According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the community had a population of 514,110 in 2020, with 65,867 originating from Hong Kong and 21,809 from Macau, the 2 special administrative regions of China.
[3] By 1871, due to the influx of migrants from Malaya, China, India and other parts of Asia, Singapore's population had reached nearly 100,000, with over half of them being Chinese.
One of the reasons was also to maintain the racial percentage of the 3 major ethnic groups in Singapore, with Singaporeans migrating aboard and to offset the declining birth rate.
[9] Education in Singapore is also another reason for migration, with the Singaporean government providing scholarships to attract international students outside of ASEAN countries.
This includes pre-tertiary and undergraduate institutions, and although the scholarships are bond-free, recipients would have to work in a Singaporean company for a period of time before they can leave the country.
[6] Another reason for migration is investments, where Chinese generally open a family office to get a golden visa for residency and work in Singapore.
With the increase of Chinese nationals in Singapore, they are stereotyped as uncouth and having objectionable behaviours like littering, eating on public transit, and talking loudly on the phone.
[20] A 2018 Nanyang Technological University paper suggested that Chinese national respondents in Singapore had adopted the idea of English being the language that would get them access to higher status.
[21] In July, 2011, Wang Peng Fei, then a student of East Asia Institute of Management, uploaded a parody video making derogatory comments about Singaporeans and Singapore culture.
[25] In February 2012, Sun Xu, an undergraduate with the National University of Singapore under a scholarship provided by the Ministry of Education made derogatory comments against Singaporeans on his microblog.