In Continuum.

There was a myth I heard a long time ago in regards to how people in the past wanted smooth and white skin. They strongly believe in the saying that goes "you are what you eat", which was why they thought that drinking obscene amount of milk would give them smooth and white skin. On the other hand, if you are a fan of dark chocolate, coffee, or food with soy sauce, your complexion would be dark and unflattering, so to speak. Once again, I stress that this is merely a myth, and I do not believe in such a saying at all. But I suppose, in a way, I do believe in how we are the things we eat, in some ways. If you are mindful of your food, you are probably going to turn out to be healthier than others, and if you gorge yourself during mealtimes and in between mealtimes, you are going to end up as being obese. It's logical, I suppose, though I have my doubts in regards to the color of the food affecting the tone of the skin. Does that also mean that eating large amount of vegetables would cause us to turn green? Myths have zero basis, but it is not stopping people from believing in them. The chinese people have a long history of believing in folklore and myths, and this entry is going to be about them. 

The picture above was taken in downtown BeiJing, and that is indeed the air quality we have over there. I am sure most of you know by now that the Olympics was threatened by the pollution back in August because of how bad it was. If it is indeed true that we are what we eat, couldn't we say the same about what we breathe? At least that is what many people in Singapore would want to believe, thinking that the chinese people are, well, the same as the air quality they have back in their country. And by "chinese", I am speaking of the chinese from China. In Singapore, you pretty much have a few ways to differentiate the chinese people: either by geography, or by race. If you are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore, you are basically "from Hong Kong", a "Taiwanese", and a "Singaporean" respectively. You don't go to some other country and say that you are a "chinese" when you are a "Singaporean", unless being asked for the race. If you are from China, however, you are immediately a chinese, and everybody knows where you are from here in Singapore, if you were to tell somebody that. Actually, you don't really have to ask, you just kinda know. 

I am, by no means, a hater of anybody from China. The same, however, cannot be said about some people that I know from school. For some reason, some Singaporeans have a deeply rooted dislike for anybody from China, though the reason isn't exactly clear to me. I remember a friend of mine from high school telling me about how a group of chinese people entered a Pizza Hut one day and sat behind him, and he just felt incredibly uncomfortable afterwards just because "they were there", he said. Some of my other friends have talked to me about the so-called "phenomenon" before, about how Singapore is being taken over by chinese immigrants, people from the mainland trying to find a new life here in Singapore. That is also why we have them running around construction sites, being in the service industry, basically in every walks of life and supposedly taking away jobs from the locals. I suppose in a way, it does make some kind of sense. I mean, with every position taken by a foreign worker, it is a job that cannot be filled by a local, right? As Singaporeans, I am sure my friends aren't exactly celebrating that fact, since they are all going to enter the job market very soon. Still, there are times when I wonder if their hatred is really called for, and I wonder if disliking someone from your own race could be considered as being racist. 

But it is true that they are all over the place right now - everywhere. It used to be just the construction sites because they are cheap to higher. It makes sense because it is nothing personal, just business. Then the prostitutes started to pop up in Singapore, and then the waitresses in restaurants who cannot speak proper English to the customers. Oh yes, I mentioned prostitution, despite it being somewhat of a taboo in Singapore. Prostitution in Singapore isn't illegal, soliciting is (if Ximin is right). Even in the prostitution market, the chinese immigrant workers are taking the job away from the locals, and you can't help but wonder if the misconception of Singapore's geography is really going to come true. You know how it is when you tell a caucasian about Singapore, they'd usually think that it is a far and distant province in China. We'd usually laugh it off in the past, thinking just how ill-informed they are about this country. But really, with them running rampant in this country, this country is fading away from the country as we've known it. 

