Changing economic realities in the last decade have seen the People's Republic of China (PRC) emerging as a major source of 'new' migrants in the world. In the context of Southeast Asia as 'destination,' inflows from the PRC take on another level of significance given the historical antecedents. In this article, we take Singapore, a Southeast Asian global city-state, as a case study of how Chinese migration histories and circumstances have evolved through time. While colonialism has left the city-state with a large ethnic Chinese population that persists till today, Singapore's present-day aspirations to become a globally oriented, open economy have led to a new round of transnational migration, where PRC nationals feature prominently. Focusing on the streams of people moving from China to Singapore in the past and present, a comprehensive range of developments surrounding the said mobilities will be examined. These include a short historical account of Singapore's, and more generally Southeast Asia's, longstanding exchange with China; regulatory regimes that govern Singapore's immigration policies today; the typologies and varied characteristics of modern Chinese migrants gracing the city-state's doorsteps; and social tensions arising from these contemporary PRC flows into Singapore sitting uncomfortably between being predominantly 'Chinese' and 'anti-Chinese.' A few reflections follow as a means to conclude this paper.
This article considers the affective design and atmospheric manipulation of spaces of transportation before they are made available for use or consumption. Recent scholarship emphasises the experiential aspect of these onboard spaces, and how affective atmospheres are spontaneously conjured and felt amidst mobility. This article aims to develop a keener understanding of the role of transport providers in (co)founding such ambiences, and makes a case for the importance of their prior manipulations. Taking the aircraft cabin as an example where transport operators labour to (pre)shape passenger experience, I interrogate the early organisational practices of one non-Western airline -Singapore (SIA)in deploying flight attendants known as Singapore Girls to imbue its cabins with certain strategic atmospheres by design. Empirical sections draw on staff newsletters and newspaper reports to show how SIA sought to induce comforting moods of Oriental hospitality, familiarity and quickened senses of care within its cabins through its crew members. While this research focuses on the design intentions of an airline, its findings have wide-ranging implications on the future study of affective atmospheres in terms of their pre-fabrication in a variety of consumer contexts. Relevant to scholars of geography, mobilities, tourism and beyond, this article draws ethical attention to the politics of such methods of anticipatory atmosphere-making, and prompts further questions about their global circulation.
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