The Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore, as well as Phuket in Thailand, became home to a peculiar hybrid of Chinese commercial culture and tropical laissez-faire. The first wave of Chinese immigrants began arriving in the early 18th century. By 1824, 11,000 immigrants had arrived and there was a lively trade in opium and spices, ivory and ebony and Chinese tea and silk. Most of the first Chinese to arrive in Singapore, Penang and Malacca were poor farmers and fishermen, mostly from Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Many were Hakka, Chinese tribesmen who migrated from northern China to Fujian. Many of the early Chinese married local Malay women and this union gave rise to a community of “Straits Chinese.” [Source: Library of Congress ]
By 1827, the Chinese had become the most numerous of Singapore’s various ethnic groups. Many of the Chinese came from Malacca, Penang, Riau, and other parts of the Malay Archipelago to which their forebears had migrated decades or even generations before. More recent Chinese immigrants were mainly from the southeastern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian and spoke either the Hokkien, Teochiu, Cantonese, or Hakka dialects. In an extension of the common Chinese practice of sojourning, in which men temporarily left their home communities to seek work in nearby or distant cities, most migrants to Singapore saw themselves as temporary residents intending to return to home and family after making a fortune or at least amassing enough capital to buy land in their home district. Many did return; more did not. Even those who never returned usually sent remittances to families back home.
Just as the European merchant community used Chinese middlemen in conducting their business, the Straits government relied on prominent Chinese businessmen to act as go-betweens with the Chinese community. In the early years, the Baba Chinese, who usually spoke English, served in this capacity. By mid-century, however, immigrant Chinese from the various dialect groups had begun to act as intermediaries. Some, such as Seah Eu Chin, who was the go-between with the Teochiu community, were well educated and from respected families. Seah, who made his fortune in gambier and pepper plantations, was an early member of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, established in 1837, and a justice of the peace. Probably the wealthiest and most prominent Chinese immigrant in the nineteenth century was Hoo Ah Kay, nicknamed “Whampoa” after his birthplace, who served as a go-between with the Cantonese-speaking community. Hoo came as a penniless youth and made his fortune in provisioning ships, merchandising, and speculating in land. He later became the first Asian member of Singapore’s Legislative Council and a member of the Executive Council. Despite their close connections to the European ruling class, Seah, Hoo, and other prominent Chinese carefully retained their Chinese culture and values, as did the less prominent immigrants.