Rebuilding the Ancestral Village: Singaporeans in China

by Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng

This work is about the relationship between one group of Singapore Chinese and their ancestral village in Fujian in China. It explores the various reasons why the Singapore Chinese continue to want to maintain ties with their ancestral village and how they go about reproducing Chinese culture (in the form of ancestor worship and religion) in the village milieu in China. It further explores the reasons why the Singapore Chinese feel morally obliged to assist their ancestral village in village reconstruction (providing financial contributions to infrastructure development such as the building of roads, bridges, schools and hospitals) and to help with small scale industrial and retail activities.

Genres: China

279 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

See also Khun Eng Kuah
Also published as Khun Eng Kuah-Pearce

Reviews

[Jiaxing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores how some first-generation Singaporean Chinese engaged in rebuilding their ancestral villages in China in the decades following the country's Reform and Opening in 1978. During this period, China underwent significant political, economic, and cultural transformation, while Singaporean society was simultaneously experiencing rapid social change and structural transitions. Within this shifting transnational context, certain first-generation Chinese Singaporeans—especially those with direct memories of their ancestral homeland—felt a strong sense of moral responsibility to support their village of origin. Motivated by shared memory, kinship obligations, and emotional ties to their ancestral village, these individuals offered financial support, while also seeking to revive traditional cultural and religious practices within the symbolic space of the Chinese "homeland."

Villagers in China responded to this renewed interest in strategic ways. Local authorities and lineage leaders actively encouraged the return and support of overseas lineage members through culturally resonant means. These included granting access to fengshui burial sites, reconstructing ancestral tombs, and renovating temples and ancestral halls. These gestures were not just about honouring tradition—they were also part of a broader effort to attract resources and re-establish the village’s social fabric. This reciprocal moral and economic exchange constitutes what Kuah-Pearce conceptualises as the "moral economy" of China’s qiaoxiang —a moral economy underpinned by shared ritual, memory, and a revival of ancestor worship and religious faith, all operating within a transnational network of exchange and obligation.

One of the key contributions of this book lies in its analysis of how cultural and religious institutions—such as ancestral halls and temples—serve as translocal nodes of identity reconstruction. These are not just symbolic places; they are where rituals are performed, relationships are negotiated, and the past is made present. Through these shared sacred spaces, Singaporean Chinese and local Chinese villagers engage in ritual practices that bridge geographic distance and historical discontinuities. The revision and extension of genealogies, especially the incorporation of overseas descendants’ names, becomes a critical symbolic act of “root-seeking”, representing a culmination of affective and cultural return.

However, the book also draws a distinction between first-generation Singaporean Chinese and those born in Singapore. While the former often retained lived memories or moral obligations toward their ancestral villages, the latter generally experienced the “homeland” as an abstract cultural referent. Lacking lived experience of the village and having grown up in a different cultural context, they tended to view these places more as historical or symbolic sites than as spaces of obligation. For them, visits were often motivated by curiosity, heritage tourism, or the search for identity, rather than by the moral duty that shaped earlier generations’ involvement.

Kuah-Pearce’s ethnographic case study of Anxi-origin Chinese Singaporeans illuminates these complex dynamics. Her analysis reveals the diverse understandings of historical memory, identity, and kinship held by transnational actors. She explores how cross-border religious rituals, genealogical reconstruction, and clan-based connections are negotiated and reimagined in response to changing socio-political conditions. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the Chinese diaspora, moral economies, and the anthropology of transnationalism by foregrounding the relational and affective dimensions of diasporic return. It reminds us that the ties between people and places are not just historical—they are continually made and remade through ritual, affect, and collective imagination.