I was lucky to sign up a program and have a host family at Cedar Point. And it was really nice to meet the Zuks (Mary and Bob), my host family, for dinner at their house last night.

 

The Zuks live in a house nearby my dorm, just several minute drive away. The house is 100 hundred years old, but the Zuks renovate the house into one looks new and cozy. They redo a part of the house every year, and this year they have done the Kitchen Project, equipping the kitchen with new appliances.

 

Sandusky is a small town beside Lake Erie, one of the Great 5 Lakes across the lands of the USA and Canada and its people are honest, hospital and kind. The Zuks are this kind of typical Sandusky people, I think. They are really friendly and frank. They talked with Ivan (a.k.a lby) and me (a.k.a Ian) for quite a while, about their family, background, religion. Mary even expresses some kind of sadness of being left behind by this ever-fast-changing world. Bob is a really humorous man who would say a few words to surprise us and make us all laugh at times. The Zuks eat in restaurants often, so they told us a lot of nice and inexpensive eating places. And there is one Chinese restaurant close to their house. Actually quite a few of Americans told me that they love Chinese food, and I think perhaps, that is because Chinese food is much healthier and more delicious than pizzas and burgers.

 

We took a lot of the whole house and I was really surprised to see the wood handcrafts made by Bob, he is a handy man.

 

Dinner was simply but delicious. The main course was noodle with Creamy Cheezzy sauce and chicken, errm, that was really tasty, just imagine, a bowel of noodle with a full jug of cheesy sauce. We also had cabbage salad, rine bread (bread made with some kind of plant, having special fragrance) and steamed vegetables (made of prepaid food). At the end, dessert of ice cream and chocolate cake was served.

 

After dinner, Mary took us to tour around Sandusky, introducing us some attractions and the place they park their boat.

 

The first meet up with the Zuks gives me a good impression of Americans, especially those nice people from small towns. They lead a kind of life which differs a lot from what I think they should have. They love their lands, their houses, their boats, their people, peace and are more than happy to meet up with people from different cultures, different countries.

 

 

 

 

 

SSA2211 Assignment 2

 

Grade:A-

 

Evaluation of Internet sources on the topic of the Nanyang (Southeast Asian) Chinese contribution to the 1911 Revolution in China

 

As computer literacy rate increases and online search engines like Yahoo and Google develop rapidly in recent years, more and more people tend to rely on Internet sources to obtain information for their work and study, since online sources are easily obtainable and in most cases, are free. However, due to the anonymous and unregulated nature of online sources, their validity is often questioned. This essay attempts to use a systematic approach to evaluate the usefulness of online sources on the topic of The Nanyang (Southeast Asian) Chinese contribution to the 1911 Revolution in China.

 

First and foremost, parameter and criteria of evaluation process must be defined. This essay is to make an assessment to the selected online sources from popular websites within reasonable limits. One way is to cross-reference the online information with other sources of information, particularly academic writings, because there is a level of trust from the readers that academic researchers maintain professional integrity in citing all their sources, and doing so as accurately as possible. The evaluation process consists two parts: one is content analysis, evaluating the sources based on their informativeness (what kind of information is provided? How is it deferent from the others? How detailed is the information?), accuracy (how does the source differ from the reliable academic writings? Are there citations? How is the writing style?) and relevance(how much does the source meet the specific need? What is lacking?); another is analysis on reliability of the sources, mainly on authority (who is the author? His or her credentials? Any review of the source by other websites?) of the writings, c and its objectivity and purpose (Who is the intended audience? What is the main purpose of the website? How might the purpose affect reliability of the source?).

