91-526: Chinese Singaporeans ( traditional Chinese : 新加坡華人/華裔新加坡人 ; simplified Chinese : 新加坡华人/华裔新加坡人 ; pinyin : Xīnjiāpō Huárén / Huáyì Xīnjiāpōrén ) are Singaporeans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Singaporeans constitute 75.9% of the Singaporean resident population according to the official census, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore. As early as the 10th century, there
182-471: A British trading port , there was a small population of 120 Malays who were the followers of Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and about 20–30 Chinese living on the island. After Singapore became a British colony, there was an influx of Chinese migrant workers, but these early Chinese migrants to Singapore were predominantly males, as they would usually return to their families in China after they have earned enough. There
273-540: A chignon , and wear short cotton bajus girded about with black cotton sarongs ". The description of the people may be the first known record of the Orang Laut who inhabited the region. A different settlement called Ban Zu (班卒), described as being located on a hill behind Long Ya Men , is thought to be a transcription of the Malay Pancur and may be today's Fort Canning Hill. The Keppel passageway
364-582: A British colony, there was an influx of male Chinese migrant workers, who would then usually return to their families in China after they had earned enough. There was only a significant number of Chinese residents permanently settling in Singapore during the early to mid-twentieth century, forming the bulk of the Chinese Singaporean population in existence today. Many Chinese Singaporeans can trace their ancestry to provinces of southeastern China that mainly include speakers of Hokkien, Teochew, and to
455-516: A British official in Singapore wrote that he did not know of any respectable Chinese woman who had emigrated with her husband. The imbalance of the sexes in Chinese community continued for a long time with the continual flow into Singapore of male migrant workers who were either single or had left their wives and children behind in China; for example, the 1901 census figures show that there were 130,367 Chinese males compared to 33,674 Chinese females. For
546-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
637-503: A fifth of the Chinese Singaporean population, making them the second-largest Southern Min dialect-speaking group in Singapore. The Teochew speakers form a separate division of Hoklo (Min Nan/Hokkien) people. They originated from Chaoshan region in eastern Guangdong , in cities like Chaozhou , Jieyang and Shantou . Many trace their origins from different Northern cities but were settled there to maintain as county authorities within
728-467: A high peak. The large influx of coolies into Singapore only stopped after William Pickering became the Protector of Chinese. In 1914, the coolie trade was abolished and banned in Singapore. The large influx of Chinese to Singapore led to the establishment of a large number of Chinese associations, schools, and temples in Singapore and, within a century, the Chinese immigrant population exceeded that of
819-698: A joint collaboration involving the Singapore Tourism Board , the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the National Parks Board . This was part of a three-month-long celebration of the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden voyage, which began in Nanjing , China. A storyboard telling Long Ya Men's significance to Singapore and Zheng He's story, was also put up next to the replica. The authorities had initially planned for
910-537: A lesser extent, Hakka and Cantonese. The Singapore Department of Statistics defines "Chinese" as a " race " or " ethnic group ", in conjunction with "Malay, Indian and Others" under the CMIO model . They consist of "persons of Chinese origin" such as the Hokkiens , Teochews , Hainanese , Cantonese , Hakka , Henghuas , Hokchias and Foochows , Shanghainese , Northern Chinese, etc." Chinese Singaporeans are defined as
1001-506: A long period, most of the Chinese population in early Singapore were immigrants as many did not intend to settle permanently to raise their family there; even by the late 1890s, only around 10% of the Chinese population in Singapore were born there. The early migrant Chinese workers worked to send money back to their family in China, and many would then return to China after they had earned enough money. However, an increasing number would also choose to settle permanently in Singapore, especially in
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#17327648086971092-677: A majority of 120 Malay and 30 minority Chinese. When Singapore became a Straits Settlement , there were very few Chinese. After Singapore became a British trading post as part of the Straits Settlement , the first batch of Chinese came from Malaysia, predominantly from Malacca and Penang . Amongst these Chinese from Malacca and Penang , many were Peranakans or descendants of Chinese in Malaysia for several generations. Most were traders who could speak Chinese and Malay, though many were also English-educated and could communicate with
