Invasion of the Mainland Chinese
vs. 
I think that most Singaporeans should, by now, be very familiar with the ‘China invasion’ that has overtaken our island in recent years. Ever since the turn of the millennium, the Chinese have flooded the world, particularly the Chinese-speaking parts. In Singapore we’ve witnessed the Chinese integrating into all aspects of our lives; old drinks-selling aunties have been replaced by young Chinese girls, Bangladeshi construction workers now share half their trucks with Chinese workers, many places in our local universities and polytechnics are filled by Chinese students, etc; the list is inexhaustible.
Of course this integration has been met by resistance by Singaporeans. Proud, perhaps, of the fact that we’re “overseas Chinese” who can effectively hold a conversation in English, we “look down” on the Mainland Chinese much as the Hong Kong Chinese and Taiwanese do. In our collective consciousness, the Mainland Chinese are loud, noisy, uncouth, unmannerly, destructive, and uncultured. Despite the fact that they speak much purer Mandarin than we do, we ignore that and, instead, make fun of their accents as being unintelligible. When talking about them, we exaggerate their loudness and mannerisms, and tend to talk more about the negative aspects than the positive, even though both exist. In other words, we’re extremely prejudiced and ethnocentric.
This makes me think about how, as a whole, cultures view other cultures. While we might call ourselves modern and open-minded, the fact remains that nearly every culture on earth is ethnocentric. For example, the Mainland Chinese think they’re better than the Taiwanese. The Taiwanese think they’re better than the Mainland Chinese. The Japanese think they’re superior to the rest of Asia. The Singaporeans think they’re better than the Malaysians. The Indians think they’re better than the Pakistanis. The British think they’re better than the Americans. And so on and so forth down the line.
Yet, how much concrete evidence do we have to be making such assumptions that we’re ‘better’ than some other culture, and how does this affect our intercultural communication? Coming back to the ‘China invasion’, there are few among the people I know who actually have direct contact with Mainland Chinese. Most of us assume attitudes towards them that are the social norm. We don’t actually make judgments based on our own observations. While there are Chinese who are loud and noisy, there are also many who are soft-spoken. While there are Chinese who are ill-mannered, there are many others who are well-behaved. But we blind ourselves to the quiet, mannerly ones and choose instead to avoid communicating with the bulk of the Mainland Chinese. We don’t talk to them, don’t wish to talk to them, and try to stay away from them, establishing a very clear “them and us” mentality.
Then again, if the ‘China invasion’ was, instead, the ‘American invasion’ or the ‘Japanese invasion’ or the ‘Korean invasion’, would we still feel the same way seeing as we view Americans, Japanese, and Koreans in a far more positive light? Somehow I feel that we would be much kinder and more tolerant, perhaps even welcoming, even if Americans, Japanese and Koreans are in actual fact no better or worse than the Mainland Chinese.
How aware are we really of all these barriers to intercultural communication, and how much do we ‘miss out’ simply because we have negative stereotypes that are formed by society and not the individual? Do you have any cultures that you look down on? Be truthful, now!
Rea replied:
I wouldn’t particularly say I look down on a culture, per se, but it’d be more like I look down on people in general? I know I can me amazingly arrogant yet have super low self-esteem, but I just do. I think it just happens because about seventy-eighty percent of the people I have encountered in my life so far have turned out to be one of the billion types of idiots out there.
If you really want me to narrow down on cultures though, I can honestly say that I look down on practically every culture. I’m wary of many things, and tend to try to find the flaws in something before trying to appreciate the good in it.
For example, even though I’m of Chinese heritage, I was born in America. However, I feel like I look down on American culture a lot more than I think I should. I find that we have too much flaws, are too full of ourselves, but then I narrow down to actual individuals and find a handful that reach out to me.
And like what you said about how your people look down on the Mainland Chinese and how each culture think they’re superior than the others? I absolutely agree with that.
Society has always been screwed up though, so I don’t think it’d change anytime soon about how each culture views another despite how some are more tolerable now.
March 7, 2009 at 4:53 am. Permalink.
Imo replied:
Racial prejudice has always been a problem, an “us against them” thing. Perhaps most or some of the prejudice that we (as Singaporeans) have towards other races such as the Bangladesh or Chinese workers who construct our buildings is based on what we see while we’re on the same bus, or what we hear when we walk past a certain void deck where they gather, or what we smell, even. Thus arises preconceptions that Indians (and people of that skin colour in general) are unhygenic, dirty, smelly, because they like to apply coconut oil to their hair and most Singaporean Chinese can’t stand it. I know I don’t like the smell at all, but smell or not it is a part of their culture/habits, and imagine how a Buddhist would feel if you avoided them just because their hair has the smell of incense and you don’t like that.