 

Internet Source 1: The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall museum online website,URL: http://www.wanqingyuan.com.sg/english/index.html

 

Content Analysis

This website serves the visitors as a guide to the museum by providing the history of the villa, the managing team and director board, news on exhibitions. A large portion of the website is devoted to a section called “Dr Sun & 1911 Revolution” which gives a brief biography of Sun Yat Sun, famous contributors and movements in 1911 Revolution, significant supporters from Singapore and Malaysia, and Sun’s visits to Singapore. This section offers a lot more of information about the tie of Sun Yat Sen to Singapore than the other selected online sources and the two pieces academic writings[1]. This website lists major contributions of the main supporters from Singapore and Malaysia, provides accounts on what Sun Yat Sen did in each visit to Singapore. However, the information provided is not written in detail, since the website is primarily served as a guide to the museum, the writing on each supporter and each trip made by Sun Yat Sen is limited to just one paragraph , only stating when, where and what. Overall historical assessment on the role of Nanyang Chinese in the 1911 Revolution is not made.

 

In terms of accuracy, there is not any citation provided as footnote or bibliography in the website at all. However, due to the introductive nature of the website, it mostly presents the events and characters in a narrative way such that not much of the point of view is presented. Hence, with further research, the stated events and individuals involved are verifiable by collaborating with other sources, such as published journals. For example, the website mentions that when Wuchang Uprising broke out, Sun Yat Sen was in America, and he only knew the success of the uprising on 12^th November 1911, in Denver, Colorado[2]. When referring this piece of information to academic writings, Huang Jianli states “Sun only learnt of the outbreak from local newspapers when he was in the United States taking a train ride to Denver, Colorado.”[3] What the website says disputes slightly from the academic writing. Even though this issue of when Sun was notified the outcome is not a crucial one, it still reflects the inaccuracy in the website.

 

Undoubtedly, the website provides much relevant information for the topic on The Nanyang (Southeast Asian) Chinese contribution to the 1911 Revolution in China. However, the information provided is not detailed enough to carry out further studies. Also, the narrowness of this website is reflected in the lacking of information of how the general Nanyang Chinese reacted to the Revolution and how did Chinese from other Southeast Asian contribute. Additional analysis on why some of the Singapore Chinese responded keenly to the Revolution, if provided, would be very useful.

 

 

Reliability Analysis

The Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall museum is an established one in Singapore. It is true that its panel of advisors and consultants consists of history academic, but this does not mean that the online website is written, carefully edited and maintained by the advisor. Thus, the source may not have a high level of professionalism and trust.

 

It is interesting to note that the names of two Singapore political figures, BG(NS) George Yeo and MM Lee Kuan Yew appear on the website. George Yeo is the Honorary Advisor for the museum, and Lee Kuan Yew’s quote “One Man Changed China, Dr Sun Yat Sun” is shown noticeably at the right hand corner of every webpage. This shows the endorsement of the Singapore government to the museum and implies the Singapore government’s conscious effort in building the villa as a “Cultural Shrine”[4]. As such, the information may not be on a purely historical perspective, but biased to enlarge Singapore’s importance in contributing to the Revolution in order to strengthen the historical link between Singapore and China.

 

Internet Source 2: The Chinese Revolution of 1911

URL: http://www.thecorner.org/hist/china/chin-revo.htm

 

Content Analysis

This Internet source mainly focuses on making assessment on the 1911 Revolution. It analyses not only the causes and effects of the 1911 Revolution, but also why and how Anti-Manchu ideas and revolutionary movement started before the 1911 Revolution, and the contribution of Sun Yat Sen. The source is critical in reviewing the effects of the 1911 Revolution, by pointing out the failure of the 1911 Revolution in bringing changes in “the composition of the Chinese ruling classes”[5]. The analysis is carried in a systematic way by considering internal and external factors, and from political, social, ideological and military aspects. However, the analysis is not written in a detailed way -- each point of view is written by a few sentences and few evidences are cited to support the author’s point of view.

 

In terms of accuracy, the source is not written in a well-knitted way, and often, the interpretation sounds weak, for example ,in introducing Sun Yat Sun’s biography, the author states “Born in such an environment (South China), Sun was himself deeply revolutionary in character”. Moreover, a few typographical errors and grammatical errors are found, such as “More and mote people”[6], “From the mid-19th century on”[7]. The inaccuracy in language affects the reliability of the source adversely.

