首先我们可以看看手上的新加坡发的证件(NRIC, Passport, EP, SP, WP, Student Pass, LTVP, etc),看看上面国籍(Nationality/Citizenship)一栏(如果有国籍一栏)是写的什么。一看就知道了,只有一个: Chinese (不是PRC, 不是PRC Chinese, 不是PR Chinese, etc)。再看看 Country of Birth那一栏(如果有这一栏)写的什么? 一看就知道了,只有一个: China (都不是PRC, PR China, etc)。
这就表明了,从新加坡政府来看,Chinese作为国籍直接指代的就是我们。China作为国家名词直接指代的就是我们的国家(出身国)。这都是符合国际标准的写法。
我读或者听李显龙的英语演讲或者报告,提到中国,好像他都是直接用China, 提到中国人应该都是 the Chinese/Chinese people/Chinese friends, etc (不会用China people; PRCs之类的)。
(当然,在政府某些文件上面,是用PRC作为形容词用法的,比如你说的PRC Scholar,还有MOM上也写 PRC Work Permit Holder等等。首先,这个用法我已经在原帖里解释过。虽然用缩写词本身就不怎么好,但是至少作为形容词的用法(如以上的例子)没有太强烈的负面意味。这有区别于直接用作名词 (比如说那个新加坡读者指出的PRCs - 这是名词用法;她明确说了,新加坡人这么用是有蔑视意味的))。
我昨天读 Yahoo (Singapore)上面碰巧看到一篇关于中国来新加坡游客减少的文章,里面引用了Singapore Tourism Board (新加坡旅游局)的官方press release,不管是雅虎的表述,还是新加坡旅游局的表述,中国游客一律用Chinese tourists/tourists from China,没有PRC tourists的说法,更不要说PRCs的说法了。文章链接在这里: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/number-chinese-tourists-plunges-30-044700480.html。 我也把新加坡旅游局的那部分拷贝到最后,大家可以看看。
这就说明了,在政治或者在需要赚钱的场合,他们都是避免使用PRCs这个说法的。如果PRC(作为名词指代中国人)是和Chinese citizen/national是一回事,为什么他们没有交替随意使用呢?
然后,你们再看看这篇文章下面的新加坡人留的评论,就可以看出大概了。中立的评论(比如说,谈论经济效应的),大都用Chinese/China来指代中国人/中国,比如这个:
PG(新加坡读者在雅虎留言):
...
It is true that these could be the a few of the factors that cause the
dip in the visiting tourist number. But, did STB do another perspective
of research studying into the costs of living/spending that cause the
drop in the number?
China has a lot of rich people, but not all Chinese are rich. With such
expensive accommodation rate, transportation price, expensive attraction
entrance fee, food price... these could be other factors that drive
visitors away as well.
Not to forget as well, does Singapore have something that can lure visitor to come back and re-visit?
...
但是呢,看那些负面的品论(比如说,少来了好啊,最好不要来),呵呵,就很多左一个PRC,右一个china people的。比如说:
Carolyn(新加坡读者在雅虎留言):
That good news. Would to see lesser china people in Singapore each year. We don't need them in Singapore. They make Singapore no longer a true home for true Singaporean.
Norman (新加坡读者在雅虎留言):
Treat this dip as a good sign for us. I rather PRC come in lesser, but we attracts other region tourist to come here. Alot of PRC tourist come here on a budget, they stay budget hotel, dont really spent alot. Only the very rich come here is to do biz or go casino. They will buy many branded products and also dirty our place thats all. Dip somemore...!
大家还会认为PRC(特别是作为名词直接指代中国人的用法)是中立的吗?和 Chinese citizen/national或者 I am from China,在语气上是完全对等的吗?
最后,我想强调的是,我发这个帖子主要目的不是来抨击新加坡人的。说实话,别人怎么想,别人用什么词语,我们也没有办法,我们还在别人地盘上呢。正如很多网友所指出的(我完全同意),我们能做的,就是自己对自己的提升。我发这个帖子的主要目的是让大家知道PRC这个缩写,在新加坡人笔下或者嘴里使用的时候,(退一步将,至少)在很多情况下,是有歧视意味的。这绝对不是一个中立的词语。所以呢,虽然无法阻挡别人使用,我们自己不要用来称呼自己就是了。
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(从昨天新加坡雅虎文章里拷贝的,引用新加坡旅游局官方press release的整段。看看里面是用的什么词语来指代中国游客的,有无PRC的说法?)
The decline in Chinese visitor arrivals was mostly from those who stayed in Singapore for a day or less. The number of Chinese visitors that stayed for at least two days jumped by 21 per cent year-on-year to hit 406,000 visitors in the first half of 2014.
This resulted in the average length of stay by Chinese visitors increasing by 56 per cent year-on-year, from an average of 2.7 days in the first half of last year to 4.2 days this year. This puts it above the overall average length of stay across all markets that came in at 3.7 days for the first half of the year.
"We are heartened to see an increase in Chinese visitors who visit Singapore as a single destination and stay for at least two days. This shows that we have been reaching out to the right target audience and providing them with an experience that they value and enjoy," says Mr Yap Chin Siang, Assistant Chief Executive, Policy & Planning Group of the Singapore Tourism Board.
Another bright note is in tourism receipts, a more accurate barometer of tourism economic health. Based on STB's tourism performance report for the first quarter of this year, tourism receipts continued to grow at 5 per cent year-on-year to hit S$6 billion, while visitor arrivals held steady over the same period.
For Chinese visitors in particular, their spending dipped only marginally (-1%) in Q1 2014 though visitor arrivals dropped by 14 per cent. This effect is similarly observed for other countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Japan and the United Kingdom.
(https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/number-chinese-tourists-plunges-30-044700480.html)