Also, the problem with the “Mainland Chinese Invasion” is that they come from too large an area, are too varied, and thus, due to our lack of exposure to them and to the differences in their culture, their dialects, and their habits depending on which area of China they live in, we end up painting them all with the same brush of the perhaps large minority of rude Mainland Chinese, if we have ever met them or heard stories about them. Through personal experience, I know that they’re not very much different from us, just people trying to live their lives or trying to live better lives than they had. Is that a crime?
If that is, I believe that every person in the world with any inclination of improving themselves will be guilty of it.
Also, as compared to the Americans, the Japanese, or the Koreans, there would be a difference since there is a set “American Culture” or “Japanese Culture” and so on and so forth. Japanese are polite, very group-orientated, etc. Americans are opportunistic, innovative…but that’s still just painting everyone with the same brush, and not much of a difference at all.
Perhaps we would treat them better, seeing as there has never been a huge influx from either countries mentioned due to large language and cultural barriers, as well as geographic barriers, but I believe that no matter who it is, people will have complaints. Foreign talent are taking our jobs, our places in school; foreign workers are all over, and even the Singaporean sports team is made up of so many different countries it can’t even be called Singaporean any more!
Well, these complaints have been around even before there was a Republic of Singapore, and if we continue to import talent or labour there will always be this problem. Now, all we can try to do is to open our hearts, get to know our first international citizen (Chinese or not), and focus on the similarities, not the differences.
The world is full of compromises, isn’t it?
March 7, 2009 at 6:22 am. Permalink.
Lib replied:
I’ve always tried hard to remain unprejudiced and fair in my views of others because I know that at the same time, they’re looking at me and judging me just like I do them. But I know that I’ve been guilty of looking down on others more than I’d like to be reminded of.
I’m Malaysian born and immigrated to America at a young age with my parents, so I guess you could describe me as more of an American-raised Chinese than anything else. There’s a term for the Mainland Chinese I am sure you have heard before, FOB, meaning “fresh off the boat”. I’ve sometimes been referred to as one by my white American friends and whenever that happens, I always feel a flash of indignation and reply that “I’m Malaysian. Not from China.” I’m Chinese and I’m proud of it but being looked at as a fob, being flashy and loud, and lacking common courtesy or manner, it isn’t something I want at all.
There’s also a lot of Mainland Chinese here. They spit on the floors while walking, often without regards for aiming. On the public transportation, they’ll whip out food of some sort, a rice box or oranges and just eat it even though it’s not allowed. They have no concept of following the unspoken rules and therefore they’re looked down on as bothersome and uneducated. Especially since most do not speak English and even when they do, it’s with a highly noticeable accent.
In terms of culture bias, I’ll admit that I think Japanese and Koreans are cool. And I think it’s in a large part due to the fact that I’m somewhat obsessed with Japanese/Korean idol industry. I listen to more of their music and watch more of their variety shows/dramas than I do Chinese. I like Korean idols, go crazy over them online and yet won’t buy a ticket to go see a popular Chinese idol in concert just two hours drive away.
We’re humans and no matter what, judging is what we do. We’ll look at the girl next to us, scan her head to toe and calculate in our mind how much her shirt cost or is that LV bag a fake. It’s curiosity and it’s an insane amount of us just wanting to feel better about ourselves and boost ourselves.
March 7, 2009 at 7:34 am. Permalink.
Pree replied:
Hmm, this is a rather interesting question. It’s true that cultures do view other cultures rather differently, and i have seen it happen, and i am a part of it as well, i am not going to lie. I have lived in many parts of the world(I am from India), so i try to be as unbiased as possible, but that’s hard.
In a way, i look down upon the stereotype my own people create of themselves. Its hard, because i am very judgemental when it comes to them. I get angry at the smallest things like ‘i speak indian’ instead of ‘i speak hindi’ because indian is not a language, we have 27 different languages! I get pissed when people are late and use the excuse ‘o we are indians.’ I hate it when people further a stereotype of themselves, only to make themselves and our nation a mockery. I dislike it when people say ‘indian cinema’ and mean bollywood, because we have regional cinema which is far superior than any crap bollywood produces, but sadly never gets the attention it needs. I just find that my people create a stereotype for themselves, which they willingly lend themselves to mockery and it just makes me, as an indian, disgusted to see my own culture being demeaned and used as an excuse if that makes any sense.
