Essay On Chinese Identity
INTRODUCTION
The study of the everyday life amongst the Chinese in Singapore will not be comprehensive should we neglect the social and cultural aspects of their lives. The transformation of the social and cultural aspects of Chinese Singaporeans over time has been insightful, and especially so in rural Singapore. It is essential to rethink how social-cultural forces, network and institutional factors shapes the everyday life of ethnic Chinese in Singapore. This essay attempts to establish a relationship between the portrayal of Chinese identity amongst the rural Chinese along the Singapore River in the past.
INTERVIEWEE BACKGROUND
The interviewee is my paternal grandfather, Mr Ong Ah Moh, 82 years old this year. He is of Hokkien descent and was born in Singapore in 1933. His parents, faced with despair borne of poverty, war and overcrowding in their homeland, have decided to migrate from Xiamen in China’s Fujian province to Singapore in search of a better life. When my grandfather was 9 years old, his mother passed away due to the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in 1942. Afterwhich, my grandfather and his family received social assistance and moved to live at the Singapore Hokkien Clan Association Huay Kuan (新加坡福建会馆), which was then located
…show more content…
Most Chinese speak Singaporean Hokkien, the standard that is based on the Amoy dialect of Xiamen, which is more or less comprehensible by Chinese of other dialect groups. My grandfather, however, did pick up the Malay language and Mandarin in his days working by the river when he conversed with people of different races and ethnic groups such as crane operators, lorry drivers and coolies employed who worked in the godowns along the river on a daily
Misconceptions Of The Chinese People In 'Go West' By Peter Hessler
352 Words | 2 PagesThroughout “Go West,” Peter Hessler explains the egotistical differences between people living in China and those living in America. For one, their curiosity lies in different places; in Hessler’s words, “Most Chinese were intensely curious about foreign life” (48). In his experience, people in China held many misconceptions about the quality of American life, so whenever they were presented with the opportunity to learn more, they took it. That being said, Hessler also comments, “many Chinese had impressed me as virtually uninterested in themselves or their communities” (53). In other words, the curiosity of the Chinese extends far enough to reach the other end of the globe, but it still maintains a decent distance from their own cities.
Growing Up Asian In Australia 'And Foreign Soil' By Alice Pung
1466 Words | 6 PagesThe collective autobiography edited by Alice Pung “Growing Up Asian in Australia” and the short story collection written by Maxine Beneba Clarke, “Foreign Soil” both illustrate the impact of family and cultural expectations on one’s identity. Both authors emphasise how the personal desires and beliefs of individuals brought about by the expectations imposed by their family, their culture and the society on them can serve as a motivation to change and establish their identity. The desire for acceptance and love can motivate an individual to satisfy a certain expectation. Similarly, pressure brought by individuals around a character may bring them to feel obligated to meet standards.
Research Paper On The Chinese Exclusion Act Of 1882
632 Words | 3 PagesThese institutions were a way for Chinese immigrants to cling to their culture and allow them to seek economic and social improvement. “During the 1850s, Chinatowns in San Francisco was already a bustling colony of thirty-general merchandise stores, fifteen apothecaries, five restaurants, five herb shops, three boarding houses, five butcher stores, and three tailor shops” (Takaki, Pg.195). Certainly, these establishments exemplify the commitments made by the Chinese population as to developing an infrastructure for proceeding generations. These close net communities were often designed to establish social ties to the United States; ideally, the earlier mindset of many Chinese immigrants had changed; however, for some Chinese immigrants, they were uncertain of their future in the country and as a result “the Chinese tended to invest their money in personal property rather than in land, preferring to take long leases in order to sublet” (Chinese in America Life, Pg. 202). As this mindset was only the minority of the Chinese population, many immigrants contributed to the development of Chinatown by creating their own businesses.
Chinese Immigrant Essay
179 Words | 1 PagesProlouge As I took a deep breath in, smoke entered my lungs and I could barely hear my mother saying, “Go. Go to America, get a job and send us money and one day” she coughs and when she can function, she continues, “ one day, we will join you.” he grabbed my trembling hands in her own soft, warm ones as I asked her, “ What about the kids, it’s not safe here for them?” She motioned for me to bend lower to her and she whispered gently into my ear, “They will be fine, I will protect them.
Chinese Immigrants Coming To Canada Essay
1066 Words | 5 PagesTrue North Strong...and Free? Karanah Defante Imagine only having the clothes on your back, leaving the land you have known for so long, and leaving precious loved ones to go to an unknown place, not even certain what awaits you at your arrival? This is was the reality of Chinese immigrants coming to Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After arriving to what was a fresh start and better life, they were welcomed with a greeting that was much more icier than the Canadian winter.
Essay On Asian Americans
659 Words | 3 PagesThis refers to a group of marginalized American citizens with origin from the Asian continent. The coming of Asians into America can be traced as far as the 1810s, between 1850 and 1905 a lot of Asians mostly Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and later south Asian Americans immigrated into America in large numbers mostly as unskilled laborers. As their numbers increased rapidly1, ‘the model minority’ as they were referred to back then started facing racial discrimination in the U.S. This resulted as the other Americans saw them as a threat to job opportunities hence a generalized dislike towards them resulted. This was until the year 1965 when changes were made in the immigration laws eliminating race as an immigration factor.
