With a majority Chinese population, some people mistakenly assume that Singapore is a part of China, which is not the case. Most Chinese Singaporeans are descendants of southeastern Chinese immigrants who sailed across the seas decades ago.

Singapore may be hard to spot on a map, but you’ll find it just south of the Malaysian peninsula in Southeast Asia, four hours away from China by plane. On that note, despite its proximity and commonalities in shared culture and history, Singapore is also not a part of Malaysia, though it was very briefly back in 1963 before Singapore became fully independent in 1965, making next year – 2025 – the 60th anniversary of the republic.