Chinese New Year 2017

I don't want to think about my midterm, or economics, for at least another hour. I'm just going to write. It's CNY eve, and I have a lot of different thoughts. I'm going to juggle maybe three topics at once, so here goes.

A Chinese New Year Story

My grandfather came to Singapore when he was 26. He was a Shanghainese from Wuxi, the descendant of a long line of shepherds. At the time, WW2 was ravaging China, and those who didn't die in war were slowly starving from the nonexistent economy.

He was hired on the ship as a deckhand, which was supposed to take him on a round trip from Singapore up to Britain and then back to Shanghai. But on stopping in Singapore, he simply walked off the boat and became an immigrant, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a will to make his life better. 

A side note: I have told this story many times, as school projects or in conversation. No one has ever mentioned that technically my grandfather (and perhaps by extension, myself) are illegals. Perhaps people are smart enough to realize that this occurred four generations ago, in a world where illegal immigration was commonplace and Singapore had no means of registration. Or perhaps I have always been tactful enough to hide this fact.

My grandfather made his trade from construction. He began as a menial worker, building posh buildings for the wealthy British in Singapore. Over the course of his life, he slowly climbed the ladder and saved money. When the time came, he used his senior position and savings to buy half the company he had been working for, and became a part-owner. By this time, the British were gone from Singapore, and he worked to build infrastructure under contracts by the Singapore Government.

This is why I take pride in Singapore, perhaps something that many of my own family has forgotten. The Sio family has a history in building this country (literally) from the ground up, under the contracts of LKY and his finance minister, Goh Keng Swee. This contribution is far more than most Singaporeans can say. So when my uncle tells me to "why not migrate" it is not just illogical or financially a poor choice for me (because I have so many assets in Singapore). It is also downright offensive.

The lessons my grandfather taught were ones of success in commerce.

First, he had an unparalleled focus on education; my grandfather sent all seven of his children to university, unheard of back in the poor early days of Singapore.

Second, he placed emphasis on networking; when the Japanese came to Singapore in WWII, my grandfather was the first to hear about it, stocked up rice in his house, and boarded it up. The Japanese never touched him or his family.

Third, he was a philanthropist, and never forgot those who were less fortunate than him. My father told a story of how he used to walk along the street with my grandfather, and one day they saw a man sleeping on the roadside. My grandfather gave him a fair bit of change and some kind words. That man was on the same boat as my grandfather on the fateful move to Singapore - one a wealthy business owner, another a beggar, both began from the same place.

My grandfather returned to Wuxi briefly for his 100th birthday in 2012. He was accompanied by multiple doctors, business owners and corporate executives - all of them his descendants. A few months later, he passed away.