China's rise redefines ties with relatives abroad

When Mr Aw Ban Soon and his siblings were planning a trip to their ancestral hometown in southeastern Fujian province in September 2025, they were unsure what gifts to prepare for their distant relatives there.

- Aw Cheng Wei China Correspondent

In September 2023, Mr Aw Ban Soon (left) returned to Anxi county with his siblings for another visit to their family's ancestral village. He is seen here with distant relatives from China, including his cousin Hu Xinmin (centre). Mr Hu, now in his 60s, said he was delighted to see his Singaporean relatives again 36 years later. ST PHOTO: AW CHENG WEI

(AW CHENG WEI)

After all, they did not know how well their faraway cousins were doing. Only Mr Aw had met them before - 36 years ago on a trip with his late father - and they had not kept in touch since.

Back then, Mr Aw and his father had brought cigarettes and alcohol for their relatives. Taking his cue from that experience, Mr Aw suggested doing the same for the second visit. But the trip was the first for his siblings, as well as his nephew - this reporter - who wondered if they should be gifting more.

"Giving them red packets seems to be jumping the gun, and assuming they aren't doing as well as us," said Mr Aw, now 65. "So we decided to play by ear, but among ourselves, we fixed a budget to give out as red packets," he added. They also bought alcohol and cigarettes - common gifts in China.

That uncertainty is common among Singaporeans who have ventured to China in search of their roots, or xun gen, as the process is known in Chinese.

But as China rose from being one of the world's poorest nations to the second-largest economy, the lives of its people were transformed - along with their relationships with descendants of overseas Chinese, including those in Southeast Asia.

Once reliant on financial support from abroad, relatives in ancestral home towns are now largely self-sufficient. Family ties with those overseas are shaped less by obligation and more by personal choice and kinship.