Topic 3

Did the Industrial Revolution affect the way people lived and worked in the 19th century for the better or the worse?

The Industrial Revolution affect the way people lived and worked in the 19th century for the better or the worse. Here are some examples of Industrial Revolution...With the invention of the steamship, more Europeans could now sail to the East to obtain their raw materials and find markets to sell their goods. This resulted in more ships visiting Singapore and led to the growth in trade. From the 1880s many European and American steamships made Singapore thief port-of-call, where their ships stopped to refuel and obtain food supplies. The Asians in Singapore also used steamships to transport their goods between Singapore and other ports in the region. Thus, Singapore's position as a port for collection of goods from the East and the distribution of manufactured goods from the West gained importance.The other example is the Suez Canal. The need for raw materials and new markets to sell their goods caused many merchants to seek a shorter route to the East. Ships travelling between Europe and Asia had to sail around the southern tip of Africa, clled the Cape of Good Hope. This long and often dangerous journey from London to Singapore took sailing ships at least 120 days. A French engineer drew up plans to aviod the sea route around Africa by cutting a long canal to link the Mediterranean Sea with Red Sea. When the Suez Canal was finally opened, the cost was nearly double the amount originally intended.The journry from London to Singapore took only 50 days.

Topic 2

The national museum has decided to erect a statue in front of its entrance. They have to choose between Stamford Raffles and Tan Tock Seng. If you were working for the museum, who would you choose ? and why?

I would choose Tan Tock Seng as there are already a few statues of Sir Stamford Raffles in some of the museums. This will let younger generations have a chance to not only know about Sir Stamford Raffles, but also have a chance to know this man who had done a lot for the public of Singapore in the past.Tan Tock Seng had contributed by giving medical help for poor people for little or no cost at all. He also uses his own money to pay for the funeral expenses of unclaimed bodies that die in the streets and verandahs. By doing so, he supplied 1,032 coffins.Tan Tock Seng helps in settling problems and disputes in the Chinese community as he was appointed the leader of Chinese community with the title of Kapitan of the Hokkien clan. Even after his death, his descendants like Tan Kim Ching, Tan Teck Guan and Tan Chay Yan continued his legacy in helping the poor Chinese and each of them became leaders if the Chinese community.So I would choose to erect a statue of Tan Tock Seng in front of the National Mueseum entrance instead of Sir Stamford Raffles's