Historical studies of the Chinese overseas, especially those focused on Southeast Asia, need to take into greater account the influence that Chinese born and permanently settled outside China exerted over the wider diasporic community. Moving away from a sojourner-dominated perspective, this article examines Nanyang commercial and cultural networks that were centred on Singapore and largely orchestrated by ‘Straits Chinese’. It argues that these networks played a significant role in altering the self-perceptions of more recently arrived migrants in the region and even, for some, helped re-define Chinese identities.