miss heng's china trip journal thingy..has a hilarious picture of her when she was in her twenties or something

6 June 1987 (Sat) Shanghai/Singapore

All packed up and dressed up in our formal uniform (again!) we checked out of our hotel and were on our way.
We arrived at Dr.Sun Yat Sen’s residence. Dr.Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925) the “Father of the Republic”, fought for democracy in China after the Manchu rule.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the inside of his house. Cameras and even handbags had to be left in a cupboard and we had to wear plastic shower caps over our shoes so as to preserve the cleanliness of the house! The kitchen served as the main entrance to his residence and was where all our belongings were temporarily with-held from our use.
The house was spotless and looked quite new in fact! Many objects were encased in glass so as to preserve them. Everything was extremely well-kept. We were impressed by the preservation of his residence and its contents.
The spacious house was full of antique furniture, and books, shelves and shelves of books. There were bookcases to be found in the hall and upstairs landing. He must have loved books because he had 2,700 of them! The subject matter of these books varied from economics to psychology, sociology and history.
He appreciated literature, Shakespeare amongst them. He also displayed an appreciation for art as can be seen in the pottery, figurines and other works of art around the house. He also owned several maps. A very intellectual man indeed, this Dr. Sun! He even owned a radio!
We then proceeded to the garden to take photos before leaving the place.
The Shanghai International Airport was our final destination in China. We checked in our luggage, which by now had multiplied (but thankfully not doubled!) in number. But since we were such a large group, we were safe.
We said our farewells to Xu Xiaojie and Mdm. Zhao, our Beijing tour guides who had accompanied us to Xian and then to Shanghai, and our Shanghai tour guide Miss Chou and our bus driver Mr. Su. We then proceeded through customs. Those of us who had excess Chinese currency changed it back to Singapore notes.
We finally boarded the plane at 2.25 pm, the time of our scheduled take-off, so that explained why the crew hurried us up and tried to get us settled as fast as possible.
Our three and a half hour flight was indeed a memorable and fitting end to a successful history tour of China. Since SIA was celebrating its 40th anniversary, they served champagne (we got orange juice!) and cake and gave us each a neck-rest as a souvenir.
We took 30 of SIA’s 40th anniversary menus as our autograph books and passed them up and down the aisle.
They didn’t show the inflight movie because there was so much activity in the rear of the plane (That’s where we were!) and people didn’t seem to miss it anyway!“Here endeth” our historical history tour to China, but the memories we made together in that ancient land of beauty and history would linger on in our hearts and minds for a long time yet.

moi history ca2...aya juz one more measly mark and im top..sob

No, I do not agree. Japan faced economic constraints in its goal to become a world power. This is because of its lack of resources such as land and raw materials. Japan relied on other countries, especially the USA, for resources. While it was a factor for Japan’s move to war in the Asia Pacific, it was not the most important. The other factors are Japan’s fear of Western colonisation and the rise of militarism in Japan. The Japanese were a very proud people. They considered relying on the USA for resources as dishonourable and it was seen as a weakness. They wanted to be an autonomy. Since they did not have enough of the necessary resources, they decided to take over land that had these resources. They did this by invading parts of China and colonies of Western powers in South-east Asia. This provoked the Western powers and was seen as an act of aggression. In an attempt to prevent the US from making any immediate counter-attacks, the Japanese bombed the US fleet at Pearl Harbour without first declaring war. However, I think that the most important reason for Japan’s entry into the war in the Asia Pacific is its fear of expanding Western colonisation. Japan had observed how the Western powers had conquered most of Asia. It had also seen how its neighbour, China, had been defeated when it refused to conduct trade with the Western powers. It did not want to be colonized. Japan saw that the only way to prevent itself from being colonized was to become a world power. To do this required resources such as land, oil, scrap metals, ammunitions, etc., that Japan scarcely had. So, it adopted militarism and decided to take over areas that had it. From this we can see that Japan’s entry into the Pacific War, as it had also influenced the other factors.