1183-549: A passage of water runs. Another name Ling Ya Men ( Chinese : 凌牙門 ; pinyin : Líng Yá Mén ) is recorded in the Song dynasty work Zhu Fan Zhi , however it is usually considered to be a different place. It was recorded that during the Yuan dynasty , envoys were sent to Long Ya Men in 1320 to obtain tame elephants. The people of Long Ya Men then returned in 1325 with a tribute and trade mission to China. In around 1330,
1274-613: A standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of
1365-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
1456-678: Is believed to have sailed through the waters off Labrador Park, though whether he landed in Singapore is uncertain. In the 17th century, the passageway was abandoned in favour of the wider and more open Main Straits, that lies south of Pulau Satamu, where Raffles Lighthouse stands today. Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company did not know of the "Lot's Wife", or the deep water harbour it led to when he landed in Singapore in January 1819. William Farquhar ,
1547-464: Is still preserved amongst ethnic Chinese of Cantonese ancestry, although most younger generations tend to speak more Standard Chinese due to language reforms, but is still widely used as the main lingua franca for connecting both the older and the younger generations when communicating to one another as well. As of 2010, Singaporeans recognise Chinatown for having a large number of Cantonese people. The Hakka -speaking subgroup constitutes 11.4% of
1638-491: Is the only tulou replica outside of proper China till date. Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong , were fourth- and fifth-generation Chinese Singaporeans of Hakka descent, respectively. Apart from Lee Kuan Yew, many first-generation leaders of Singapore were of Hakka descent, including Chor Yeok Eng , Hon Sui Sen , Howe Yoon Chong and Yong Nyuk Lin . Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are
1729-623: Is today Singapore were the Peranakan Chinese from Malacca and Riau who were descendants of those who immigrated to the region and married local wives between the 15th to 18th centuries. The 19th century Chinese record Investigation of Southern Pacific (南洋蠡測) (Nanyang Li Ce) described the presence of Chinese tombs in Singapore (known as "Xin Ji Li Po" (新忌利波 in Chinese). On the Chinese tomb, there were words and inscriptions recording
1820-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
1911-480: The Fujian , Guangdong and Hainan provinces and, unlike Peranakans, paid loyalty to China and regarded themselves as "Huaqiao". The Second Sino-Japanese War , started in 1937, revived a perceived sense of patriotism in the local Chinese to their native homeland in China which led them to impose an embargo against Japanese goods and products in Singapore. During the war, many of the immigrants returned to China to fight
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#17327648086972002-742: The HDB initiated redevelopment in the 1980s. The Straits Times reports that Hougang still has a relatively high concentration of Teochew residents. Most Teochew settled along the Singapore River in Chinatown during the 19th and early 20th century. Teochew who settled in Chinatown worked in many commercial sectors as well as the fisheries. Commercial sectors once dominated by Teochews include Circular Road and South Bridge Road. Other Teochew businessmen set up gambier and pepper plantations in
2093-669: The Jade Emperor , 9th Day of the 1st Lunar Month is the birthday of Jade Emperor and is considered by many Chinese to be the most important day of the lunar year. A traditional Taoist practice by spiritual mediumship (乩童, p jītóng , Hokkien tâng-ki ; 童乩) is also popular. The tangki goes into a trance and purportedly channels a chosen Deity for the petitioner. The Deity will provides wide range of divine assistance from bestowing blessings to oracles consultation to exorcism to giving spiritual protection and talismans. The Teochew -speaking subgroup in Singapore constitutes about
2184-535: The Kensiu language . Long Ya Men Long Ya Men ( simplified Chinese : 龙牙门 ; traditional Chinese : 龍牙門 ; pinyin : lóngyámén ; Malay : Batu Berlayar ) or Dragon's Teeth Gate , is the name Chinese explorer Wang Dayuan recorded for Batu Belayar , a craggy granite outcrop that formerly stood at the gateway to Keppel Harbour in Singapore . In his description, “The strait runs between
2275-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
2366-530: The Thian Hock Kheng Temple . They subsequently set up clan headquarters ( Hokkien Huey Kuan ) there and later expanded to Hokkien Street and the vicinity of China Street. Hokkiens were the most active in early trading that centred along the Singapore River . As early settlers came from the southern coast of China, they were to pray for calm waves and a safe journey and worshipped the “Mother of Heavenly Sage” or Tian Shang Sheng Mu ( 天上聖母 ),
