Who’s Chinese?

Abstract

This chapter explores how Singapore acts as an important lens to study the anxieties toward China’s ascent. As a postcolonial hybrid society which has a majority-ethnic-Chinese population, Singapore is both an insider and outsider in its relationship to China. It provides an overview of the Singaporean context and its relationship with China and Chinese identity. It discusses the institutional and social context of Singapore and analyses how the state has constructed an imaginary of Chineseness to homogenise the Singaporean-Chinese population. The arrival of new Chinese migrants in recent years has forced Singaporean-Chinese to question the state’s imaginary of Chinese identity and Chinese homogeneity. This chapter critically explores the assumption that blood and descent predetermine shared cultural consciousness.