ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the contemporary operation of the Ke Lineage is not an aberration but is similar to that of other lineages in Singapore and Southeast Asia, where there continue to be strong ties with ancestral villages. The connection between the status of individuals within a lineage and the enlargement of the lineage was also directly connected to the possession of landed property, particularly, of ritual land. Given the fact that subcultures and microcultures among the various lineage branches that may be separated geographically from one another, the Chinese lineage can no longer be seen as a locality-bound social institution. In recent years the regional cultural centres have taken on extended roles and have globalized their outlook, using their institutional structures to provide bases for their members to form new networks and springboard into new areas of activity, while reaching out to lineage members and members of the same surname groups world-wide.
