<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>China visitors get unfriendly welcome from Singaporeans
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SEVERAL childhood friends of my wife from China were in Singapore recently to attend our wedding. What was originally a joyous event was tainted by unwelcoming gestures from a few Singaporeans.
Our China guests had never been to Singapore, but they had heard so many wonderful things about this city that it was natural they came with high expectations.
But on their first day in Singapore, they were "greeted" with unfriendly remarks. One passer-by offered assistance with directions, but on learning that they were here to attend our wedding, asked if they knew that my wife would be known locally as "xiaolongnu" (or "little dragon girl"). The phrase, as I understand it, is commonly used to describe, with negative connotation, mainland Chinese girls married to Singaporean men.
The middle-aged man went on to ask if my friends intended to "work" here. You can only imagine how taken aback I was when my friends inquired the meaning of the phrase.
Over the next few days, while taking them around the city, I had the opportunity to experience first-hand how they felt. I was probably mistaken for a non-Singaporean, as for the first time in my country, I was treated by some waitresses and taxi drivers with uncalled-for rudeness clearly directed at foreigners.
=> Good sign! Sporns are finally waking up and doing something!
My friends left with many good impressions of Singapore and, obviously, some bad ones too. When asked if they might visit again, since they had been granted multiple-entry visas valid for two years, the reply was "probably not". I could not bear to inquire further.
=> So the way to thwart the Familee's evil scam to FTrashise Peesai and ward off foreign invasion is not to buy more silly tanks, but to "ptui" at FTrash!
As a Singaporean, I have always taken pride in our achievements: Changi Airport, the Singapore Flyer and the upcoming integrated resorts, just to name a few.
The tourism industry attracts visitors from all over the world, eager to experience our culture. But how ever hard we may try to improve our tourist attractions, it is often the interaction with Singaporeans that matters.
What my friends experienced may be isolated or could represent a more serious issue. The impact on our tourism industry could be significant, though hard to quantify. It may take years for some of us to realise how the world, and in particular China, has progressed over the past two decades. We may be successful in many ways, but there is a bigger world out there and arrogance will never take us far.
David Lai
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SEVERAL childhood friends of my wife from China were in Singapore recently to attend our wedding. What was originally a joyous event was tainted by unwelcoming gestures from a few Singaporeans.
Our China guests had never been to Singapore, but they had heard so many wonderful things about this city that it was natural they came with high expectations.
But on their first day in Singapore, they were "greeted" with unfriendly remarks. One passer-by offered assistance with directions, but on learning that they were here to attend our wedding, asked if they knew that my wife would be known locally as "xiaolongnu" (or "little dragon girl"). The phrase, as I understand it, is commonly used to describe, with negative connotation, mainland Chinese girls married to Singaporean men.
The middle-aged man went on to ask if my friends intended to "work" here. You can only imagine how taken aback I was when my friends inquired the meaning of the phrase.
Over the next few days, while taking them around the city, I had the opportunity to experience first-hand how they felt. I was probably mistaken for a non-Singaporean, as for the first time in my country, I was treated by some waitresses and taxi drivers with uncalled-for rudeness clearly directed at foreigners.
=> Good sign! Sporns are finally waking up and doing something!
My friends left with many good impressions of Singapore and, obviously, some bad ones too. When asked if they might visit again, since they had been granted multiple-entry visas valid for two years, the reply was "probably not". I could not bear to inquire further.
=> So the way to thwart the Familee's evil scam to FTrashise Peesai and ward off foreign invasion is not to buy more silly tanks, but to "ptui" at FTrash!
As a Singaporean, I have always taken pride in our achievements: Changi Airport, the Singapore Flyer and the upcoming integrated resorts, just to name a few.
=> PAPEE DOG
The tourism industry attracts visitors from all over the world, eager to experience our culture. But how ever hard we may try to improve our tourist attractions, it is often the interaction with Singaporeans that matters.
What my friends experienced may be isolated or could represent a more serious issue. The impact on our tourism industry could be significant, though hard to quantify. It may take years for some of us to realise how the world, and in particular China, has progressed over the past two decades. We may be successful in many ways, but there is a bigger world out there and arrogance will never take us far.
David Lai
