Change and Continuity in Humanities

1. Planning and Preparation

Firstly,we checked out the route.
We decided that we would meet atClarke Quay MRT station and start walking from Coleman Bridge to the Ancient Civilization Museum, then to the Anderson Bridge.

Here is a picture of our route:

(Please look at the red arrow)

Secondly, we identifies 5 landmarks along the route:
-Parliament house
-Arts house at the old parliament
-Raffles landing site
-Supreme Court
-Victoria Theatre

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2. The journey

Location: Coleman Bridge.

Here is a picture of the Singapore river taken from the Coleman Bridge

[Edited]

Location: On the way toAncient Civilisation Museum

While we were walking to the Ancient Civilisation Museum, we noticed that there were tour boats on the river, with tourists on it. Here are some pictures:

This is the stall.

The Singapore River became a very important place when Sir Stamford Raffles ruled Singapore. The singapore river was the Port of Singapore. The city of Singapore initially grew around the port so the river mouth became the centre of trade, commerce and finance. However, starting form the 1880s, there was heavy traffic on the Singapore River due to rapid urbanization and expanding trade, which started polluting the water due to disposal of garbage, sewage, by-products of industries located along the river's banks. The river became very smelly and dirty.
Hence, in 1977, Lee Kuan Yew made a proposal to clean up the Singapore River and submitted it to the government. The government then started cleaning it up.
In 1987, the river was cleared up and it allowed water activites.
Now the Singapore river is a tourist attraction and so there were tour boats on it to bring tourists around the CBD area to see the esplanade, the merlion, etc.

Question:

Do you think the shape course of Singapore River will change in the future?

I think the Singapore River will change in the future as in the future Singapore will face Earthquakes and tsunami and that time, the course of Singapore River will change or become longer. It also depends on the Government whether they want elongate it or widen it. The walls along it are steady though because it is made you of concrete. However, by natural disasters, the walls will break and the course of the river will widen.

We also passed by some landmarks:

Parliament house

Supreme Court also known as the "UFO".

We passed by the Elgin Bridge too.

And some statues near the Ancient Civilisation Museum

Location: Raffles Landing Site[Behind the Ancient Civilisation Museum]

Here is the statue:

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3. Inside the Ancient Civilisation museum

The civilization that we chose is the Chinese civilization. (Ancient China)

Question:
How did China contribute to the social, cultural and technological changes that occured in Asia

Emperors from different ruling dynasties built varied styles of imperial palaces. The palaces and walls were carved with symbols of the dragon, believed to be a representation of the emperors.
Archaeological evidences have shown the presence of bone sewing machines, ornamental shells and stone beads as early as 18,000 years ago. Embroidered designs were a unique feature of traditional Chinese clothing. It was believed that rice was the staple food in ancient China since 5000 BCE. According to ancient Chinese culture, there were certain rules for eating, for eg. food was consumed while being seated in a sequence, for example, the men first, then the women and children. Traditional Chinese festivals like Chinese New Year and the Dragon Boat Festival have been celebrated since ancient times. The Chinese New Year begins on the first day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. "Chinese Science and Culture" was a sketch of a global history of science and technology which emphasized China as the source of many of the prerequisite technologies of modernity-- printing, the compass, gunpowder, cast iron, and so on-- and discussed the historical and intellectual contexts of Chinese empirical and theoretical knowledge of the physical world. It was basically an effort to dismantle the assumption that there is something essentially "Western" about science and technology. Bamboo paper was produced in the Tang Dynasty (608 - 907). Xuan paper made in Jing County, Anhui, is probably the best-known paper, which is mainly used in Chinese painting and calligraphy. Xuan paper is soft, smooth, white, absorbent and very durable.

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa_invention_paper02a.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ancient-chinese-culture.html

Here are the three artifacts we chose

What is the artifact?
Calligraphy brush

What is the function of this artifact?
- Used in Chinese painting
- Used in Chinese Calligraphy to write words

Identify and describe 3 differences to its modern day version.
- As compared to pencils and pens, we do not have to wash off the ink after each use.
- We do not have to prepare ink each time before we can write.
- Brushes are made using individual strands while pencil have only 1 tip.

What is this artifact?
Old houses in Ancient China

What are the functions of this artifact?
- Provide shelter for people living in it.
- Consists of 4 sides in order to prevent thieves from entering easily.

Identify and describe 3 differences to its modern day version.
- Modern day HDB does not have a slanted roof since there is no need to have one. (slanted roof are made in order to allow snow to slide down from the roof so that the roof would not be so heavy)
- Modern day HDB are taller in height and are usually above 7 storeys to save space due to increasing population.
- The common material that was used in Ancient China to build houses was wood while the common material used to build buildings currently is concrete.

What is this artifact?
- Cups used in ancient China (Top left)

What are the functions of this artifact?
- To drink wine from.

Identify and describe 3 differences to its modern day version.
- Modern day cups are made from glass because glass is transparent, thus the host can see what is in the wine cup.
- Previously, the cups are made up of silver since they always say "when poison touches silver, the silver will change color" however, there is no need to do so currently since there are poison that does not change the color of silver.
- The cups in modern days are made to be light weight so that it would be easier for the user to use it.
Here are some other artifacts we saw

Porcelain utensils with chinese drawings and words on it ["Qing Hua Ci-青花瓷"]

Chinese Bian Lian [变脸]

A funny interactive speaker

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Location: From the Ancient Civilisation museum to the Anderson bridge

We passed by the beautiful Cavenagh Bridge