Aug 26, 2009

Language, Culture and the Chinese Singaporean

I used to be very close to my grandmother. One night, long after she had passed away, I had a dream about her. Or rather, I dreamed that I was a child again, singing a Hokkien song that my grandmother had often sung with me, many years ago.

When I woke up, I tried to recall the song's lyrics. But I could not do it. Still I decided to write a poem about this dream. Years later, this poem formed part of a collection that won me a national literary award.
      Children's Rhyme

      Grandmother, last night
      I dreamed again I was a child
      dancing round and round
      a wooden table. Singing a song
      you gave me in your tongue
      years ago, about the boy with
      his goats out in the cold
      climbing mountains crossing rivers
      in search of home. In the morning
      I woke and summoned the lyrics
      to myself. But that memory
      escaped me, dived into
      the depths from which all
      dreams spring. All I found was
      tentative, a word, a half-phrase,
      a fragment of a line, pieces of
      a broken whole. So often you and
      the language of you elude
      me now, and against this loss
      I ache and struggle, fail
      and fail again to find my words.
      Still I suspect the history of me
      is there, unerased, the schools
      and campaigns can’t wipe it out,
      no, only send it into hiding.
      You are dead and gone,
      I’m lost, forlorn, but that boy
      I used to be – he’s alive.
      Round and round my head
      he runs, rhyme reciting,
      the words of a lost language
      still escaping always escaping as
      I climb the cold mountains,
      cross the rivers in search of home.
This poem works on a few levels. At one level, it is a straightforward account of an actual dream, and what happened immediately thereafter.

At another level, the poem is about the loss of my grandmother. This loss is explored in the poem, via several metaphors. One such metaphor is the memory of a dream that slips away ("into the depths from which all dreams spring") and can't be recovered. Another such metaphor is the boy in the song itself, who keeps on climbing mountains, crossing rivers, searching for a home that he can't make it back to.

At a third level, the poem is social commentary. It refers to the Singapore government's systematic efforts to eradicate Chinese dialects in the country, which in turn led to a tragic cultural loss. Where do we see this?

Well, the poem is addressed to a "grandmother", and refers to a Hokkien song that "you gave me in your tongue". Later the song crumbles away, leaving behind "a word, a half-phrase, a fragment of a line, pieces of a broken whole". The sadness of this loss, and also the causes of this loss, are described in these lines:
      So often you and
      the language of you elude
      me now, and against this loss
      I ache and struggle, fail
      and fail again to find my words.
      Still I suspect the history of me
      is there, unerased, the schools
      and campaigns can’t wipe it out,
      no, only send it into hiding.
I decided to post this today, because it's relevant to the current discussion on my preceding post (in its comment section). Hope you guys like the poem.

16 comments:

Kayangmo said...

Thanks...you are spot on about certain parts of the poem and I see your points and can concur.
What saddens me even more, is that you have to explain it to many readers here.
Singapore is such a fast paced society, I believe you are the rarity. Unfortunately I am too, like you.

Anonymous said...

Hate this poem.
Bring tears to my eyes. :-(

Other James said...

there has always been too much social engineering under the guise of leadership which pretends a monopoly on the truth.

power without compassion is not wisdom; certainly not greatness.

Atensol said...

Thanks for the wonderful poem Mr Wang, I love it immensely cause I too am facing a grandmother who is gone- at least in the mind cause of Alzheimer's disease.
She spoke mainly English and Cantonese and through her, I learned a lot about what it meant to be Chinese from her perspective as well as insights about China in those days as she was an immigrant from Southern China.
Through her, I got to know and respect my heritage
She did not speak Mandarin nor did any of my ancestors....
Growing up in school however, was a different matter. I was often criticized for not being 'Chinese' enough according to the government's definition due to my poor grades in the subject.

Anonymous said...

beautiful.... so intimate

Other James said...

anon 6:13pm:
"Hate this poem.
Bring tears to my eyes. :-("
Pls dun do that.

No more time to look back and regret....

Anonymous said...

I'm only 25 this year and people of my generation are already lacking the ability to converse in dialects. I absolutely love it when I find someone who can converse in Cantonese with me - my mom's tongue.

I can speak Mandarin more fluently, thanks to the 'system', but it doesn't quite cut it for me. It's not really my language. Nobody spoke it at home.

Gabe

Anonymous said...

Dialect loss not a big issue lah. Most important is SIngapore enhance its economic value by adopting English and also learning Mandarin now, since China is now a economic power.

The greater loss now for Singaporeans is the "low cost" foreign "talents" "stealing" our jobs and we face economic difficulty but not for employers or the gahmen since they will have bigger profits and higher GDP data which is also KPI for million $$ minister pay.

Anonymous said...

Other James

This poem has special significance for people of my\Mr Wang's generation.

Many of us were brought up by dialect-speakng Grandmothers and were thus very close to them... and then gradually drifting away as we lose our roots. only to regret (at least I do) when they lie on deathbeds.


So often you and
the language of you elude
me now, and against this loss
I ache and struggle, fail
and fail again to find my words.

Anonymous said...