 

As the topic is about the “Nanyang Chinese contribution to the 1911 Revolution”, the source only has a line to mention about Southeast Asian Chinses gave “enthusiastic financial support”, since its main focus is not on the overseas Chinese in the Revolution. Thus, there is a lack of useful information on the topic and the usefulness of this source is limited.

 

Reliability Analysis

From the built-in forum which is frequently updated on the website, the author of the source, Philip YL Woo, is a history textbook writer, whose particulars cannot be revealed to requestors[8] and the work is claimed to publish in 1979 and is out of print now by the web administrator[9]. A simple search on Google on Philip YL Woo does not yield results on the credentials of the author or reviews of his work, but only his other work linked by other personal websites. Thus without proper authority, the source should not be seen as a reliable one for academic research.

 

This website “thecorner.org” is a personal website which does not belong to any institution and organization, but is affiliated to “Tai Ji” website. It reproduces work online from textbooks for education purpose in history. The history topics it covers ranges from world history to Chinese and Japanese history. All these imply that the website is probably set up by history manias who love to share history sources. Again, this cannot confirm the reliability of the source.

 

In conclusion, the first source is highly relevant but the information is not detailed and the presentation of the source may be biased, the second source is not relevant and not reliable, though the analysis on the 1911 Revolution looks impressive. From evaluating the two popular websites, we can see that there are a few problems associating with the credibility of using popular websites: 1) no citation and reference; 2) not regulated and maintained by reputable and professional editorial teams; 3) the purpose of the website being not purely academic may introduce element of bias. Thus, when one comes to research and study, he should refrain from using the popular online sources.

                                                                                                                (1500 words)

 

 

---

SSA2211 Assignment 1                         

Grade:B-

Remember the Statesmen

 

This narrative is to discuss why and how the statesmen should be remembered in Singapore’s history. The discussion will focus on Mr Lim Kim San, a great Singaporean who served his nation almost his lifetime and passed away recently.

 

 

As one member of the Old Guard, Mr Lim Kim San is said to be one of the founding fathers for Singapore. He had been servicing the nation since 1959 when he was the Deputy Chairman of Public Service Commission Singapore. Despite having contributing to the nation for long, he held key positions, usually chairman, in various ministries – Housing and Development Board (HDB), Economic and Development Board, National Development, Minister for Finance, Minister for Education, Minister for Interior and Defence, Minister for Environment, Public Utilities Board[1]. Mr Lim concurrently led 3 prominent ministry and statutory boards – Public Service Commission, Housing and Development Board and Economic and Development Board from 1960 to 1963 when Singapore just had its independent cabinet formed. Thus, having said that Mr Lim impacts the whole then-cabinet, formation of modern Singapore and next generation of government leaders is not exaggerating.

 

 

Perhaps, Mr Lim is most remembered by the nation and public as Mr HDB – establishing low-cost housing units for the masses and breaking the back of Singapore’s housing shortage[2]. In 1960, Mr Lim became the first chairman of HDB and pioneered housing programmes to solve Singapore’s housing problem. Mr Lim showed his competence and leadership quality by figures: within less than one year, 1,682 units of flats with decent amenity were completed; His first three years of HDB construction project built 23,019 units, the same quantity built by the Singapore Improvement Trust in 32 years.[3] In 1960 Bukit Ho Swe’s big fire, thousands of people were made homeless, yet Mr Lim was able to produce one-room flats for them in one and half years.[4] Moreover, Mr Lim introduced “Home ownership” scheme for low-income group. It was Mr Lim who provided generations of Singaporeans an affordable and decent home, more crucially, this improved the living standard for Singaporeans and geared up workforce to develop the Singapore economy.