2457-654: The Yueh Hai Ching Temple on the south bank of the Singapore River. From the founding of modern Singapore by Stamford Raffles until the Japanese occupation in 1942, Singapore was ruled as a colony by the British. When the British first arrived in Singapore, most of the inhabitants on the island of Singapore were fisherman, seamen or pirates, living in small houses. There were about 150 people;
2548-405: The "Chinese community in Singapore" regardless of their affiliation with the wider global Chinese community . As early as the 10th century, there was evidence of Chinese people trading and settling in Singapore and there were also various Chinese records documenting trading activities and Chinese residents on the island from the 10th to the 14th century. Prior to the establishment of Singapore as
2639-430: The 1920s when more chose to remain in Singapore rather than leave. Change in social attitude in the modern era also meant that Chinese women were freer to emigrate from China, and the sex ratio began to normalise in the 20th century. This gradual normalisation of sex ratio led to an increase in the number of native births. Immigration would continue to be the main reason for the Chinese population increase in Singapore until
2730-570: The 1931–1947 period when the natural increase in population would surpass the net immigration figures. Many of the early migrants were Chinese traders who were attracted by the free trade policy after Singapore became the capital of the British Straits Settlements in 1832. Many also came to work in the plantations, with 11,000 migrants recorded in one year. Singapore became one of the entry and dispersal points for large number of Chinese and Indian migrants who came to work in
2821-414: The 1960s, the Singapore government undertook measures to help foster racial harmony in Singapore. It encouraged races of different languages and religious backgrounds to intermingle and to live side-by-side. Following the growth of Singaporean national identity, the Chinese immigrants began to change their mindset from that of temporary migrants to permanent settlers, thus establishing roots in Singapore. With
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2912-403: The 19th until the mid-20th century, migrants from China were known as "Sinkuh" (新客 – New Guest). A majority of them were coolies, workers on steamboats, etc. Some of them came to Singapore for work, in search of better living conditions or to escape poverty in China. Many of them also escaped to Singapore due to chaos and wars in China during the first half of the 20th century. They came mostly from
3003-557: The British colonial period, the colonial government adopted the approach of using "the Chinese to govern the Chinese". They appointed Chinese leaders to govern the Chinese community. Effectively, the Chinese community existed in a semi-autonomous state. Chinese civil societies helped new Chinese immigrants settle into Singapore, finding employment and lodging for them. Many Chinese civil societies were involved in Chinese family religious activities such as funerals or ancestral worship and also had religious functions. This gradually evolved into
3094-635: The British. In the Manners and customs of the Chinese of the Straits Settlements, Singapore , it was described that the Straits-born Chinese regarded themselves as British subjects instead of Chinese subjects; their lifestyle was more westernised. By the time of the first census of Singapore in 1824, the Chinese migrants were noted as being either Peranakans , or from Macau , Guangdong and Fujian . The Chinese quickly formed
3185-497: The Chinese Singaporean population. About 70% of them originated from Dabu County . Singapore has more than 200,000 Hakkas and they are the fourth-largest dialect group after the Hokkiens, Teochews and Cantonese. The Hakkas were known for running pawnshops, traditional Chinese medicine shops and optical shops. Many Hakka women who came to Singapore during the early 20th century worked in construction sites and wore headgear similar to
3276-489: The Chinese Singaporean population. The Hakka , Henghuas , Foochows , and other subgroups account for most of the remainder. Singaporeans of Chinese descent are generally the descendants of non-indentured and indentured immigrants from southern China during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. The 1990s and early 21st century saw Singapore experience a third wave of immigration from different parts of China. The Hokkien -speaking subgroup constitutes nearly two-fifths of
3367-491: The Chinese Singaporean population. They are Hoklo people from Minnan, including mixed-race Peranakan Chinese and immigrants who originated in the southern parts of the Fujian province , including Xiamen , Quanzhou and Zhangzhou . They speak Singaporean Hokkien , the standard of which is based on the Amoy dialect of Xiamen , which is partially comprehensible with Teochew although less so with Hainanese . Hokkien Chinese