Essay On Farewell To Manzanar
1395 Words | 6 PagesThe author, Jeanne Wakatsuki, presents a meaningful story filled with experiences that shaped not only her life, but shaped the lives of thousands of Japanese families living in America. The book’s foreword gives us a starting point in which the reader can start to identify why the book was written. “We a told a New York writer friend about the idea. He said: ‘It’s a dead issue. These days you can hardly get people to read about a live issue.
Our Misery And Despair By Chinese Immigrants
1285 Words | 6 PagesChinese Immigration When Chinese people started immigrating from a vast number of small cities in China to the United States, it was for a better life and better job opportunities. Chinese immigrated mostly for the same reason, to find freedom. Immigration not only changed the lives of those moving away from China, but the American citizens themselves who already had their lives put together. Hard working Chinamen move to the US to work for a small amount of money to provide for their families. Companies in the US were in need for cheap laborers, this made Chinese immigrants a prime group of people as they had the values, and desire to work hard for their families no matter the risks they took, or the extra hours they had to work.
Essay On Canadian Identity
1033 Words | 5 PagesCanadian individual identity is questioned often because it is so diverse and means something different to each person in Canada. Although there is not a set identity there are many values and beliefs that are owned by all Canadians. To find out what Canadians identity is, one has to take into account what has affected it. The United States is the biggest influence on Canadian identity. The U.S. culture is very similar to Canadians as we are exposed to it all the time in media sources.
My Cultural Identity Essay
753 Words | 4 PagesThe background of my cultural identity I am an African American female but that isn’t all there is to know me for. I am an African American girl who is very interactive with my religion and also my culture. Cultural identity can be hard to explain because some people don’t know what’s really in their culture and they fail to see , and understand it. I know what my cultural identity is because of my ethiopian flag, the baked macaroni, and the movie the lion king.
Essay On Racial Identity
933 Words | 4 PagesRacial identity plays a role in the physical and psychological features of humans. Physically, humans in different parts of the globe endure different conditions and environments. Humans adapt to their environments and obtain different physical traits, henceforth, these physical traits have become adjacent to race. Psychologically, ancestral prejudices and influences throughout history have lingered through the generations and have impacted modern racial identities and tensions. Ethnic conflicts of the past such as the Social Darwinist theory of a "superior race" are morally refuted in current times, but that assumption had a brunt impact in which the world is still repairing today.
Identity In David Hwang's Play 'Trying To Find Chinatown'
536 Words | 3 PagesConsolisa Edmond Professor Sanati English Comp. 102-12 22 March 2017 Analysis of” Trying to Find Chinatown” Shortly after birth, we have our identity written on our birth certificate and we are forever defined by that. The world often defines the people within it, instead of people going off to discover their own identity themselves. Race, ethnicity and other factors like it describe who we are but not represent our identity. In David Hwang’s 1996 play “Trying to Find Chinatown” Hwang considers the role of race and ethnicity in how we identify ourselves and how others identify us.
Cultural Identity Reflection Paper
1883 Words | 8 PagesThroughout my experiences in this course so far, I have had many opportunities to reflect on my own past and have begun to better understand my own cultural identity. It has been much more difficult to wrap my head around than I would have predicted it to be because so many things play into the construction of an identity that it can be hard to look at all of those separate pieces together. My cultural identity, like all others, is more complicated than it first appears. I identify as a white person, a woman, an American, a gay person, and a feminist, just to name a few. While all of these labels carry with them stereotypes and expectations, they also interplay with the cultural influences I was subject to throughout my childhood.
Essay On Identity And Diversity
1258 Words | 6 PagesWhile identity focuses on uniqueness such as how an individual is different from and similar to others, diversity focuses on the range of the difference and uniqueness such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, among others. Diversity should be seen as source of strength. However, it can also be a source of violence, oftentimes by those who fear or dislike difference. In the best light diversity is foundation for peacebuilding – since it enables us to draw strength and be respectful of difference. Identity and diversity are linked.
Essay On Language And Identity
878 Words | 4 PagesWho are we? What forms one's identity? Language is a important element of culture and culture is known to be crucial definer of one's identity. Language connects people to a certain identity and allows them to communicate their ideas and values to themselves and the world... In other words language is important as it allows people to express their thoughts as well as beliefs.
More about Essay On Chinese Identity
Misconceptions Of The Chinese People In 'Go West' By Peter Hessler
352 Words | 2 PagesGrowing Up Asian In Australia 'And Foreign Soil' By Alice Pung
1466 Words | 6 PagesResearch Paper On The Chinese Exclusion Act Of 1882
632 Words | 3 PagesChinese Immigrant Essay
179 Words | 1 PagesChinese Immigrants Coming To Canada Essay
1066 Words | 5 PagesEssay On Asian Americans
659 Words | 3 PagesEssay On Farewell To Manzanar
1395 Words | 6 PagesOur Misery And Despair By Chinese Immigrants
1285 Words | 6 PagesEssay On Canadian Identity
1033 Words | 5 PagesMy Cultural Identity Essay
753 Words | 4 PagesEssay On Racial Identity
933 Words | 4 PagesIdentity In David Hwang's Play 'Trying To Find Chinatown'
536 Words | 3 PagesCultural Identity Reflection Paper
1883 Words | 8 PagesEssay On Identity And Diversity
1258 Words | 6 PagesEssay On Language And Identity
878 Words | 4 Pages