An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
... a sad history of Singapore and China suffered from Great Britain Empire. And the Brit wanted the world to pretend the this part of history of theirs did not exist.
Your colonial master Brit did not build Singapore from righteousness but from evil doing to the Chinese I China and Overseas Chinese in SEA, your great grandfathers suffered under the Brit.
So how would PAP celebrate S50 without mention of the Brit opium trade in SEA.
Early in the 19th Century, with the Industrial Revolution gathering force in Europe, China’s nearly two-century-long decline was underway. Meanwhile, massive profits from opium enriched the endowments of Harvard and Yale, helped build Princeton and Columbia Universities; launched the fortunes of the Astors, the Delanos (FDR’s grandparents); and bankrolled the Bell Telephone Company, antecedent of AT&T.
River of Smoke is the second book in Amitav Ghosh’s planned Ibis trilogy set among the momentous events of the massive 19th-Century opium trade between India and China.
http://www.malwarwickonbooks.com/a-b...y-opium-trade/
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