In terms of other cultural bias…i think all cultures are cool actually, i am probably the harshest on my own because i feel a lot of what indians say demean what we are. I almost feel envious of the japanese and korean industry, where they are so proud of what they do, and all i find when i get back home are people trying to desperately change into a culture they do not quite yet understand (although its less now). Call me old fashioned, but loss of tradition is nothing to be proud about.
O dear, this comment is fairly long. But yes, i agree with what is said above. As humans, we are inclined to judge, and so we cannot escape it. The best thing to do is look at it fairly, but even thats hard when personal feelings are involved.
Wonderful topic!
March 8, 2009 at 3:30 am. Permalink.
a.m. replied:
Everyone judges and even hold stereotypes and prejudices against a certain group of people. This doesn’t mean that everyone has bad intentions, but it is psychological for us to form an “us” against a “them” and raise our group above all others.
Your example of mainland Chinese looking down at Taiwanese reminds me of a good friend of mine who immigrated from Shanghai to the U.S. when she was 12. She is a very smart and knowledgeable person, but she still holds her opinions that the Taiwanese are not as good as the mainland Chinese.
Of course I also have my own moments of looking down at cultures but to me it sort of works in both ways – I’ll explain. I came to the U.S. from Korea when I was a child. When I was unfamiliar with the American culture and saw things that shocked me like young children being disrespectful to adults and speaking to them so informally, I looked down at the Americans for being egocentric. But when I went back to Korea as a teenager and saw old aunties in public places eating food and talking loudly, I looked down at Koreans with their obnoxious adults who expected instant respect from the younger generation simply for having lived longer. No one can win with me, can they?
I think it can’t be helped that (ethnic) groups of peole think they are better than others – it is sort of an inborn arrogance. But a lot of it comes from not personally knowing anyone from other cultures and I think in this modern world that is changing bit by bit. Through communications made easier now than ever before, people can talk to others across the world, make new friends, new connectsion, new networks. Hopefully the former ignorance about other cultures can be fixed as people come to work together and get to know each other more.
March 10, 2009 at 2:07 am. Permalink.
Javiera replied:
It’s kind of sad that I read your example of something that happens pretty much at the other side of the world from where I live, and that I understand it so well anyway because it happens here too.
I live in Chile, a place two thirds of the people I’ve met around the world (and I’ve been lucky, I’ve been to a few places) do not know where it is. Still, even being a third world country, we do better than most around us. That little fact make us pretentious and arrogant, and considering I’m Chilean, I do think we are a little bit untitled to be so. Because we do better than our neighbors, we have a lot of immigrants, specially Peruvians. And yes, we treat them badly. We also have a lot of good enough relationships with all the “important” countries, the US, Japan, China, the European Union, and we treat them very, very good.
While there is a cultural factor in that treatment, and also historical (Peru and Bolivia declared war on us a century and some ago, we won, and we were nasty winners at that), what moves our xenophobia is something a lot more basic, and that is our economy. The US, Japan, China and the EU give us money, they invest on us, buy our stuff, and they don’t actually come to stay. The Peruvians come here looking for jobs, and as such “taking” our jobs for less money, making our economy more complicated than needed. Of course, being honest, they can do a better job than most Chilean in the same place because they certainly complain less and do more in the same amount of time, but it still makes one more unemployed Chilean out there in the streets.
Seeing it like that, the resentment we have for some and the good attitude we show others have a sort of “valid” reason, though whatever other connotation we add to the table makes it down right racism, and the only cure against that is good laws to protect against it and try not to fall into stereotypes, those impose on ourselves and those we believe are part of others.
On a funny note, though, as I understand it, Chileans seem to agree Peruvians “speak” better than us (the pronounce their words better), are actually very polite, and they make awesome food. Not all “stereotypes” are bad, I guess.
March 11, 2009 at 2:26 am. Permalink.
Holly replied:
Truthfully, I’ve never looked down on entire cultures. I may disapprove of certain things a culture might have in their culture such as their religion, education, hygiene, etc., but never the entire culture.
But I guess I tend to see Mexican’s as annoying in some circumstances. Like when so many Mexican’s crossed the border between Mexico and America, I felt annoyed and labeled those Mexican’s as the people who are too lazy to fix their own circumstances before coming to another country. And ILLEGALLY of all things!
But I think when we label certain cultures as bad, annoying, or something else, we do miss out on new things. Even though I may find a culture’s religion annoying, sometimes I force myself to learn about it to see what it is the religion has in it. And I usually learn something that connects to a subject I find interesting.
I hate it, though, when I see one culture looking down on another culture when they know nothing about that culture!
People looking down on others… I think it’s all annoying, but we all do it. We can’t help it most of the time.
March 16, 2009 at 4:00 am. Permalink.