Singapore Stories: Language, Class, and the Chinese of Singapore, ...

also attempt to reconcile the documenting of migrant experiences with a historical narrative.

For the migrant worker, Singapore was a land of financial opportunity. But the bustling city was also a temporary site in his or her life. At least initially, most had the intention of returning home. “Singapore” was a harsh historical experience, often demanding backbreaking labour of the migrant worker. Only when sufficient money had been remitted, or if violence or disease ended his or her life tragically, could an end to the sojourn be contemplated. The desire to escape through opium or a visit to the brothel represented a common urge to forget the harshness of each day. It is unsurprising that few among the lower classes were keen, or able, to record their experiences.

The Chinese of Singapore

Most of the Chinese migrants came from the Guangzhou, Guangxi, and Fujian provinces in the southeast of China, which are home to a plethora of Chinese dialect groups, such as the Cantonese, Hokkien, Hylam (Hainan), Kheh, and Teochew. Smaller groups of Chinese outside these principal regions also made their way to Singapore, but these were by far the minority. The diversity and numerical composition of migrants by dialect group during this era is still evident in contemporary Singapore. In 1990, there were 896,080 Chinese of Hokkien heritage, or 42.1 percent of the Chinese population. The Teochew and Cantonese formed the next largest communities, at 466,020 (21.9 percent) and 323,870 (15.2 percent), respectively. The population of the Shanghainese and other dialect groups from outside of the Guangzhou/Guangxi/Fujian provinces stood at 67,460, or 3.2 percent. ¹⁶ The majority of the migrants came from impoverished backgrounds, seizing the opportunity presented to them by the opening of the treaty ports in 1840 to seek out a better means of supporting themselves and their families. ¹⁷ The period between the opening of the treaty ports and the Second World War was marked by a rapid urbanisation of, in particular, the southern and southwestern regions of the island. Singapore’s position in the economics of empire blossomed