3458-598: The Chinese Singaporean population. They originated from Hong Kong and the southern region of Guangdong province in China, including Guangzhou , Foshan , Zhaoqing , Jiangmen , Maoming and Heshan . The Cantonese speak several dialects belonging to the Yue family . Yue Hai is considered the prestige dialect from its occurrence in Guangzhou . Other variants include Luoguang , Toishanese and Gouyeung . The Cantonese worked mainly as professionals and tradesmen during
3549-461: The Chinese in Singapore gradually began to recognize citizenship-wise as "Singaporeans". In the late 20th century, Singapore saw a large increase of Chinese immigrants, who were selected by the Singaporean government from Chinese universities in order to increase manpower. Chinese migrants from China during the late 20th century and early 21st century were generally known as "Xinyimin 新移民" (new immigrants). They came from various parts of China. When
3640-478: The Chinese migrants first arrived in Singapore in the 19th and early 20th century, they settled in enclaves such as Chinatown . They tended to group themselves according to dialect, with those from nearby Chinese regions grouping together. This led the Chinese to form 5 dialect groups (known as Bangqun, 幫群), namely the Hokkien Bang , Teochew Bang , Cantonese Bang , Hakka Bang and Hainanese Bang . During
3731-570: The Chinese. Established in 1906, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry was responsible for fighting for the rights of the Chinese in Singapore during the British colonial period. During the World War II , the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry had managed to help raise funds and resources to help relieve the sufferings in war-torn China. After Singapore gained independence and autonomy in
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3822-675: The Goddess who can calm the sea and ensure the safety of those travelling across the seas. Thian Hock Keng Temple was thus built in 1840 along Telok Ayer Street and dedicated to Tian Shang Sheng Mu ( 天上聖母 ), it was a bustling meeting point and an important congregation point for the Hokkien community. Other popular deities are the Kew Ong Yah , Guan Teh Gong , Kuan Yim Hood Chor , Ong Yah Gong , Qing Shui Zhu Shi , Bao Sheng Da Di , Kai Zhang Sheng Wang , Fu De Zheng Shen and especially
3913-617: The Japanese, while established entrepreneurs sent economic aid or military equipment to China. After the Japanese took Singapore in 1942, the Kempeitai tracked down many Chinese who aided the Chinese war effort against Japan. However, the Kempeitai's Sook Ching Operation was simply a massacre designed to drive fear into the local populace, so the Kempeitai simply picked out people based on accounts of masked informers, which in many cases were false accounts based on personal vendettas. There
4004-683: The Malays. Following the decline of Srivijayan power, Temasek was alternately claimed by the Majapahit and the Siamese, but the invasion of 1377 and 1391 caused Singapore to be destroyed. Following that, there were little Chinese records of the visiting of Chinese to Singapore. Singapore is marked as Dan Ma Xi in the Mao Kun map that dates back to the naval voyage of Chinese explorer Zheng He in 1403. The earliest groups of Chinese who settled in what
4095-613: The Malays. During this period, Christian missionaries from Europe began evangelising to the Asians, especially the Chinese. Peranakans, or those descendants of Chinese in Southeast Asia for many generations who were generally English-educated were typically known in Singapore as "Laokuh" (老客 – Old Guest) or "Straits Chinese". Most of them paid loyalty to the British Empire and did not regard themselves as " Huaqiao ". From
4186-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
4277-865: The Samsui women. However, instead of red, the Hakka women wore black headgear. Ying Fo Fui Kun , a Hakka clan association, is the oldest clan association in Singapore. Its clan house is located at Telok Ayer Street in the Outram Planning Area, within the Central Area, Singapore's central business district. In 2015 a Hakka tulou replica was built. The replica in Singapore was built by the Fong Yun Thai Association, an umbrella body for three Hakka clans – Char Yong (Dabu) Association, Eng Teng Association and Foong Shoon Fui Kuan. This
4368-532: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
4459-492: The Western Oceans (西洋) may be met by pirates there who attacked with two to three hundred perahus (boats). He mentioned that in olden times a chief there found a jewelled head-dress while digging in the ground, and that "the beginning of the year is calculated from the [first] rising of the moon, when the chief put on this head-gear and wore his [ceremonial] dress". He also said the natives would "gather their hair into
4550-430: The chapter San Fo Qi (三佛齊 the Chinese name for Srivijaya ) recorded merchant ships passing through "Ling Ya Men" (凌牙門, although it is not clear however if it is the same as Long Ya Men ) before reaching Srivijaya for trading. The Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan , visiting the island around 1330, described a small Malay settlement called Dan Ma Xi (淡馬錫, from Malay Temasek) in which Chinese residents live together with
