The people were forced to learn Japanese at that time.

Japanese Banana money

It is called banana money because there were bananas printed on them. Another reason why it's called banana money is the Japanese printed so many notes that it was like bananas. The prices of necessities like rice, sugar were very high and there was high inflation during the war.

Source-Based Question 4

What does this postcard tell us of this family in olden Singapore? How useful is this information in giving us an insight about their way of life in the past?

This postcard shows us a picture of a Malay family in the past. As we can see, this is quite an extended family as there were 7 members in the family. Some were wearing their traditional costumes, while others were not wearing any clothing. All of them were bare-footed. This tells us that they were poor. Some of the family members probably had to go out to work for the family as there were 7 members. In the background, it shows a house on stilts. This also contributes to the fact that this family was poor, as the house was made of wood and was probably of poor conditions.

This source is also very useful in giving us an insight about their way of life in the past as it shows us what they wear, how their houses houses look like and a Malay family in the past.

Source-Based Question 3

Explain what this source tells us of the early life of the Chinese immigrants. How useful is this source in giving us information of what their lives were like?

This picture shows some Chinese coolies. They were very skinny and poor as shown in the picture, and since they worked so hard in Singapore, they started to smoke opium and become addicted. They were all sharing the same house, and it was very small. There were about 5 people in a house. This tells us that the people were very poor. They had very little to eat too. The early life of these Chinese Immigrants were very tough, and they were probably very tired but earned very little too. Despite having to work all day under the sun using their physical strength, they have very little to eat and probably could not sleep well either because of the poor conditions of their house in the early days. They even had to share their house with other people.

This source is very useful in giving us information of what their lives were like as they tell us many things about them in just one photo. In this photo, we can see people resting, eating and sleeping all in one house. Hence, this was probably what the lives of the early Chinese immigrants were like in the early days.

Source-Based Question 2

Explain how this source gives us an insight into the importance of the Singapore River in the early days. How useful is this source is providing us with information about early Singapore?

This picture shows Singapore River in the early days, We can see many boats and shop-houses along Singapore River. This tells us that Singapore River was important as many of the boats were there. I think that in the past, there was trading going on at Singapore River. Singapore River was probably a center of trading in the past. Hence, Singapore River was important to many traders in the early days. The boats were a form of transportation to bring goods and store them in the warehouses. There were warehouses along the Singapore River.

This source is very useful as it tells us that there were many traders in Singapore in the past. Singapore was probably one of the popular trading ports. The shop-houses along the Singapore River also suggests that there were people living there and selling things there. So, there were definitely many people around the Singapore River.The Singapore River was very likely the centre of business and trade in the early days.

Source-Based Question 1

 SOURCE-BASED QUESTION

Explain how this source provides us with information on the early lives of Chinese immigrants in Singapore. How useful is this source? (5m)

Description/Inference/Evaluation

This picture shows two men who are rickshaw pullers in Singapore. I think that this job is difficult and tiring as they need to use their physical strength outdoors. Also, these men are poor as they are bare-footed and very skinny. Although they use a lot of strength to transport people from one place to another, they only earn a little bit of money. Therefor, this job is tough.

This source tells us that life in the past was very hard. People were poor and had tough jobs such as being rickshaw pullers. These people were very hardworking, because they use a lot of strength to do their job although they know that their pay is very little. This source is useful in telling us about the typical scenes in early Singapore. The customers are mainly westerners. This tells us that in the past, westerners were wealthier. The two rickshaw pullers are most probably Singaporeans, so this tells us that Singapore was not very successful in the past. The evidence to support this is that the westerners had enough money to pay the rickshaw pullers to transport them to different places.