Singapore is an increasingly attractive place for mainland Chinese people to park their money, or attempt to make their fortunes, given the ambivalent-to-hostile attitudes to the PRC in the rest of the world.
Since COVID, Singapore's retail scene has been almost entirely overtaken by Chinese chains. Coffee chains like Luckin Coffee, Chagee, and more are sprouting up everywhere, including in the heartlands. Ma la hotpot/stir fry outlets follow, and then there are the Chinese bubble tea chains like Mixue.
The underbelly is also entirely of mainland Chinese stock. Sex workers, masseuses, and KTV hostesses in Singapore are majority mainland Chinese, who collect tens of thousands a day from men who patronise these establishments.
I suppose it isn't super easy for these women to find Westerners in rural China. Thus, they leave China in look of a future, going to places in Asia where meeting wealthy men is more likely (such as in Singapore).
