From Jiangxi to Singapore | In The Spotlight - video Dailymotion

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“We need to understand others’ culture, because we are multiracial and multicultural.” Yan Kun from Jiangxi, China, marvels at Singapore's growth from a kampong to a thriving metropolis, and shares how its multicultural spirit helped him build connections and form cherished memories.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00This year's NDP is quite special where they give out this board where you can write

00:05I want to and then I wrote is I want to win Toto. Very unlikely the camera didn't capture that.

00:11Hello, my name is Nian Kun, you can call me Chris. I'm 27 year old this year. I'm from Jiangxi, China.

00:37My childhood actually has two parts. The first part is where I grew up in my hometown Jiangxi.

00:43The second part is in Shenzhen. So Jiangxi was very very fun because my family from my mom's side

00:49they actually have bee farms, they keep their vegetables. So it was very very fun growing up

00:55because we get to catch fish, we get to chase ducks and earn our pocket money by helping them

01:03to do some work in the farm. After my first three years, I came to Shenzhen. Then that's where I

01:11have started my sort of a city life, urban life. So the fun thing is I went back to my hometown every

01:18year during summer. There's actually a very convenient store like mama shop near my mom's place. Usually

01:25when we after we earn our pocket money, we get to go to the mama shop to buy snacks or buy like those

01:33pao chu. What do you call that? Firecracker? Firecracker, yes. We're going to buy firecrackers and

01:39which you don't really find doing it in Singapore.

01:45I came to Singapore in around 2013. My first impression of Singapore is all the trees are very

01:52tropical trees which I don't really find in Shenzhen or in my hometown. When I first step out of the

01:57airplane, I feel this place is so luxury. It's very different from Bauan airport which is the one

02:03at Shenzhen. The colour tone is white colour. Changi Airport is gold, yellow, very very luxury and

02:10international. But when I first step out of the airport, it's confirmed hot. Yeah.

02:15The difference between Singapore and China, Shenzhen used to be a small fishing village as well. Very

02:24similar to Singapore and the time where they start to develop, start to grow is actually more or less

02:31the same also. If I read the history that actually Lee Kuan Yew have shared how Singapore developed,

02:39how Singapore can grow into such a big city and share with the leader back then in Shenzhen,

02:45Deng Xiaoping. They have an idea exchange. To me, I think Shenzhen and Singapore are like brothers

02:51who can learn from each other and can actually help each other. We're at Singapore River now and we can

02:58see this statue here of Deng Xiaoping. Only from the day me and my friend went to NDP, then we have a long

03:05queue from City Hall all the way to here. I found out this statue here. This statue actually reminds me

03:11of my early days in Shenzhen and see the development from early 20s of Shenzhen to the early days of

03:18Singapore, how they grow. So it was quite amazing that I can see someone, they remind me of the old days.

03:28The part I like about Singapore is Singapore's culture and history. During my own free time,

03:37I like to go explore museums, reading through the stories to explore Singapore's history.

03:43So what I saw from the National Gallery, the leaders in the past, how they built up Singapore

03:50and the Singapore spirit, the foreigners back then, how they came to Singapore, and then why was the

03:57reason they stayed in Singapore. I could see the pictures of the past where the Kampong is and I've

04:03seen images of with Kampong and very high level buildings and then from now it's like everywhere

04:09is office buildings everywhere. Quite amazing to see Singapore from Kampong all the way until now.

04:17For Singapore, it's more of a community society. Though Singapore is developing very fast,

04:23but there are still moments for people to stop and care for each other. One of the heartwarming

04:29scenes I've seen is during COVID lockdown period, mask is in shortage. I saw this wheelchair elderly in

04:38Fair Price was doing groceries without a mask and I saw auntie offer a mask to this elderly and even put

04:46the mask on for her, even though they are strangers and even though everyone is short of a mask.

04:53And that's the moment that touches me. That story really inspires me and then I bought masks from China

05:00and then I donated some masks to the community after that actually.

05:07When I first came to Singapore, it's actually for education because my father told me Singapore

05:12education is really top-notch in Asia. After a few years working in Singapore, I realized that working

05:18in Singapore gets me different exposure which I can grow from there. So that's where I choose to stay

05:25in Singapore. Right now actually I'm working in a virtual production studio and I am the technician

05:31in the studio. This is usually where I work. We call this place a brain bar. So what I'm doing here

05:37is that you can see that this is our company logo and this is the unreal asset that we usually use for

05:47shoot or events. There's a camera there. Once we pan the camera, the perspective will follow. That's

05:53where the directors or DOPs, they were able to capture the shot with the LED wall.

06:01Jiangxi food is quite spicy. In fact, in China, there's a meme. They rank the spiciness by different

06:06province and Jiangxi is at the top one or two. But for Singapore food, it's more close to Shenzhen or

06:14like Cantonese food where you can taste the food itself. So today I make this Jiangxi fried noodle.

06:23The traditional one, you can actually see a lot of chilli here and the whole thing is red with chilli oil

06:30also. But I know that it would be a bit difficult for you all to swallow that. So I make a localised version.

06:38Instead of putting a lot of chilli, I put a lot of garlic to bring up the flavour.

06:47I like to share my culture. It has 5,000 years of history. So last time I teach kids Chinese culture,

06:56where we make the Tang Yuan dumplings, eat mooncakes, do all this in the celebration day like

07:03mid-autumn festival, Dragon Ball Festival and Chinese New Year. It makes me feel really, really

07:10accomplished when someone is interested in the culture, in participating in the activities.

07:16There's one time I invited my students to my house, where we make the dumplings together. We even put coins,

07:23of course we've cleaned the coins, put inside the dumplings, see whoever gets the dumpling

07:28will be the luckiest one. But I'm dealing with kids, so actually I can put one dollar coin, 15 cents

07:35and 10 cents. Yeah, so each of them get one.

07:43So being in Singapore for so many years, this is actually my first time going to NDP and I'm lucky

07:49enough to get the ticket. The feeling for this year NDP, I feel the spirit of togetherness with people

07:57of different stories. They can share their story, they can share their growth path, how they become

08:02a person they are now. And all these special stories from each individual really build up Singapore

08:10story and to make who we are. We need to understand others' culture because we are multi-racial and

08:18multi-culture and then doing things like making dumplings, making lanterns for lantern festivals,

08:24help us to understand the cultures, the thoughts. From there we are able to build more harmonious

08:30Singapore, and as a nation. Madjura Singapura.

08:35Dear Singapore, I want to thank you for giving me so many beautiful memories.

08:40I cried and cried with my friends. You saw a young man who struggled to learn

08:46for an O-level class, and caught up with him. You saw him with his friends,

08:50at night at night at night. You saw him with a huge success. You saw him with his

08:56永久功名, and the book of the University of New York University.

09:00Thank you for joining him over the years. This year has been a beautiful summer.

09:06At the same time, I hope you can meet more friends in the future, create more friendship,

09:12and love and friendship. The future is possible.

09:15This is Singapore, my second home, Yen Koon.

09:19Thank you for joining us.

From Jiangxi to Singapore | In The Spotlight

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