The Four Ethnicities of Singaporeans

An eclectic mix of cultures adds to the charm of Singapore. The coexistence of different cultures as an inseparable social whole is even more breathtaking. Singapore is home to people of different races from all over the world. Apart from the four major races of Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians, there are other ethnic minorities as well. One can stop by every cultural neighborhood in Singapore to experience the ethnic culture in the most direct way. The Chinese in Singapore make up 74.1% of Singapore's population and are divided into nearly 10 different origins. Most of their ancestors came from Southern China, mainly from Hainan, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. The total **** of Singapore's Fujian, Teochew and Hainan origins make up three quarters of Singapore's Chinese population. The remaining quarter is mainly of Guangdong and Hakka origin as well as other origins. The dialect groups of Fujian Province in southern China were the first Chinese ethnic groups to migrate to Singapore. Today, Singaporean Chinese of Fujian origin make up 41% of the total. Teochews make up about 21%. Those of Cantonese origin account for 15% of the total number of Chinese in Singapore. Hakka origin accounted for 11.4% and the rest were mainly of Hainanese origin.

Chinese culture is best expressed in the concept of ethics and morality, which continues to be preserved in the Chinese community in Singapore. The creation of the Family Ancestor's House maintains the spirit of mutual aid in the form of friendship and love among the township clans. Chinese people have to choose an auspicious day for their marriage, and the fashionable Chinese bride brings out a small porcelain teacup to the groom's parents during the wedding; when the in-laws take the teacup from the bride's hands, it means that the bride has been accepted into the family.

Batu Pahat Nyonya (or Straits Chinese/Qiao Sang) refers to the descendants of Chinese immigrants of the Ming Dynasty who settled in the early fifteenth century in the areas of Mangaraja (Malacca), Manggarh Poyi and Murofushi (Indonesia), and Temasek (Singapore). Bali Nyonya also includes a small number of Tang people who settled in the area during the Tang and Song dynasties, but there is no source of evidence of Tang settlement during the Tang and Song dynasties, so Bali Nyonya is generally referred to as the descendants of the Ming dynasty immigrants. The culture of these Tang and Ming descendants has been influenced to some extent by the local Malay or other non-Chinese ethnic groups. Males are called Bali and females are called Nyonya. Singapore's MediaCorp Channel 8 launched "Little Nyonya" as a channel drama in late 2008, which started in the 1930s and spanned over 70 years to the modern day. The series brings out the ancient history of the Nyonya, a series of family rivalries over favor and the Bali Nyonya culture, which is exquisitely brought out in the series. Indians are the third largest ethnic group in Singapore, making up 9.2% of the country's population. Interestingly, Singapore today has one of the largest overseas Indian populations. Most Indians immigrated after 1819. The earliest immigrants included numerous short-stay workers, soldiers and prisoners. The final formation of the Indian community came in the mid-20th century. Indians in Singapore come from almost all the major ethnic groups in India, with the largest portion coming from southern India. Fifty-eight percent of the Indian population in Singapore consists of Indians originating from Tamil ancestry, and minority Indian races include Malayali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, and others.

Indian culture is closely related to their religious ideas, whether literature, art, dance, all contain extremely strong religious colors. Indian life is very frugal, but for the temple building is very elaborate, all kinds of sculpture are exquisite. Indian wedding in the temple accompanied by religious chants and prayers held, looks very solemn. The bride is wrapped in a jeweled silk and her husband kneels before her and quietly places a ring on her toe. The highlight of the wedding is when the bride dons a heavy garland of jasmine and orchids, and guests throw flower petals at the couple, completing the solemnization of the marriage ceremony amidst the fragrance of the flowers. The Eurasians, one of the earliest settlers in Singapore, are the descendants of the colonial era's European and local contact births, who created a mixed-ethnicity family with a variety of unique traditions. Some Europeans came to Singapore in the 1920s from Malacca, Goa, Ceylon, Mingulian, Macau and Penang, and the term "Eurasian", which was first officially used in 1849 for the records of the British Straits Settlements, included small ethnic groups of native Christians, Indo-Chinese British, Armenians and Jews. Today, there are about 15,000 to 30,000 Eurasians in Singapore, representing less than 1% of the total population. The intermingling of diverse cultures and different backgrounds has made them a colorful subgroup. Most Eurasians speak English as their first language.