INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MONEY AND KINSHIP: A STUDY OF CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

At the turn of the lunar new year, the joyous discordance of celebration is heard all around the world in various Chinese communities. This is no exception to a keen Chinese diaspora situated in the middle of Southeast Asia on the small island of Singapore. Families squeeze around dinner tables for reunion meals; mandarin oranges and red packets are handed out; mahjong is played. Without a doubt, the family is the cornerstone to Chinese New Year celebrations. At the same time, wealth features prominently throughout the celebrations. The hanging of the Chinese character fu – signifying good fortune and happiness – on the front doors of houses and even as decoration in shopping malls serves as a testament. Using the annual CNY celebrations – where familial relationships and roles are forced to the fore on the ground of customs and obligations – as a backdrop, I observe the ways in which kinship and money present themselves. Money is observed in the abstract (the way that it is talked about) and the tangible (the way that it is used), and its role is uncovered through observation, participation and much conversation. There are some key roles that money plays within the kin group that this paper explores to greater detail: a moral token, an integrative and disintegrative substance, and an agent of socialisation.