At a duck rice stall, a middle-age lady speaking Cantonese and then English look helpless;ly at me and asked me to translate her orders. It appears that the order-taker and the 3 others there can only speak Mandarin and nothing else. They are all in their 20's. That is what our country has become and it is so wrong that this should be happening. Singaporeans are feeling alienated in their own country and it does not bode well.

I plan to emigrate as soon as possible so to avoid NS for my 4 year old kid. 2 of my siblings left Singapore 10 years ago and they are doing well, one to the States and the other Down Under. The other siblings still here are millionaires. I guess we all need to find our own Cheese. Once they are due for retirement, I know they will leave Singapore and live comfortably in a country of their choice. Singapore is a not really a country but a factory to earn a living. There is no culture, no sense of belonging, everyone is not living a life, they are just living.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anon 12:47

Like the anon in the previous discussion, you probably have little experience woring with real Chinese(i.e those living in China).

Unless it is a satire?

In that case, I left some links to wiki that u may find useful. Get acquainted with some basic facts.

Ranting about low-cost Chinese FT is incorrect. I assume u mean the Chinese students on scholarships. Yes those quite piss me off. But most Chinese FTs and FWs play a very useful and important role. The "stealing" part is incorrect. Esp for FWs, since they perform undesirable jobs at incredibly low pay. These FWs are "stealing" the jobs formerly held by Malaysian FWs.

Populist but incorrect rants are more suitable at Lucky Tan and Sammyboy (both which I enjoy btw).

The correct rant should be the lack of min wage\safety nets so that our most vulnerable can achieve a acceptable living standard with dignity. Or about NS. Or the disadvantages SG students faces.

Ranting correctly is actually important. trying to resolve the wrong problems will lead to incorrect and expensive solutions.

Anti-Chronic Singapore said...

Hi Anon (August 27, 2009 9:56 AM),

My sentiments exactly.

For those who complain about FT and especially FW, they play a big part in helping some of us get better pay.

One example is the Wealth/ Fund Management Industry. From its beginning more than 10 years ago, it was first the FT (from US and Europe) who set up shop here. They are paid a lot more than locals because there is a lack of such skills and talent. While here, they would hire our local graduates, who would learn some of the skills and gain experience. After several years and the industry grows, these local graduates with the experience would be hired by other firms at higher pay. For some of us, we may never get an Expat's pay, but our pay would still be higher than before.

For FW, they helped to keep the costs down from food, hygiene to laundry.

For those who have domestic help (maids) at home, its a few hundred dollars a month. That is a something that you could not get in Australia, Europe and US.

Mr Wang,

Nice writing. Really appreciate your sharing.

Anonymous said...

Being Chinese is a constantly changing matter. For instance, many experts say that antique court language in China sounded more like modern Cantonese or Hakka, the present common speech being more heavily influenced by Northern Chinese. Who really counts as 'Chinese' is a subjective matter, and cannot be determined by state fiat. Another old chestnut that I take issue with is the idea that somehow, we diasporan Chinese have retained more authentic 'Chinese Culture' than those in China themselves. That is impossible, as a country of a billion chinese people could not rapidly have lost their own culture. It would be more correct to say that diasporan chinese cultures (there are multiple) have evolved in a different trajectory from that of the mainland, especially since 1949. The point is that there are many ways to be Chinese, and we should not be too quick to dismiss one or the other as a less valid expression of Chineseness.

Anonymous said...

It's beautiful. Thank you.

I'm a Teochew who speaks Hokkien more fluently simply because it's my MOTHER tongue. Glad I can still understand the two dialects.

Teenagers now seem to be only able to use dialects to punctuate their sentences with vulgarities. Sad sad.

Anonymous said...

> I absolutely love it when I find someone who can converse in Cantonese with me - my mom's tongue.

There should be no (false) dichotomy between learning Chinese and learning Mandarin. The latter is just a subset of the former, and a proper Chinese education gives you the tool, the key to unlock your heritage.

So we have two camps, the English and Chinese educated, last time. Both could speak dialect pretty fluently and both were taught by their 'grandmothers'. But while the Chinese camp could draw on the vast repository of knowledge available outside in Chinese, the English camp could not.

To those who embrace Cantonese but abhor Chinese, when the time comes for ah-gong to pass you your clan genealogy book, and it becomes your responsibility to update it (your dad finds it tough 'cos he was English educated, you studied Chinese 'B' at least), how then? There you have, in your hands, the hereditary book from your ancestors, which you find most unfamiliar.

Bo bian, you call your seventh cousin who grew up in HK for help. "Mou man tai" is his reply.

Anonymous said...

> Like the anon in the previous discussion, you probably have little experience woring with real Chinese(i.e those living in China).

But you can't deny that learning Chinese via Mandarin in school is a good first step. If that can give you a bit of edge, why not? At least you have the ability to converse with Hongkies, Taiwanese and Mainlanders in IM and online forums.

Glad that formal letter writing (公函,应用文) was emphasized in the Chinese syllabus. Of course you need to understand the local culture (dialect, bribery practice, habits) to do business in China.

But I think the landscape is changing. From what my Ah Tiongs told me, they do attend English lessons in school. Perhaps next time, everybody can speak/write in English. :P