Reliving the lives and times of Chinese immigrants

Despite doing hard labor, an early Chinese immigrant to Singapore preferred to be photographed as a man of learning. [Photos by Zeng Yu/For China Daily]

The Chinese Heritage Center at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University offers a glimpse into the everyday struggles of migrants from the mainland.

For Sophia Soon, a Singapore-born museum guide, a black-and-white picture taken of a Chinese man - probably a first-generation immigrant - and now hanging on the wall of the Chinese Heritage Center at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, speaks volumes. "Look at his shoes - so small that he could barely squeeze his feet in," she says.

"They were actually props borrowed from a photo studio - just like the cheongsam and the hat."

According to Soon, despite looking urbane, even scholarly, the man in question is most likely to have been a coolie, someone doing hard manual labor, presumably along the banks of the Singapore River.

"However, he was adamant about having this picture taken, where he was portrayed as a man of learning, evidenced by the book in his hand. Why? Because traditional Chinese culture valued literary achievements above all else," the 60-year-old says.

For those familiar with history, the picture holds up a mirror to generations of Chinese immigrants who traveled to Singapore, the reality of their existence, and the stubbornness with which they tried to hold on to their identity, while being constantly washed by the cultural tides flooding Singapore's shores.

"The Chinese first arrived in Singapore around the early 15th century. But the biggest inflow of Chinese immigrants in Singapore's contemporary history took place between the late 19th and early 20th century, when China was facing foreign invasion and political unrest," says Soon.