According to the latest population survey in 2020, Chinese is the most common language in Chinese after English.Police surveys also show that most Singaporean Chinese are closely related to their ethnic identity and cultural customs.
But the status of Chinese in Singapore is actually unstable.Before independence in 1965, people who could speak Chinese accounted for only 1%of the total population. The main language in Chinese families was dialect.Indeed, in recent years, a statement has appeared in the "Chinese movement" promoted by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1979, which is the main cause of cultural loss and decline in dialects.Should the decline of dialects blame the Chinese movement?Recently, a project we have done, "The Singapore Chinese Reform of the Chinese Reform", focuses on disclosing the qualitative research of the elderly's memories and experience of Chinese language, showing a more complicated scene for the history of Chinese in Singapore.Essence
The rise ofChinese can be traced back to the end of the Qing Dynasty.According to the study of American scholar Gina Tam, during the period of the Republic of China, based on the Mandarin formulated by the country's needs, the original decision was closer to the Nanjing dialect to avoid the Qing court represented by the Beijing dialect.A few years later, with the development of the New Culture Movement, Beijing dialect represents the spirit of modernization and national unity, and it can also be accepted by East China and South China.In the 1920s, Chinese was officially adopted as a Mandarin by the Chinese Kuomintang and was implemented in all universities ruled by the Kuomintang.The two major publishers of the Republic of China and the Chinese Book Company and the National Policy are aligned with national policies, and they have published textbooks of Chinese -speaking professors.These textbooks spread to Chinese schools inside and outside China in the 1930s, and overseas Chinese communities also began to adopt policies with Chinese language as the teaching medium.
Different from Chinese Movement
When Chinese teaching is gradually popularized, dialects are gradually considered to be obstacles to development, backward and predecessor's symbols.Chinese is learned by educated elites and gradually associated with elegant culture.
Similarly, the participants of our research also describe the situation of Chinese schools in their school as a teaching medium in the 1940s and the 1950s.They all tell the bilingual phenomenon of schooling -applied Chinese in schools and taught dialects at home.This is regarded as a matter of course without controversy.
Although the Chinese movement in Singapore was initiated by the government, it was by no means lonely.At that time, there were many Chinese leaders and active people support and assisted in implementation.For example, Cai Jinzheng (the Zongxiang Guild Hall United Association) and Chen Jiancun (then director of the Education Team of Fujian Hall) both felt that the movement had the value of promoting common language and education.Even if the media environment changes and dialects are banned, most civilians actually ignore the movement and live their own lives.
Participating in the researcher's oral situation reflects the social and political situation from the 1970s to the 1980s.At that time, the voice of the government was suppressed and sounded.This era also witnessed the implementation of other key policies, including the closure of Nanyang University and the educational system to the first language in the educational system in Nanyang University.The Chinese school, especially the Chinese school, also began to realize that it seemed increasingly marginalized during this period.
How should we recall the history of Chinese in Singapore?Although the Chinese Movement is supported by some Chinese leaders and active people, the implementation of Chinese schools in China has actually occurred 40 years before the start of the movement.At home, parents also chose to communicate with children in Chinese instead of dialects in Chinese.These are outside the scope of government authority.
Singapore's priority is to collect personal experience and memories to make us understand the origin of the current situation.Guo Qingliang, a local drama writer and former official committee member, said in an interview in this study: "So someone slap first, then we picked it up. This is the policy, but you also accepted that policy. Or you accepted himWisdom, or you think he is a good decision, you have accepted it.
What do we and the community do in recalling the development of Chinese in Singapore from before to the present?
Author Lu Jiqun is an assistant professor at the Department of Linguistics and Various Languages of Nanyang University of Technology
Gong Jianwen is an assistant professor at the Department of History of the National University of Singapore
Research mentioned in the text is funded by the State Cultural Heritage Research Subsidies.The interview in the study is excerpt from https://sgchinesereforms.com
