I once traveled to Singapore and Malaysia with some friends. One of the daughters is studying in Singapore. Father and daughter have been separated for a long time. We can get together. That night, I watched the night scene of the bustling city under the guidance of my friend's daughter. Lion City Singapore is a multicultural society, and its population structure mainly includes Chinese, Malays and Indians, with Chinese accounting for about 70%, which is why we walk in the street and see many Chinese faces without much sense of identity.
At that time, I had not given up smoking. At that time, I was not used to the ban on smoking everywhere in Singapore. It was summer, so I had to gobble up a few cans of canned drinks to relieve my addiction. The next morning, I visited several famous scenic spots in Singapore, such as Sentosa, Merlion Park and marina bay. I thought this trip to Singapore was basically in place. I'm going to enjoy a local dinner, take some luggage back to the hotel the next day and go to Malaysia. The companion's daughter suddenly asked, "Uncle and aunt, aren't you going to Chinatown?" Because I haven't heard of it, I heard that it was "cow gets water" for a while, haha, but after I got to know it a little, I felt I had to go.
Little India, Kompong Grameen (Muslim-inhabited area) and Chinatown are listed as three historical blocks in Singapore, and Chinatown is the Chinatown of Singapore. More than 200 years ago, Raffles, an Englishman, was sent to Penang, Malaysia, and soon became the governor of Sumatra, becoming an important political figure during the British overseas colonial period. 18 19, Raffles advocated the development of Singapore, a small fishing village that was unknown at that time. However, the reality of small land and sparse population urgently requires the introduction of construction population, so a large number of workers are recruited from overseas, which makes the number of Singapore residents soar from several hundred to more than 1000. Most of them came from China, Guangdong and Fujian, and most of them settled in Niucheshui area. With the increasing population, Raffles designated this land as a Chinese residential area. Don't look at the word "Chinatown", but now it is one of the busiest areas in the city center. Then why did you choose such a name? At the beginning of Singapore's development, the conditions were very poor. There were no daily water and drinking facilities, so we had to use ox carts to pull water back and forth in the suburbs. Chinatown was located in the water distribution center, hence the name.
The next day, it only takes ten minutes to walk from our hotel to Chinatown. Don't want to enter the block, the streets are crowded with shops, which shows that the main business is small commodity business in China. There are many restaurants here, such as Hainan chicken rice, teahouse, bakery, dried meat, bone soup, Chaozhou cuisine, local fried kway teow and radish cake. Various traditional handicrafts, such as sculptures, puppets, Buddha statues and incense sticks, are flooding the city. There are not only regular stores such as Pearl Store, Yuhua Chinese Goods Store, Tang Cheng Store and Chinese Medicine Shop, but also various vendors selling refrigerator magnets, bottle openers, key chains, jewelry pendants and clothing fabrics, which is a typical fair trade. In the area of Kaina Street, many stalls and fashion bars coexist, forming a mixed format that does not interfere with each other and you have me.
There are English, Japanese, China Putonghua, Cantonese, Minnan dialect, including Alashanghai dialect, and other dialects in different contexts perceived when wandering and shopping in Chinatown. Especially when chatting with some old street vendors, they spoke authentic dialects without any sense of disobedience. I can't help but recall my personal experiences in many Chinatowns such as Los Angeles, Tokyo and Sydney. What impressed me the most were some old overseas Chinese, who still had a strong brand on their homeland. They have lived in foreign countries for decades, so far they can't speak a few words of English, especially in terms of diet. They are still not used to western food, and they are still obsessed with the flavor of their hometown. However, young people born overseas are different. They have basically integrated into the local society. Besides mastering English, most families in China still attach great importance to their children's Chinese education.
As a city country with a large proportion of foreign trade, Singapore has formed a language education structure with English as the main language for many years. Lee Kuan Yew once wrote The Challenge of My Life: The Road to Bilingualism in Singapore, focusing on the historical evolution of Singapore's language problems, including many practical considerations based on national conditions. However, after China's reform and opening up, the status of Chinese in Singapore has been greatly improved, and fluent Mandarin is the first impression left by local Chinese youth.
I have a habit that I have developed for many years, that is, I like to visit some local museums and memorial halls everywhere. There is a three-story Chinatown museum on Baota Street near Niucheshui subway station, which is the last stop we visited before leaving Singapore. Through frame-by-frame transmission, original restoration model and oral interview, the century-old history of early immigrants in China is displayed in a multidimensional and three-dimensional way.
Today's Chinatown, cattle are obviously gone, but "Chinatown" Malone has interpreted a series of modern urban landscapes, making it a microcosm of overseas Chinese society. After all, the roots not only continue the forms and features of many traditional cultures in China, but also witness the rapid rise of a city-state. (Yu Jun)