Amazon.com description: Product Description: English is the dominant language in Singapore but in some segments of the Chinese population, especially among the more elderly, Chinese (Mandarin or dialects) continues to be a primary language. This segment will decrease in the coming years, but as this volume will show, the Chinese speaking community made significant contributions in the first 50 years of nation building. Readers of Chinese and English newspapers in Singapore will realise that the issues and challenges considered important to the Chinese speaking Singaporeans are not necessarily shared by their fellow English educated compatriots. But readers of this volume will discover that the end objectives are the same to create a stable and prosperous Republic of Singapore but with an additional proviso, that the society be anchored to a strong Asian heritage. Besides covering the major Chinese civic organisations such as the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations, this book also examines some of the major issues hotly debated by the Chinese community such as the role and standard of the Chinese language and the integration of the new immigrants. The book also examines the significant roles played by the Chinese community in the relations with China and the Southeast Asia neighbours.