By: Ragothaman Shruti 1D Source 1: An oral account by a Chinese man about his pastimes during Colonial Singapore before and after WWll
Recreation for me and my family in particular was not a problem because we lived by the sea. I mean, you simply stepped out to the garden on to the beach. We had a boat for quite some time, a rowing boat, and that was one of the recreations we had quite readily.That was one .I never played games except for an occasional badminton or soccer but not much of it. So, generally on the whole I was not a sports person. The only recreation was cycling or rowing,and in those days even after war it was it was quite safe to cycle around wherever you wanted to because there were so few traffic,apart from that,nothing much.But before war ,I used to play golf quite often,It was very convenient for me because the Katong Golf Club was just about half a mile away.
Inference: Source 1 tells me that rowing was one of the pastimes for Chinese families living near the beach.Rowing of boats is a convenient pastime for families living by the sea .This can be seen from the source which states,”We had a boat for quite some time, a rowing boat,and that was one of the recreations we had quite readily.” In conclusion rowing was one of the common pastimes for Chinese families living near the sea. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Source 2: A picture of Chinese men gambling in a gambling den in Colonial Singapore before WWII
Inference: Source 2 tells me that gambling was one of the common pastimes of Chinese. Many Chinese men were addicted to gambling.This can be seen from the picture which shows “a group of Chinese men staring intensely at a table and they seem to be gambling.The dressing and the hairstyle of the men look Chinese and the the banner in the den is also in Chinese” which proves that Chinese dominated that den as it it is language common to most of them who visited the den most.They also seem to have a proper place to gamble. So, gambling was still legal. In conclusion gambling was one of the pastimes of Chinese before the World War II. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Source 3: A picture of opium smokers in Singapore during the 19th century.
Adapted from: CPDD (2014), Singapore: The making of a Nation-State, 1300 – 1975, MOE, Singapore.
Inference: Source 3 tells me that Opium smoking was a common pastime amongst Chinese men and workers in the early nineteenth century. Opium smoking was also popular with the poor Chinese workers. This can be seen from the picture which shows 2 very skinny men and, one of them was smoking opium at the opium den.They seem to be working class people and do not look very rich. The man sitting down does not have a shirt and his pants look very shabby. Another man is lying down on a hard surface without any mattresses or cushions. The environment also looks very dirty and it is not really attractive. The wooden doors do not seem to be decorated at all. Most probably this is because the poorer group of Chinese men were not able to afford to pay for these amenities. In conclusion,opium smoking used to be popular amongst Chinese men including the working class. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________