they were raised in China, learnt English in Singapore and want to go on to the West

The Sunday Times, April 4, 2007
By Yap Koon Hong


Some students from China are picking English-medium schools here for their more Western outlook. But will they stay to help the Republic go global or go global themselves?

WESTWARD HO: They may speak English like Singaporeans, but (from left) Ru Mohan, Zhang Qiao and Mi Xiao dream of going beyond the shores of both their motherland and their adopted homeland.




IF YOU went by their grades, academic background and country of origin, Mi Xiao, Ru Mohan and Zhang Qiao should hold similar views about everything.

All three were plucked from some of the best schools in China three years ago. Mi and Zhang were offered scholarships by Maris Stella while Ru went to Xinmin Secondary.

At the O levels, each scored a perfect 10 - 10 A1s - and that got them into the junior college of their choice, Raffles JC.

The reasons: 'Partly because it's the top-ranked JC in Singapore, but mainly because it's an English-speaking environment,' explained Mi, as Ru and Zhang nodded their assent.

Why not a more Chinese-imbued JC like Hwa Chong Institution?

If they wanted to study in a Chinese environment, said Zhang, they might as well have stayed in China.

The irony may not be obvious, but these students are symptomatic of the change among the PRC (People's Republic of China) students, as they prefer to distinguish themselves here.

The earliest Singaporean recruiters of PRC scholarship holders about 15 years ago were schools like Nanyang, Hwa Chong and Dunman where, it was felt, the students would adjust better within the comfort zone of a predominantly Chinese schooling culture.

Not anymore, it seems. The students now prefer schools with an English-speaking culture and a 'more Western' outlook.

Foreign students are a part of Singapore's go-global plan to bring talent to this regional education hub. The hope is that the bright youngsters will help secure a reserve of future brainpower to spearhead the country's open-ended embrace of globalisation.

In just five years, China has overtaken Malaysia and Indonesia as the country supplying most of the foreign students here.

The latest count puts the China student population at 33,000, more than double the 14,500 five years ago. They now comprise almost half the 80,000 foreign students studying here.

Singapore is not about to stop here.

Professor Brenda Yeoh, head of the National University of Singapore's South-east Asia Studies department, said of Singapore's investment in foreign student talent: 'This is a strategy that affects the whole education landscape from schools to universities.'

In a paper for a recent seminar organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, she added: 'Singapore is capitalising on its various strengths, including its English-speaking environment, high standards of education, low crime rates, high order of social discipline, as well as what has been called our ‘squeaky clean', ‘nanny state' reputation, to make parents feel assured about sending their children here.'

In five years, Singapore wants to attract some 150,000 foreign students and China is a principal target, as are India and South-east Asian countries.

Mi and Ru were picked from their home province of Shaanxi in north-western China although each grew up in a different environment.

Home for Mi, whose parents are engineers, was within a high-tech park in the old city of Xian, which has a population of eight million.

Ru comes from the less bustling township of Baoji, which has 800,000 people. His father teaches at the local university and his mother is a school teacher. 'My backyard is a mountain and there are farms and orchards all round,' he said.

Zhang, son of a civil servant father and realtor mother, is from Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan and birthplace of Mao Zedong.

While all three boys may seem similarly schooled, smart, courteous and earnest, what is intriguing is the variegated nature of their Singapore experience.

The way they spoke English, through three years of Singapore-acquired fluency, offers a glimpse of the contrasts.

Mi speaks it with a literary cadence that reveals his freshly discovered passion for English literature. 'My mother was loath to part with me,' he said.

Zhang, who loves maths and physics, speaks English more plainly.

His mother was against his coming to Singapore. 'I was in a dilemma that night,' he said, recalling the struggle to decide. 'Coming to Singapore was a risk. But I wanted to be exposed to the world outside China and I took the risk.'

Ru, who sounds the most Singaporean of the three, said his parents were as gung-ho about his scholarship offer as he was.

Now that they have been here for three years, will they stay on?

A qualified yes, said Zhang. It depends on whether he is given the chance to realise his ambition, to develop his research skills.

Hard to say, ventured Ru, because it is too early to map out his adult life.

Probably not, said Mi, because Singapore lacks cultural depth compared with China or the West.

All three would prefer to study in Western universities.

Ru and Zhang want to study at Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

But Mi thinks that Cambridge University in England would allow him to pursue his old and new favourites - physics and English literature.

'The irony is that in China, my best language was Chinese and English was my worst,' he said. 'Now, my best subject is English Literature and my worst, Chinese Literature.'

Some students from China are picking English-medium schools here for their more Western outlook. But will they stay to help the Republic go global or go global themselves?


Personally speaking

'The most important thing for me is that I must find a place where I really fit in. The sense of belonging to Singapore hasn't taken shape for me. Maybe it takes more time. Singapore has provided me with this wonderful opportunity, I will do something in return.'
RU MOHAN

'I don't know if I should stay in Singapore or use it as a springboard to go to America. If I want to pursue research, it might be a great chance to apply for a scholarship. Although the Government is promoting all these, the culture for research may not be right yet. So I'm going to wait and see.'
ZHANG QIAO

'I feel a sense of emotional obligation to Singapore because of the opportunity the Government here has given me. I want to do something for Singapore. China comes first of course and Singapore next, but I'm not sure if I will devote my entire life to Singapore.'
MI XIAO