Education and state formation reappraised—Chinese school identity in postwar Singapore and Hong Kong

Abstract

After World War II the Singapore government, wishing to blend the island’s several ethnic communities into a national whole, endeavored to replace Chinese schools, which imparted students with cultural‐linguistic traits sharply different from those promoted in other schools. This policy, nevertheless, elicited tough resistance from Singapore’s ethnic Chinese population. The government, finally, was forced to recognize Chinese schools as a discrete and integral section within the educational system. This approach reduced the tension between the government and the Chinese masses. However, it allowed Chinese schools continue to produce social fragmentation and slowed state formation. In contrast, although the government of Hong Kong had never aimed to replace Chinese schools, many of its policies unintentionally Sinicized non‐Chinese schools and blurred the cultural distinctiveness of Chinese institutions; this, consequently, prevented Chinese schools from becoming a catalyst of social disintegration and helped consolidate state domination. This study suggests the connection between state formation and the educational system is reciprocal and interactive. It also urges scholars to pay more attention to the unintended consequences of state intervention when examining state formation and education.