i was sweeping the floor when i suddenly recall part of a conversation i had with a chinese friend. he was asking me why is there a need to differentiate chinese and sino* in sabah, as if it's entirely 2 different race. isn't it much easier to just categorize everyone as chinese? well, he was not the first to question that, and probably isn't gonna be the last one either. in fact i get similar question from time to time, from non sabahan mostly (chinese and non chinese alike)
*sino: (product of mix marriage between a chinese and local indigenous, generally kadazan/dusun and sometimes murut. rare cases includes other indigenous group as well)
well, in my opinion (correct me if i'm wrong), sabah has the most chinese marrying the local** (ie. kadazan / dusun, murut etc) in malaysia. to make things easier (coz i'm getting confuse now), let me talk from my point of view as a sino kadazan, also from personal experience, and sharing from other kadazan friends as well. before i talk about the reasons, let me demonstrate some common situation that i (and some of my friends, too) have been experiencing all this while.
**local: i'm not saying the chinese are not local (i'm one of them too) and am not trying to be bias here. as far as i am concern, in sabah (or at least my area) chinese are considered local nowadays. i'm only using the word local because it sounds more civilised that indigenous. the word indigenous gives
some people the impression that we still live in the cave or on the tree. yeah, and we have internet =) if you get what i mean
* * * * * * * * *
SCENE 1:
one fine day, i'm having a conversation with a chinese girl in english/malay. suddenly, i make a remark in mandarin.
me: *ching chong in mandarin*
girl: *look at me with suprised wide eyes. the slanted typical chinese eyes suddenly turn bright and round* ei?妳会讲华语 meh? (ei? you can speak chinese meh?)
me: 会。 我是华人 mah (can.. i'm chinese mah)
girl: 妳不像华人啊。。。/看不出妳是华人 (you dont look chinese... / i cant tell you are chinese)
this normally happens when i'm having a conversation with non sabahan chinese.
SCENE 2:
mom and I enter some random chinese shop, ie cloth boutique. chinese sales girl/ laubanniang (lady boss) will approach us.
laoban: *smiles* 妳好！ 在找什么？ 我们今天有special offer, 30% off...(hi, what are you looking for? we have special offer today, 30% off)
mum: *smile with an ammused look. she's not confuse, because she's used to it and can guess what the salesgirl is trying to say)
laoban: 还有这里有买1送1 (and here we have buy 1 free 1)
mum: brapa ni? (how much is this? --in malay)
laoban: oh! itu lima puluh ringgit.. saya pikir kamu cina oh tadi (oh! its RM 50.. i thought you are chinese just now.. ) --> typical chinese-sabahan slang when speaking in malay
this happens all the time to my mum when she's shopping for clothes in KK.
SCENE 3:
a pure kadazan and chinese met somewhere..
chinese: are you chinese?
kadazan: no, i'm pure kadazan, but i can speak chinese.
chinese: really? you look chinese la!!
this is not exactly common, but it DOES happen. on rare occasion. but this remark will only be heard from a sabahan chinese
SCENE 4 - a bit similar to scene 1, but here it's a pure kadazan, not sino talking
a pure kadazan and pure chinese met somewhere.. i.e. college
kadazan: *speaks mandarin to chinese*
chinese: are u chinese?
kadazan: no, i'm pure kadazan
chinese: ei? how come you can speak mandarin de??
nowadays, the local send their children to chinese medium school. so, it's common if the local younger generation can communicate in mandarin ( and sometimes other chinese dialect they pick up from friends (i.e hakka) or tv (i.e cantonese) as well )
SCENE 5 - kinda similar to scene 2
a chinese talks to a typical chinese looking sino with typical 3 syllable chinese name, sometimes with a western name as well (i.e. lily lee mei li)
in case you are lost: lily (western name) lee (surname/family name) mei li (chinese name)
sino: hi, i'm lily lee mei li
chinese: *say some thing in chinese*
sino: huh??
chinese: *repeat what she just said a moment ago*
sino: er.. i dont understand chinese..
chinese: really? i thought you are chinese? how come you got chinese name de? and you look very chinese?
well, just because a sino have fringe/ bangs and rebonded hair, plus dress like chinese, also the chinese name.. that doesn't necessarily mean they can understand chinese.
SCENE 6 - opposite of scene 3
2 chinese friends spoke to chinese looking sino who can speak chinese
chinese 1: *speaks malay to sino*
sino: *reply in malay, somewhat confuse and wondering why is the chinese speaking to her in malay* *sino assume that chinese1 n chinese 2 are those chinese who cant speak chinese*
chinese 1: *speaks mandarin to chinese 2*
sino: *monologue: dont i look chinese? !@#$?*
some chinese cant tell is another person has chinese blood running in them, even though it's so damn obvious
SCENE 7 -
do i look really chinese?
well, i never knew i have chinese look from some people's point of view back then.
i blog about it 1.5 year ago. and i dont want to repeat the story here
* * * * * * * * *
well, those are some random scenes that i've come across. and some of the above story were shared by friends (but i simplify them la)
so here are the summary on why we should differentiate chinese, sino and kadazan from each other.
REASON 1: our race doesn't determine our mother tongue. (at home)
take my family for example, we speak english at home. reason being
1. dad barely speaks malay. he speaks hokkien and a bit of mandarin
2. mum is a sino who doesn't really speak chinese (though she can make out the meaning of words from different dialects)
3. it's not like my mum can communicate with dad in kadazan!
REASON 2: what language we speak doesn't determine who we are
just like in scene 4
REASON 3: the way we look or dress doesn't determine who we are
as shown in scene2, 3, 5 and 6
REASON 4: our friends' race doesn't determine who we are
non sabahan generally doesn't know i have chinese blood (mind you its 75%) running in me because i hang out more with the sino (whom from their point of view ain't chinese), the kadazan and other local. my mandarin sucks, kinda feel intimidated being around fluent speaking chinese friends..hehe
REASON 5: our dialect doesn't determine who we are
chinese have various dialect. i have hokkien blood in me but i barely understand hokkien. i dont have cantonese or hakka or mandarin blood running in me but i can at least understand these dialect and give some basic reply.
some of my dusun friends can speak fluent kadazan. (there's a slight difference between this 2, in terms of vocab and spelling, but it's enough to make me confuse)
REASON 6: our daily practices and custom doesn't determine who we are
dont be surprise if you come across a 'pure' kadazan who actually celebrate 清明节 (chinese ghost festival- correct me if i'm wrong). it's a chinese version of all souls' day. well, somewhere up the family tree, someone must be chinese. it's just that the chinese family name carried by the women died when they married the kadazan, hence people thought their children are 'pure' kadazan
REASON 7: our name doesn't determine who we are
as in scene 5. in fact i have a chinese lecturer who clarify with me weather i'm chinese or not, just because i have a middle name and dont carry a chinese name. but at least she noticed my surname
REASON 8: people are just so confuse of our identity (esp sino)
well, since sino are mix blood, we tend to have a fusion and mixture of culture and value, and of cause our look, fashion etc. we are not typical chinese nor typical kadazan/ dusun etc.. when we tell others we are sino, and define to them the term 'sino', they tend to stop questioning about why are we so 'mix' and 'different' and why are we not typical.
sino is somewhat similar to peninsula malaysia's nyonya baba (chinese + malay), but i think sino is more complicated as the culture and value practice differs from one family to another, ie mother tongue.
as for scene 3 where a kadazan might look like chinese, there's some theory explaining that. it's in the next post:
kadazan/dusun (sabah) and bunun (taiwan), are we from the same ancestry?
