Rebuilding the Ancestral Village: Singaporeans in China

5 The Moral Economy of Rebuilding the Ancestral Village

The qiaoxiang villages of Fujian and Guangdong have been the recipients of wealth and assistance from their Chinese overseas relatives since the 1978 reform. It has been a policy of the central government to encourage not only remittances but also contributions from Chinese overseas for village infrastructure and economic development. As mentioned, there has been a revival of interest among Singapore Chinese in their ancestral villages. The Singapore government has also been instrumental in encouraging Singapore Chinese to invest in China. However, this has had very little effect on their decision to invest or contribute to their ancestral villages’ development—reasons other than those of economic rationality that affected these Chinese to contribute to develop their ancestral villages. This chapter will explore the extent to which the Singapore Chinese are locked into a set of social relationships within a moral economy that constantly pushes them to assist with village development, including the rebuilding of ancestral houses. The 1978 Reform and Village Reconstruction and Development Ancestral property, new and old houses As discussed, after the 1978 reform, the more liberal political climate of relations between China and Singapore enabled an increasing number of Singapore Chinese to make regular social visits to their ancestral villages. Their involvement in village development has been primarily in terms 5 The Moral Economy of Rebuilding the Ancestral Village Kuah_05_ch05.indd 101 11/11/2010 11:37 AM 102 Rebuilding the Ancestral Village of financial assistance, but they have also provided technical support in four main areas of basic infrastructure development: (1) construction of roads, bridges and power plants; (2) development of educational facilities; (3) assistance to hospitals and medicine; and (4) the establishment and promotion of petty trading and retailing. However, the operation of the moral economy that has led to such assistance has had much to do with the reconstruction of their ancestral houses. Remittances and the Rebuilding of Old Homes (Laojia, 老家) Financial assistance to ancestral villages and lineages by Singapore Chinese began with early emigrants’ regular remittances to their families in their home villages. Today, the number of Singapore Chinese visiting their ancestral villages and financing the rebuilding of their laojia has led to a boom in the construction industry. It is estimated that remittances to all of Fujian, from all of the former Straits Settlements, during the 1930s, amounted to the equivalent of today’s RMB 500 to 700 million annually. Remittances to the interior regions of Fujian (including Yongchun 永春, Huian 惠安, Anxi 安溪, Longan 龙安, and Tongan 同安) at the time amounted to more than RMB 10 million annually. Most of these remittances were sent through the ports of Xiamen and Fuzhou (Foochow) (Hicks, 1993: 152).1 It is estimated that all overseas Chinese remittances to Anxi in 1938 amounted to slightly over RMB 3.6 million (Hicks, 1993: 265). Most of these remittances (a total of RMB 265,386) were sent by post rather than through the ports mentioned above, although small amounts were carried back by returning Chinese in 1938 (Hicks, 1993: 273). However, greater total remittances to China were probably made during the 1930s than during any other period; after that time there was a gradual decline. From Singapore alone, remittances amounted to only RMB 1.5 million in 1954; by 1960 they had dropped to just over RMB 1 million. However, the years before and after the 1978 reform saw a jump in remittances to Anxi from Singapore: in 1976 they totalled RMB 3.53 million, and the amount continued to increase steadily for the next few years, reaching a new high of RMB 7 million in 1983. Later, however, remittances declined substantially. In 1984 the amount was still over RMB 5.4 million but by 1990 it fell to RMB 2.1 million (Chen, 1994: 97).2 Most remittances sent to the home villages from the late 1970s through the first half of the 1980s were for personal uses, primarily to rebuild old family houses (laojia, 老家) or to build second, modern homes (xinjia, 新家). 3 Kuah_05_ch05.indd 102 11/11/2010 11:37 AM The Moral Economy of Rebuilding the Ancestral Village 103 This modernized the essentially rural landscape, in which stone and brick homes replaced mud or wooden ones. In addition to the traditional housing style with its central courtyard, we now have three- to four-storey buildings surrounded by paddy fields. In my survey, I found that most villagers had received some form of monetary assistance to help...