As a child, my political stance was strong, due to the coverage from the media and the small talks over the dining table. In regards to whether or not my country, Taiwan, belongs to China or not, I strongly feel that we belong only to ourselves. There wasn't a treaty signed in the past, there wasn't a war lost to somebody else. A military leader merely fled to the small island after losing out to Chairman Mao and his buddies, and created his own country based upon his own party. Anyway, I was brought up and taught about the history that way, and I don't see a point of swallowing up this country when China is always so huge. I felt very strongly, as a child, for my country to remain free from the grasp of China, simply because I was being selfish. I had the misconception that with us merging with China, our food would be shared and our television shows sucked away. Right now, however, I do not see problem with anything at all really, things pretty much remain the same. People still see Hong Kong as Hong Kong, right? They don't really say "I am going to China" when they are going to "Hong Kong". That is the way it has been, and always will be. 

As I grew up, I became a little more mature and understanding of people flocking into Singapore from mainland China. They, like my family, came to Singapore for a better life, and I suppose I understand why they've done so, in a way. You cannot exactly blame someone for his pursuit of happiness, and that is exactly what a lot of them are doing. They are getting paid better here, they are living a better life here, so what is so wrong about them being our neighbors? A lot of Singaporeans don't like that, they don't like how they are bringing their old habits along with them as well. I suppose when you've lived in one country for a long time, it is inevitable for you to bring your old habits along with you when you move. It is true, and I am not exaggerating, that there are chinese people that dislikes the idea of bathing, who never shaves, and still likes to spit in the public whenever they feel like it. I have experienced all of the above myself, and seen it with my own eyes. And yes, they were chinese people from China, because the accent is unmistakable. There was this boy in my high school, one of the PRCs from China who was also the top scorer in my school during the O levels. He never shaved, and he always had a strange mustache on his upper lip. It was rather distracting, and he always smelled funny, somehow. 

Still, I've never had a problem with them, none of them ever actually crossed my path before. We were schoolmates, but that was as far as our relationship got with each other. I think they are just ordinary human beings, just like everybody else around us. Sure, their habits may turn us off at times but, don't we also behave in a way that could possibly put other people off? Cultural relativism is what I have learned from school, something about trying to understand a culture from their point of view, and I suppose that is a very important thing to do. What rubs me the wrong way, however, would be how some of these chinese migrant workers come to Singapore without knowing a single word of English. Like, there was this other time when I was at a bar with some friends, and the waitress just so happened to be a chinese girl. I tried to order some drinks, and she was obviously new at the bar and was a little uneasy with taking orders. Anyway, so there I was saying a couple of names when she just kind of stared back at me with those blank eyes. I kind of figured out that she was from China at that point, which was when I started talking to her in mandarin, in which she felt a lot more comfortable in. 

I don't suppose I am the kind of person who puts a lot of emphasis on service. As long as I get a basic amount of service, anything goes. Still, if you want to work in this country, at least learn the language here before you actually dive in. It's common sense, you don't go into the service industry without the ability to serve, it's the same thing. You can't understand the customers and you cannot get them what they want, you are out - game over. That is what ticks me off about some of these people, I suppose, because their linguistic abilities are rather low, sometimes. Other than that, however, I seriously wonder at times if people just dislike them because of who they are and what they do. There really isn't anything wrong with not shaving your armpits even for the ladies, but people could label and use any reasons against you if they want to. Perhaps they do things in a way that is slightly out of the society norms, but that shouldn't mean that they should be equated to being repulsive at all. I suppose these migrant workers do deserve a bit of respect and credit, being so far away from home and building subway stations and expressways for our comfort and conveniences. 

I know a couple of people from China, and they have been socialized to think exactly like a Singaporean. It really shouldn't be about where you come from, but the culture that you grew up in. You could take someone from Singapore and then instill him or her with a very Chinese-orientated value system, it's the same thing. I don't suppose humans should be classified and classified some more, on a basis such as race. I think that racism against your own race is even more of a sin than racism against another. Anyway, I know of a few of these people, and they are as nice as it gets. It is easy to spot these people in my school though, they tend to all dress in a similar way and to speak in a similar tongue. But they've never actually done anything to annoy me, which is why sometimes I wonder why my sister comes home from her office, complaining about her chinese colleagues. One of them eats too loud, one of them dresses funny, one of them looks strange, stuff like that. I don't suppose I am immune to prejudices, but at the same time I am rather controlled, you know? It sometimes makes me wonder just why people invest such a great amount of distaste for something so baseless and irrational. I wonder.