This book is a study of the relationship between two groups of Chinese, the Singapore Chinese and their village relatives in Anxi County, Fujian. It covers the Singaporeans’ search for their cultural roots in their ancestral home villages in Anxi, which has resulted in the revival of their Chinese lineage. Anxi County is popularly known as a district of emigrant villages—a qiaoxiang (侨乡)—from which people emigrated to various parts of the world, especially to Southeast Asia, during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. The discussion here specifically focuses on the relationship between members of...

The changing political and moral order has brought about a renewed search for individual identity, be it ethnic or cultural. As migrant communities throughout the world settle into their countries of adoption and as younger generations become identified with these countries, diaspora experiences are replaced by a sense of affiliation within the boundaries of nation-states. Yet the question remains whether migrant groups can become fully integrated into their adopted nation-states. Violence and tension have become hallmarks of contemporary ethnic politics, and separatism is on the increase—phenomena which sometimes involve migrants. Amidst these developments, the maintenance of a Chinese cultural...

Having settled permanently in Singapore and assumed Singapore Chinese identity, a group of Singapore Chinese are now searching for their cultural roots in Penglai Zhen in Anxi County. Penglai Zhen officially comprises the market town and 31 administrative villages, but continues to be divided by local inhabitants into several precincts named according to the natural terrain found in the region. For example, the area around the source of the river is commonly known as the creek head (xitou or kway-tau [H], 溪头); the area around the point where it flows into another river is known as the creek tail (xiwei...

Since the nineteenth century, emigrants have moved out of Fujian to Nanyang and elsewhere in search of better economic opportunities, and a large number moved to Malaya and Singapore and settled there. After World War II, another 20,000 Anxi villagers immigrated to Singapore. Today, the number of emigrants from Anxi to Singapore and their descendents totals 185,309, or about 10 per cent of the Chinese Singaporean population. Of these, 41,075 came from Penglai (Anxi Xianzhi, vol. 2: 854). The primary reason for this early emigration trend was extreme poverty.

From the late 1970s through the 1990s, it was this poverty...

The qiaoxiang villages of Fujian and Guangdong have been the recipients of wealth and assistance from their Chinese overseas relatives since the 1978 reform. It has been a policy of the central government to encourage not only remittances but also contributions from Chinese overseas for village infrastructure and economic development.

As mentioned, there has been a revival of interest among Singapore Chinese in their ancestral villages. The Singapore government has also been instrumental in encouraging Singapore Chinese to invest in China. However, this has had very little effect on their decision to invest or contribute to their ancestral villages’ development—...

With the coming of the Singapore Chinese after the reform years, the social and cultural life of the villagers became more colourful and exciting. The period from the 1980s to the late 1990s witnessed a revival in both traditional socio-cultural and religious activities. Much cultural life now centres around three types of worship: (i) that of the ancestors, which involves the ancestral house and the performance of meritorious deeds for dead ancestors (such performances are called gongde, 功德); (ii) that of the living, which involves religious rites for the flow of descendants (rites called juanding, 涓丁); and (iii) that of...

Chinese religious orthodoxy is an important part of Singapore-Chinese socio-religious life. One of the earliest social institutions established by the Chinese in Singapore was the temple. Since then Singapore Chinese have continued to hold Chinese religious practices, both individually and communally. Today, Chinese ritual ceremonies and religious fairs continue to be part of the religious landscape among the Chinese in Singapore, enabling participation in communal expression that fosters a sense of group identity and solidarity.

Among the Singapore Anxi Chinese, the orthodox practices of Chinese religion continue to be important. In the 1960s, they built a temple in Singapore, Penglai...

For many members of the Ke Lineage, inclusion in the lineage genealogy constitutes the ultimate goal in reclaiming one’s cultural roots. The final task is thus the addition and rewriting of the genealogy (xiupu, 修譜, literally, mending the genealogy), as this establishes one’s membership, position and social status, and expounds on one’s achievements within the lineage.

Chinese genealogies are commonly called pu (譜), of which there are several widely recognized types. Family registers are jiapu (家譜), lineage registers, zupu (族譜), clan registers, zongpu (宗譜), and sometimes information on various families are also included in the locality registers, difangzhi (地方志).

It...

When the Singapore members of the Ke lineage visit their ancestral home in search of ancestral and cultural ‘roots’, they inevitably feel a renewed sense of lineage identity. They are forced, whether they like it or not, to acknowledge the existence of the other branches of the lineage.

This is even the case for the generations of Singapore-born Ke lineage members as the various degrees of kinship relations unfold before their eyes. They are asked to acknowledge the extended kinship and lineage circle. Some of the youngest generation may be surprised by the details of their relationships, while others, perhaps...

In this book, I have explored the relationship between the Singapore Chinese and their qiaoxiang. For the Singapore Chinese, visiting their qiaoxiang is a journey in search of ancestral and cultural roots. This search is facilitated by the fact that there continues to be a sizeable number of elderly first-generation Chinese migrants in Singapore, and they have played a large part in encouraging the younger Singapore-born Chinese to visit their qiaoxiang. It is this first-generation group of Singapore Chinese, who desire to maintain kinship and lineage continuity that set in motion the search for cultural and ancestral roots.

This search...