Whither Taiwan and Mainland China: National Identity, the State and Intellectuals
ISBN: 9789882207691
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: History;

This work illustrates the relationship between one group of Singaporean Chinese and their ancestral village in Fujian, China. It explores the reasons why the Singaporean Chinese continue to maintain ties with their ancestral village and how they reproduce Chinese culture through ancestor worship and religion in the ancestral village. In some cases, the Singaporeans feel morally obliged to assist in village reconstruction and infrastructure developments such as new roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals. Others help with small-scale industrial and retail activities. Meanwhile, officials and villagers in the ancestral home utilize various strategies to encourage the Singaporeans to revisit their ancestral village, sustain heritage ties, and help enhance the moral economy. This ethnographic study examines two geographically distinct groups of Chinese coming together to re-establish their lineage and identity through cultural and economic activities.Khun Eng Kuah-Pearceis an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and honorary academic director of the Centre for Anthropological Research at the University of Hong Kong.


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