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The quirks of Singaporean Chinese names
Some of us have switched to hanyu pinyin names but the appeal of dialects as an identity marker still endures.
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Singapore’s language policy has certainly impacted the names by which many of us are called. But even after so many years, dialect names continue to endure.
ST ILLUSTRATION: LEE YU HUI
If you are a Chinese Singaporean of a certain vintage, like me, you would have gone through the days of being known by a hanyu pinyin name.
I grew up in the 1980s, the first decade of the Speak Mandarin Campaign when there was much zeal for all things Mandarin.
