Traveling far while remembering roots is key to success of Chinese diaspora

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March 11, 2015

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Traveling far while remembering roots is key to success of Chinese diaspora

By Tan Thian Seng | March 11, 2015, Wednesday |

Print Edition

As I sat down for Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner with my wife and two of my kids, my thoughts turned to my absent elder son.

A generation Y graduate, he chooses to work in a distant land — in his case, Basel in Switzerland.

Compared to my late illiterate father who, together with hordes of poor and unskilled peasants, left China in the 1930s to seek a better life in southeast Asia, today’s air travel and Internet connectivity has made the distances seemed inconsequential and provincial.

My melancholy mood quickly lifted as I reassured myself that my son will still celebrate Chinese New Year with his Singaporean and Chinese friends in Switzerland. This event is a defining occasion that distinguishes the Chinese.

I started to reflect on what makes the Chinese immigrants all over the world — the Chinese diaspora — accepted into their host communities.

Respect for local cultures

Are there certain elements in the Chinese psyche that make the Chinese immigrants stand out? I asked a few friends.

Dr Koh, a retired senior business executive but still an active trainer, identified a few elements: practical adaptation; respect for local cultures; and the focus on education so that future generations can have better lives.

The Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia are excellent examples of adaption to and adoption of local cultures.

My maternal grandmother wore the traditional Malay dress called the “sarong-kebaya.” Chinese cuisine and cooking methods blended with local ingredients and this evolved into “Nonya Baba” cooking called “peranankan” cooking in Malaysia.

Recent television programs I’ve seen on Chinese in Cuba and India provide solid evidence of local assimilation.

One scene shows Chinese immigrants in India singing Hindi songs just like the locals.

As economic activity and development are the foundation of basic survival, Chinese immigrants traditionally work hard, save and send their children to schools.

And in keeping with Asian’s economic focus philosophy, the Straits Times (March 5) carried a Bloomberg report entitled “Asian-Americans will soon be wealthiest group in America.”

As a Chinese proverb says, “When you drink water, do not forget the source.”

Tan Thian Seng, a senior HR consultant in Singapore.

Foreign Views

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Traveling far while remembering roots is key to success of Chinese diaspora

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