Department or Program

Asian Studies

Abstract

From Silk Roads to City Streets: Chinese Migration and the Making of Multicultural Singapore examines how migration has continually reshaped Singapore’s identity, systems of belonging, and practices of multiculturalism from the nineteenth century to the present. Centering migration as both a historical force and an ongoing social process, this thesis asks how Singapore’s population diversity emerged, how the CMIO (Chinese Malay Indian Other) framework has constructed and regulated ethnic identities over time, and how longer histories of 华侨 (huáqiáo, Overseas Chinese) identity formation illuminate the foundations of Singaporean nation-building. Drawing on archival sources, community histories, and close readings of Tan Kah Kee’s The Memoirs of an Overseas Chinese 《南侨回忆录》, the thesis situates Chinese migration within a broader plural society shaped by Malay, Indian, and “Other” communities under both colonial and postcolonial governance. Tan Kah Kee’s educational, economic, and political activities reveal how Overseas Chinese identities were forged through transnational loyalties, language, and institutions long before the formalization of the CMIO system. At the same time, the project critically examines how state-managed multiculturalism flattened internal diversity while enabling new forms of creolization in everyday life, from housing and schooling to food and religious practice. By blending historical analysis with contemporary lived experiences, this thesis argues that Singapore’s multicultural identity is not static or state-produced alone, but continuously remade through mobility, negotiation, and the enduring legacies of migration.

Level of Access

Open Access

First Advisor

Faries, Nathan

Date of Graduation

5-2026

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Number of Pages

92

Components of Thesis

1 PDF File

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