4641-529: The cost and expenses of opening gambier plantations at Mount Stamford (now Pearl’s Hill) prior to British arrival. He had also “in some instances” advanced money to the Teochew cultivators on the understanding he would be repaid in the form of gambier or other produce. Farquhar had the impressions that the Temenggong’s interests in these plantations were represented by a brother-in-law of his named Baba Ketchil and
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#17327648086974732-677: The dense forests of north Singapore and Johor Bahru . The Chinese first started their plantations with the approval of the Sultan of Johor and then developed the kangchu (江厝, p jiāngcuò , lit. "river house") system. Chu was the clan name of the first headman of the plantations in the area. These kangchus gave rise to modern place names such as Choa Chu Kang , Lim Chu Kang and Yio Chu Kang , all of which were plantation areas before urban redevelopment. Early Chinese immigrants clustered themselves to form clan and language associations. These clan associations ( kongsi ) served as unions for
4823-481: The development of Chinese Temples and Chinese clan associations in Singapore. As time passed by, the Chinese had grown to have more achievements in the business and education in Singapore. Some affluent Chinese businessmen began to establish commercial organizations such as the Ee Ho Hean Club (怡和軒) in 1895, and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry , to help broaden social circles amongst
4914-515: The early 20th century. Cantonese women from the Siyi district of Jiangmen wore black headgear similar to the Samsui women and mainly worked at Keppel Harbour and the shipyards at the old harbour along the Singapore River . Many Cantonese women also worked as majie in rich people's households. More Cantonese immigrated from Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Today, the Cantonese dialect
5005-456: The early and mid 20th centuries, and their businesses dominated the shophouses along Temple Street, Pagoda Street, and Mosque Street. Cantonese women from the Samsui district worked as labourers at construction sites and contributed greatly toward Singapore's development. These Samsui women left their families behind in China and came to Singapore to work at construction sites for a living during
5096-537: The first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore, wrote to Raffles on 2 September 1819 that he had founded a new harbour west of the settlement. The two rock outcrops were subsequently blown up by the Straits Settlements Surveyor, John Thomson, in August 1848 to widen the entrance to the new harbour. In July 2005, a 6m high stone replica of Long Ya Men was put up near its original site by
5187-602: The first Captain China of Singapore, a Teochew merchant named Tan Heng Kim (陈亨钦), was “one of the principal persons concerned”. Based on Teochew oral traditions in Singapore published by Phua Chye Long (潘醒农) in Teo-chews in Malaya (马来亚潮侨通鉴) in 1950, the first Teochews in Singapore were led by Tan Heng Kim, who was from Siam, and a second merchant named Heng Hong Sung (王丰顺) from Ampou town in Chaozhou, China. Together, they founded
5278-758: The interests of the Chinese business community as well as sourcing for business opportunities in China. The Chinese Development Assistance Council was founded out of these two organizations (SFCCA and SCCCI) to help nurture and develop the potential of the Chinese community, thus contributing to the continued success of multiracial Singapore. There are also various Chinese cultural organizations such as Singapore Chinese Calligraphy Society , Singapore Chinese Orchestra , Siong Leng Musical Association , Nanyang Confucian Association , Singapore Chinese Opera Institute etc. as well as major Chinese religious associations such as Singapore Buddhist Federation , Taoist Federation (Singapore) and Singapore Buddhist Lodge to look after
5369-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
5460-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
5551-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
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#17327648086975642-510: The majority of the population in Singapore, by the census of 1826 there were already more Chinese (6,088) than Malays (4,790) excluding Bugis (1,242) and Javanese (267). The Chinese became the dominant group by the 1830s (the largest ethnic group at 45.9% in the 1836 census), and by 1849, 52.8% of the total population of 52,891 were Chinese. The Chinese population reached over 70% of the total by 1901 and has stayed there since. The early Chinese migrants to Singapore were predominantly males. In 1826,
5733-557: The map was also used to refer to the strait between Sentosa island and Labrador Point, and named after a pinnacle of stone that was called Batu Berlayar, which means "Sail Rock" in Malay . Another suggestion is that it refers to the Singapore Main Strait south of Pulau Satumu . The Long Ya Men's unique features was said to have assisted Zheng He in navigating the waters around Singapore during his seven maritime voyages to