 

 

Yet, Mr Lim’s contribution to other areas for Singapore’s nation-building is also far reaching - he initiated land reclamation programme and cleaning Singapore river programme, built Seletar and Upper Pierce Reservoirs and successfully secured a third water pipeline from Johore.

 

 

Even after Mr Lim retired from politics in 1981, he still remained active in economic arena, chairing several statutory boards: Singapore Press Holding (SPH), Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), Monetary Authority of Singapore and Council of Presidential Advisors. He amazingly overturned SPH and PSA into lucrative corporation giants, providing sound business management models for Singapore companies.

 

 

What actually makes Mr Lim most admirable is the fact that his keen interest to serve his nation, by sacrificing personal gains. Mr Lim was a gifted businessman, earning himself first million by inventing a machine which produced pearls cheaply.[5] In fact, before Mr Lee Kuan Yew approached him and appointed him any government position, Mr Lim was already a director of United Chinese Bank (the presecessor of United Overseas Bank). Giving up his prosperous career in commerce and shouldering great responsibility for heading various ministries in politics, Mr Lim was selfless and patriotic. He once said, “To serve your country is a privilege. It is an honour. I am very proud to be able to say: 'I have served my country'.”[6] Even he worked for free for three years when he was the chairman of HDB. Mr Lim’s passion for his nation provides a role-model for all Singaporeans.

 

 

The Singapore government leads a positive direction to remember great men by honouring them. In 1962, the government awarded Mr Lim the Order of Temasek – the country’s highest honour – for his efforts in solving Singapore’s housing problem. And Mr Lim was the first Singapore in history to receive this award. The Singapore government paid its respect to Mr Lim especially on his funeral – giving him a state funeral. The government assisted Mr Lim’s family in arranging the funeral, the government heads paid tribute and attended his funeral, national flags in every government building were flown at half-mast on the day of his funeral and Mr Lim’s body was wrapped in the national flag.

 

Tertiary institutions and other corporate deeply commemorate Mr Lim, recognizing his great contribution to the nation. The Singapore Press Holdings Foundation has set up the Lim Kim San Memorial Scholarship in memory of SPH's former chairman[7]. Also, National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up Lim Kim San Professorship in Business Policy for which every corporate sponsor approached was keen to make a donation due to Mr Lim’s vast reputation and recognition in commercial scene[8]. Local mass media had intensive coverage on his stories and contribution when he just passed away.

 

 

When Mr Lim passed away, many public members wrote into media to pay tribute to Mr Lim but another hot topic caused by this issue is, how much do the Singapore youth know about the very first generation of Singapore’s leaders? Even undergraduates majoring in political science do not know about Mr Lim[9]. Our education system is lacking something to tell the young about all the prominent figures in Singapore’s history. It is impossible that history textbooks in primary and secondary school contain all the stories of those legendary statesmen, however, there are some other ways to do it – Ministry of Education could publish story booklets[10] of those statesmen as complimentary reading for history study; schools can frequently organize visits to museums for students to see the exhibits and learn more about Singapore’s history – these trips may make learning Singapore history interesting, with vivid artifacts and exhibits. At the tertiary level, NUS has leapt forward by making Singapore Studies Module a compulsory criterion for graduation. Singapore Studies offers a variety of Singapore-related subjects, allowing students not only learn about Singapore history, but also other aspects, such as geography, environment and economic development. This is an efficient way to “make” students to learn something about Singapore, however, the extent of this policy to cultivate students’ interest needs to be examined. A large proportion of students study this module for the sake of satisfying graduation requirement, and many just take it as a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory module which means without much effort they would pass it easily. Yet, making students learn something is better than students learn nothing at all.

 

 

The statesmen created modern Singapore, their experience and stories serve to teach the future generations lessons and inspire them to have fight spirit to further the nations. How to remember them in history ultimate transforms to the question of how to make history interesting, to make Singapore’s youth concern about their nation, the uneasy and glory past and the uncertain future. Perhaps, the Ministry of Education has to revise its history teaching textbooks and measures.

 

 

(1298 words)