the PRC customer.
It seems like the malay and indian community here integrate well and are more willing to learn the languages of other races. Chinese community seem to lack in this aspect..
I am now more cautious of perfecting my English now when posting in the forums, least Lepillow starts "marking " it like an English teacher would ..
I checked out Singapore's demographics and it's actually a lot more Chinese than I thought it was. I thought the population would be more evenly shared between Chinese and Malays. I also thought the Indian origin population would be higher.
Not sure if it is of any interest for this topic, but from this part of the world, I'd say most people know virtually nothing about ethnicity in Singapore and wouldn't specifically associate the country with Chinese culture. Just another Asian country far away.
Let's say it this way, if you ask educated people which country has most cultural similarities with Singapore out of China, Japan and Korea (the three best known East Asian countries here), I don't think there would be a largely preferred option...
Not sure if it is of any interest for this topic, but from this part of the world, I'd say most people know virtually nothing about ethnicity in Singapore and wouldn't specifically associate the country with Chinese culture. Just another Asian country far away.
Let's say it this way, if you ask educated people which country has most cultural similarities with Singapore out of China, Japan and Korea (the three best known East Asian countries here), I don't think there would be a largely preferred option...
Outsiders probably don't even have much interest in Singapore .....
The influx of PRCs currently i do not feel it is making Singapore more mainland Chinese.. As for loss of culture, i think the culture here have since the beginning been strongly influenced by Chinese culture so it wouldn't make a big difference.
I was at Burger King's on Sunday, the crew at the service counter was a Malay Lady and a PRC lady was in the queue, and the PRC lady was making her order in Mandarin, and the Malay staff basically was able to comprehend the PRC customer.
It seems like the malay and indian community here integrate well and are more willing to learn the languages of other races. Chinese community seem to lack in this aspect..
I am now more cautious of perfecting my English now when posting in the forums, least Lepillow starts "marking " it like an English teacher would ..
Well the culture of Singapore Chinese is different to that of a lot of mainlanders...well you could say a lot of that culture has already been lost with the 'speak Mandarin' campaign and influence from China, Taiwan, HK. Though it's things like the hawker food - a mix of different influences, a lot of old Chinese things that are largely lost on the mainland.
Yes a lot of Malays and Indians can speak Mandarin now.
I checked out Singapore's demographics and it's actually a lot more Chinese than I thought it was. I thought the population would be more evenly shared between Chinese and Malays. I also thought the Indian origin population would be higher.
So my image of it was that it would be mixed.
Yes, it's been that way for awhile, yet it doesn't feel as Chinese (outside maybe a few areas) as Hong Kong, and it actually doesn't feel IMO like the Chinese culture totally dominates...go to Little India, Arab Street or something too...the Malay, Indian presence is strong still, and holidays like the end of Ramadan and Deepavali are a big deal. Even a lot of Chinese Singaporeans join in the festivities even if they're not Hindu or Muslim.
Not sure if it is of any interest for this topic, but from this part of the world, I'd say most people know virtually nothing about ethnicity in Singapore and wouldn't specifically associate the country with Chinese culture. Just another Asian country far away.
Let's say it this way, if you ask educated people which country has most cultural similarities with Singapore out of China, Japan and Korea (the three best known East Asian countries here), I don't think there would be a largely preferred option...
I think this is a really good point. Most people probably would not identify it as a place with ethnicities that originated in other countries like China. Many would probably answer if pressed that people in Singapore are of Singaporese or Singaporean ethnicity, and expects that that exists like Vietnamese or Indonesian do.
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