Civilization constraints and contributions

Identify one civilisation deal with their constraints and how their responses contribute to the social, cultural and technological changes occurred in Asia.

Constraints-China was extremely behind in terms of technological advancement in weaponry compared to the western countries, they were still using primitive tools such as spades while they were already using automated guns, this lead them to lose many wars.

Technology-A technology developed in China was printing. The Chinese began to use wood block printing in the 7th century where the text is carved into the wood blocks which are then inked. A blank sheet of paper is placed over the inked block so that the image can be transferred to the paper.

Social/Cultural-The economic and social plan known as the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 45 million deaths. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, which would last until Mao's death a decade later

In the museum

We are also required to visit the Ancient Civilisation Museum located near Anderson Bridge. The picture above is the 'panoramic view from the Anderson bridge looking towards Fullerton Hotel.

Let us move on into the museum. The museum has a vast collection of many artefacts of many Asian Civilisations like China, India, many southeast asian countries. It provides loads of information that allows us to understand more about the Asian Cultures. They also had interactive guides that will clear any of our doubts in the exhibitions.

Well, we were suppose identify 3 artefacts and state the function, and describe the differences to its modern day version. We selected China.

This is the Chinese Robes that the  officials of the past wear. Nowadays, these robes are not used, instead, government officials of China wore suits and tuxedos instead of robes. The modern day version is more 21st century style. It is also able to be worn everywhere since it is a formal attire that can also suit casual occasions. However, the robes are only suited for meetings in the royal palace. The robe also have many colourful patterns on it but the suit and tuxedos are just black and white, with a tie.

These are coins of Ancient China. They are used in transaction and trading of goods just like nowadays. However, there are notes now which allow us to not carry so much weight wherever we go. The notes now are foldable, making it easy to keep and store. It is light, very portable and has more patterns and designs on it. Furthermore, they have 'codes' in it to allow the notes to be really 'unique' and 'one of a kind'.

This is a carriage of Ancient China. This is used to carry people and sometimes also statues of gods. They are being held up and moved by human body. However, nowadays, cars are used to replace this carriages. They run on petroleum and wheels and will pollute the environment by its exhaust fume. However, cars are much more efficient in transporting things.

Important Sites We visited

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This is the Raffles Landing Site Statue. It marks the place where Sir Stamford Raffles landed on Singapore which in the end he turned it from a fishing village into a bustling settlement.

This is the Fullerton Hotel which used to be a post office, now a six-star hotel.

This is the Dalhoute Obelisk that was built to commemorate the first visit of the governor general of India. It is located just outside the Ancient Civilisation Museum. Merchant then donated money for the construction of the obelisk.

The Ancient Civilisations Museum, a place that used to be the Empress Place Building, it was a colonial government office building which continued to house government departments after Singapore Independence until 1980s. After several years, it finally turned into the Asian Civilisation Museum in 2003.

On the Way to Anderson Bridge...

Well, our main form of transportation is on foot. Well, we can see boats ferrying tourists along the river. On the banks along the river, we can also see tourists strolling around and purchasing goods from shops. Basically, the Singapore river had turned into a major tourist site to allow the country to earn money via foreign visitors.

While in the past, the Singapore river was used as a commercial and trading route for the settlement. Many Warehouse were built in the area but they are now converted into shops that sells souvenirs.
The river also used to be able to allow people to swim in it but now it is terribly filthy. Basically this place is converted into a tourist attraction to increase income for the country.

I believe that the shape course of Singapore will not change or only change by a little bit. This is because the banks are all made up of concrete and as this is a tourist attraction now, the government will certainly be monitoring it and will do measures to prevent drastic changes in the river shape course. Hence, I think the Singapore river will continue it's shape course and hopefully the only thing changed will be the cleanliness of the water and the bad water quality of the river now.

The Beginning of the Journey!

This blog and content is part of the E-learning of the School of Science and Technology, Singapore.
Working in a group, we will be helping our juniors to gain understanding of the main concept of 'Change and Continuity' in the river system/ river profile and ancient civilisation. This will be illustrated through our journey along Singapore River from Coleman Bridge to Anderson Bridge and at the Asian Civilisation Museum.

So, we begun the journey by starting from the Coleman Bridge on the Singapore River, just outside the Central Mall in Clarke Quay.

We are required to head to Anderson Bridge of Clarke Quay and snap photos of the activities along the river, identify 3-5 landmark of significance and interest along the stretch of the river and also observe the sights and sound of the place.

Here is our route.
 
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