5824-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
5915-504: The more prominent Batu Berlayar, " Lot's Wife " in reference to the biblical story of the wife of Abraham's nephew. She was transformed into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed divine orders not to look back at the destruction of Sodom while fleeing from the city. It is argued that the two rocky outcrops are the two hills of Temasek named in Yuan sources as Long Ya Men (Dragon's Teeth Gate) since they resembled two dragon's teeth between which
6006-477: The mostly illiterate Chinese labourers and represented them when dealing with their colonial administrators or employers. One of the most prominent associations for the Teochew was the Ngee Ann Kongsi , formed in 1845 and is still in operation. The association also take care of Yueh Hai Ching Temple , which is the oldest Teochew temple in Singapore. The Cantonese -speaking subgroup makes up about 15% of
6097-409: The official census figures show that out of a total population of 13,750, there were 5,747 Chinese males but only 341 Chinese females. Most of the Chinese females in this early period of Singapore were nyonyas from Malacca as women from China were discouraged from emigrating. It was noted in 1837 that there were no Chinese women in Singapore who had emigrated directly from China; even as late as 1876,
6188-556: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
6279-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
6370-646: The period of Later Liang and Emperor Gong of Song . This may suggest that from 907 to 1274, some Chinese had settled, lived, died and were buried in Singapore. The writings of Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar indicate that the British found Temenggong Abdul Rahman with 400 to 500 residents in Singapore in January 1819. Another member of the 1819 expedition party, Captain John Crawford, recalled in his diary an encounter with “upwards of 100” of Chinese. British colonial documentations revealed that Temenggong Abdul Rahman had provided these Chinese who were Teochews
6461-459: The plantations and mines of the Straits Settlements, many of whom then settled in Singapore after their contract ended. Because of booming commerce which required a large labour force, the Chinese coolie trade also appeared in Singapore. Indentured Chinese Cantonese labourers and British Raj labourers were contracted by coolie traders and brought to Singapore to work. In 1860 under the 2nd Opium War, Chinese coolie trade became legalised and reached
6552-833: The predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
6643-473: The religious affairs of Chinese Singaporeans. All these Chinese organizations continue to play an important role in the economic, cultural and religious life of Chinese Singaporeans. Most Singaporeans of Chinese descent are descended from emigrants from Fujian , Guangdong , or Hainan . The Min Nan or Southern Min people ( Hokkiens and Teochews ) and Cantonese people together form more than three-quarters of
6734-500: The replica to replace the red Berlayer Beacon, but the Singapore Heritage Society was against the decision, saying the beacon was itself a heritage site and should not be destroyed because the beacon has been at Labrador Park since the end of World War II . The replica was finally built just meters away from the beacon. The authorities hope the symbolic replica can serve to preserve the memory of Long Ya Men, which
6825-639: The riot was politically motivated to oust the then Prime Minister ( Lee Kuan Yew ) and his cabinet as well as to prevent the promotion of a Malaysian Malaysia concept in Peninsular Malaysia . After the independence of Singapore in 1965, Singapore began to foster a more racially harmonious society in Singapore. Following the establishment of Singapore national identity and nationhood, the Chinese in Singapore began to change their mindset from temporary stay to permanent settlements in Singapore, thus taking roots in Singapore. Following this transformation,
6916-482: The south of China. Despite similarities, the Teochew and Hokkien speakers consider themselves distinct and did not get along during their early settlement in Singapore, especially during the British colonial era. The Teochew were dominant for a period of time during the 19th century. Mass immigration from Fujian changed this, although the majority of the Chinese along the banks of the Straits of Johor were Teochew until
7007-581: The strengthening of Singaporean national identity, the Chinese clan associations gradually declined in importance. Their role of organizing and governing the Chinese community was taken over by the Singapore government. Today, all Singaporean clan associations operate under the flagship of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA). Clan associations connect Chinese Singaporeans to their ancestral homes in China. The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) continues to look after
