Economic Observer Online
May 24, 2012
By Zhu Chong (朱冲)
Translated by Laura Lin
Original article: [Chinese]

Ten days ago in Singapore, a 31-year-old Chinese man driving a Ferrari 599 GTO went speeding through a red light. His car crashed into a taxi, killing two people in the taxi as well as himself.

Shocking video footage of this accident circulated on video websites around the world.

For days, headlines of the local media were full of anti-Chinese sentiment. Public opinion and websites were filled with the voices of Singaporean indignation, calling on the Chinese to "Get out!"

One commentator even quipped that the ashes of the Ferrari driver should not stay to pollute the very limited land of this city-state.

It’s not the first time we Chinese have heard such voices.

In Hong Kong, which counts mainland China as is its biggest economic partner, there has been a huge parade protesting the massive number of mainland women who visit the city to give birth. Even though Chinese mainlanders bring tens of billions worth of consumption to this former British colony, the Hongkongese still call them locusts, accusing them of being low-class, noisy and dirty.

In Europe and the United States people covet Chinese tourists' tremendous spending power with an average of $7,200 per capita spent when they go abroad. These countries try to attract the Chinese, so why is it that Chinese are, on the contrary, so unwelcome in places that also happen to be populated by the Chinese diaspora.

Are Chinese facing true discrimination, or are they just too sensitive? Are Singaporeans going overboard, or are there legitmate gripes?

Many Chinese newcomers living in Singapore are really vexed. One said: "Which country doesn’t have car accidents? Should one be barred from owning an expensive car just because you are from China? The ancestors of the people who speak mandarin here were also beggars who came here to look for a better future!"

Another pointed out that the Ferrari had a permanent resident card so he was Singaporean... and paid taxes here just like everyone else."

Peng Hui (彭惠), a professor of sociology at National Singapore University, was once a visiting scholar in Shanghai, he now consults on Sino-Singapore affairs. "Singaporeans do not discriminate against the Chinese. On the contrary, they very much identify with their Chinese ancestry," says Peng. "What the local people do not appreciate is the fact that Chinese people talk loudly in public, eat on the subway, push, rush to get a seat and don't queue."

More Upset than the Locals

Liu Jing (刘劲) came from China to study in Singapore in 1996. He took advantage of the Singapore government's "Talent Plan," and stayed in the country and became a Singaporean. He agrees that the Chinese are notorious for not obeying the law and doing as they please. For example, he once received a group of Chinese hospital directors, who were told clearly in advance that they are not allowed to take photos in the hospital they were visiting. But these directors, who were themselves doctors, just ignored the restriction.

"As a Chinese person, I had an even stronger negative reaction than the local people," Liu recalled.

Nevertheless, Liu believes that the key point of the anti-Chinese sentiment is the fact that the Chinese man was driving a Ferrari. "The media attention was all about the expensive car. Ordinary people despise those poorer than them, and envy the rich," he said. "In recent years, lots of Chinese are helping create jobs for Singaporeans. Since they can't look down on the poor Chinese any more, they criticize the rich Chinese."

For instance, they attribute the rising housing prices and the traffic congestion to the Chinese, and call newcomers the "rich Chinese locusts," says Liu.

There are nearly one million Chinese nationals currently living in Singapore.

Over the past ten years, because of the Talent Plan, the overall number of Chinese in Singapore has increased by 23 percent.

According to Liu, "because of China's notorious official corruption, collusion and vested interest groups, a young man driving an expensive is bound to arouse people’s suspicion as to the origin of his money,"

In Peng Hui’s view, "Both Singapore and China are in an historical process. When I helped the Chinese to set up the first fashion magazine in Shanghai in early 1990, the Chinese had only just taken off the Mao suits that everybody had been wearing. Yet today, China is the world's top consumer of luxury goods.

News in English via World Crunch (link)