During the colonial period, Chinese poets in Singapore frequently adopted the short poetic genre called “Bamboo Branch Verse” to depict local customs, cultures, and their diasporic experiences. This genre has a folksong origin, and is traditionally used by literati writers to describe local folkways and secular love in exotic places. Li Qingnian’s Nanyang zhuzhici huibian shows that no fewer than 4,197 pieces were published in Malaya and Singapore from 1888 to 1950. Based on Li’s compilation yet adopting a more critical approach in handling his source materials, this article studies the content and generic style of Singapore’s zhuzhici and its relation to local society, from 1888, the year the first set of zhuzhici poems was published, to 1941, before Singapore was occupied by the Japanese army. It first reviews the tradition of zhuzhici writing and attempt to clarify its generic distinctiveness, so as to link the zhuzhici in Singapore with its origin and to point out what is new and unchanged. Second, it examines how writers used the miniature form of zhuzhici for social criticism and to respond to the colorful, complex Nanyang cultures. Finally, it focuses on Khoo Seok Wan’s poems to explicate the relationship between zhuzhici and print culture, his attitude toward local customs, and how he applied local languages, cyclic form, and explanatory notes in the genre.

在殖民时期，新加坡华人诗人经常采用称为“竹枝经”的短诗体裁来描绘当地习俗，文化及其流散经历。这种体裁起源于民歌，通常由文人作家用来形容异国风情中的当地民俗和世俗爱情。李庆年的《南洋诸子辞汇编》显示，从1888年到1950年，在马来亚和新加坡出版了不少于4197件。根据李的汇编，但在处理其原始资料时采取了更为严格的方法，本文研究了新加坡诸子辞的内容和通用风格。及其与当地社会的关系，始于1888年，即第一支zhzhici在新加坡被日军占领之前，诗歌一直出版到1941年。它首先回顾了诸暨词写作的传统，并试图阐明其一般的独特性，以便将新加坡的诸暨词与它的起源联系起来，并指出什么是新的和不变的。其次，它考察了作家是如何使用zhuzhici的微型形式进行社会批评的，以及如何应对丰富多彩的，复杂的南阳文化的。最后，本文重点介绍了邱硕婉的诗歌，阐释了朱zh慈与印刷文化之间的关系，他对当地习俗的态度以及他如何在该类型中运用当地语言，循环形式和说明性注释。