7098-578: The surrounding areas. Archaeological excavations of artefacts such as Chinese coins or ceramics in Singapore, which dated back to the period of the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (998–1022) and Emperor Renzong of Song (1023–1063), indicated that Chinese merchants or traders had already visited Singapore by the Song dynasty . The Chinese record Annals of various foreign states ( Zhu fan zhi ) written by Zhao Rushi in 1225 clearly described Chinese merchant ships arriving in Singapore from Quanzhou and various Chinese trading activities. In this annal,
7189-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
7280-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
7371-460: The traveller Wang Dayuan was said to have sailed through this passageway. In his travelogue Daoyi Zhilüe , he recorded that Long Ya Men was the two hills of Temasek between which a strait runs, and it was so called because the two hills looked like "Dragon's teeth". Wang described the people of Long Ya Men as being prone to acts of piracy, and that while the natives traded with Chinese from Quanzhou , Chinese junks on their way back from
7462-469: The two hills of the Danmaxi ( Temasek ) natives which looked like dragon’s teeth.” From there, the name Long Ya Men or Dragon Teeth’s Gate was born. The rocky outcrop served as a navigational aid to ancient mariners sailing through the swift waters of the narrow channel, but was subsequently destroyed by the British in 1848 to widen the channel for larger vessels to sail through. In 2005, a symbolic replica
7553-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
7644-486: The west between 1405 and 1433 AD . Historically the rocky outcrop was known locally by the Malays in earlier times as " Batu Berlayar " ("Sailing Rock") near the present site of Labrador Park , off Pasir Panjang Road . Another rock outcrop used to stand on the opposite shore of Tanjong Rimau on Sentosa Island. These two rock outcrops once formed a gateway at the western entrance to Keppel Harbour . British sailors named
7735-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
7826-742: Was a lingua franca among coastal Chinese and was also used by other ethnic groups such as the Malays and the Indians to communicate with Chinese before Mandarin came to dominance during the 1980s and 1990s. Just as in Taiwan , Hokkien people , speakers of Hokkien , refers not to people originating from all parts of Fujian. "Hokkien" refers only to the Minnan (Southern Min) region of southern coastal Fujian. Singaporean Hokkien does not include northern Fujianese such as those arriving from Fuzhou , Putian and so on. Early Hokkien migrants settled around Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street, forming enclaves around
7917-431: Was also active anti-Japanese resistance during the war, such as Force 136 , headed by Lim Bo Seng . Race riots were common during the early post-war period, predominantly in the period between self-governance and independence in 1965. One major riot took place during birthday celebrations in honour of Muhammad , on 21 July 1964. There were records of high casualties (23 killed and 454 injured), as well as claims that
8008-476: Was erected by the Singapore government near its original site to mark the role it played in Singapore's maritime history. Long Ya Men was documented in Wang Dayuan's travelogue Daoyi Zhilüe as one of the two settlements of Temasek . It was marked in the Mao Kun navigational map historical maritime annal Wubei Zhi said to date from the voyages of Ming dynasty 's Admiral Zheng He . Long Ya Men in
8099-418: Was evidence of Chinese people trading and settling in Singapore, with various Chinese records documenting trading activities and Chinese residents on the island up until the 14th century. Prior to the establishment of Singapore as a British trading port , there was a small population of 120 Malays who were followers of Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and about 20–30 Chinese living on the island. After Singapore became
8190-519: Was only a significant number of Chinese residents permanently settling in Singapore during the early to mid twentieth century, forming the bulk of the Chinese Singaporean population today. The early records of Singapore in Imperial Chinese sources named Singapore as " Long Ya Men " (龍牙門), " Dan Ma Xi " (單馬錫 or 淡馬錫). Later other terms such as "Xi La" (息辣), "Shi le" (石叻), or "Xi Li" (息力, for "selat" meaning strait) may also refer to Singapore or
8281-537: Was used by Asian and early European sailors and traders for hundreds of years to sail past Singapore. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He made seven voyages to more than 30 countries, travelling in fleets of up to 300 ships to the South Pacific , Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Africa. The admiral travelled on the order of the Chinese Emperor to establish trade relations with countries west of China. He
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