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 The University Socialist Club (USC) was formed in February 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s the USC and its organ Fajar were a leading voice advocating the cause of the constitutional struggle for freedom and independence in peninsular Malaya and Singapore. The Fajar Generation tells the hitherto neglected story of a remarkable group of men and women who advanced a radical agenda of anti-colonialism, democracy, multiculturalism and social justice through the agency of the USC. Through personal memoirs and analytical essays the contributors to this collection illuminate the roles that they played in that extraordinary era of political turmoil in the modern histories of Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore, where different strands of nationalist thinking and competing political formations battled to define and shape the character of the future nation states. Indexed.  The grandson of an Indian immigrant and the first Malay commoner to become prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad turned the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country into one of the developing world's most successful economies. During his 22 years in power he adopted pragmatic economic policies alongside repressive political measures, and showed that Islam was compatible with representative government and modernisation. Abrasive and outspoken, Mahathir emerged as a Third World champion and Islamic spokesman by condemning the West, not least for trying to impose liberal democracy and neo-liberal economics on developing nations. By raising living standards and winning international acclaim, he contributed to a sense of national identity, pride and confidence among ethnically diverse Malaysians. But in mixing business and politics, Mahathir encouraged cronyism and failed to prevent the spread of corruption. Authoritarian and impatient, he jailed opponents, sacked rivals and undermined institutions as he pursued his obsession with development. In retirement, he broke a promise to stay out of politics, falling out with his two successors while using all available means to protect his legacy.  When P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh launched India's "Look East" policy, it was only the first stage of the strategy to foster economic and security cooperation with the United States. But "Looking East" became an end in itself, and Singapore a valid destination, largely because of Lee Kuan Yew. He had been trying since the 1950s to persuade India's leaders that China would steal a march on them if they neglected domestic reform and ignored a region that India had influenced profoundly in ancient times. With his deep understanding of Indian life, close ties with India's leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru on, and sound grasp of realpolitik, Lee never tired of stressing that Asia would be "submerged" if India did not "emerge".
Looking East to Look West recounts how India and Singapore rediscovered long-forgotten ties in the endeavour to create a new Asia. Singapore sponsored India's membership of regional institutions. India and Singapore broke diplomatic convention with unprecedented economic and defence agreements that are set to transform boundaries of trade and cooperation.
This book traces the process from the earliest mention of Suvarnadbhumi in the Ramayana to Lee Kuan Yew's letter to Lal Bahadur Shastri within moments of declaring independence on 9 August 1965, from the Tata's pioneering industrial training venture in Singapore to Singapore's Information Technology Park in Bangalore. It explains the part Lee played in India's emergence as a player in the emerging Concert of Asia.
History comes alive in these pages as Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, who had eight long conversations with Lee Kuan Yew, tells the story in the words of the main actors and with a wealth of anecdotes and personal details not available to many chroniclers.  Farish A. Noor might just be Malaysia's hippest intellectual. His gifts are on full display in these expanded versions of public lectures that he delivered at the The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Kuala Lumpur in 2008 and 2009, plus a bonus chapter.
Find out how 'racial difference' became a big deal in Malaysia and contrast this against the way our distant ancestors lived. Discover the hidden stories of the keris, Hang Tuah and PAS. There's also quite a bit of sex. Erudite, impassioned and often plain naughty, What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You is a stimulating plunge into aspects of our past that have been kept from us.  This volume is a compilation of the proceedings arising from the inaugural International Maritime Security Conference 2009 held on 13-14 May 2009 in Singapore. The conference sought to promote global maritime safety and security and to update maritime practitioners on the latest cooperative efforts and technological developments in the maritime domain. Senior naval officers and officials from Australia, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and the International Maritime Organisation presented at the conference, and their papers are included in this volume.  In this delightful book filled with unpublished media stories and useful practical tips, former journalist and spin doctor Quak Hiang Whai serves up some of the most spectacular media crises, fiascos, and lessons culled from his two decades of media experience. He also shares some of his positive impression of astute political and corporate leaders who have shown the way in taming the media tiger.
Through colourful anecdotes, Hiang Whai offers his media management philosophy and methods to both media managers and their bosses on how they can better organise themselves and manage their media relations. At a practical level, the book deals with a wide spectrum of key media topics such as contact building, story pitching, press conferences, difficult stories, crisis management, public speaking, press interviews, photo opportunity, error correction and television appearances.
Hiang Whai also takes a tongue-in-cheek dig at some of his peers in the media profession as well as a close look at the newsroom structure and practices. In his final analysis, the author warns that non-engagement is not an option for any modern leader. Public and private organisations can achieve so much more in what they do with just a little more focus, resources and efforts on the media management front.  This book sketches out some of the transformative bold changes that have occurred in Singapore society since the late 1990s. It focuses on Singapore's ambitious efforts to re-orient its economy to take on the challenges thrown up by the competitive pressures of globalisation, and how in the process it has had to "remake" itself. The advent of casinos is part of that remaking process. Once repeatedly rejected by a socially conservative government that has ruled the city-state since its dependence in 1965, casinos, as part of two "integrated resorts", will now become a fixture of the Singapore landscape.
The likely economic benefits and social consequences of casino gambling in a densely populated city-state are examined at length. Singapore's relatively liberal policy of allowing foreign nationals to live, study, work and take up permanent residency and citizenship will also be scrutinised largely in terms of its impact on social cohesion and national identity. Have the transformative economic and social changes that have occurred in a small country over such a short space of time, and at such breakneck speed, unwittingly morphed it from being a nation-state to being purely an economic entity?  In 1999, the sudden emergence of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) made all the difference to thousands of shareholders owning billions of dollars of CLOB shares. It was a milestone in shareholder activism. A group of public-spirited individuals had banded together, challenged a foreign government, and won.
Dare to Challenge looks not only at the challenges SIAS had to overcome 10 years ago, but also the challenges it has faced since. It covers landmark cases in crisis management and how SIAS found a unique approach to shareholder activism that has successfully brought win-win resolutions for both companies and investors.  Gedung Kuning or the Yellow Mansion was home to the family of Haji Yusoff 'Tali Pinggang' from 1912 to 1999. It was acquired by the Singapore government in August 1999 under the Land Acquisition Act. What used to house six families is now preserved as a historic building under the Malay Heritage Centre.
Hidayah Amin, one of Haji Yusoff's great-granddaughters, revisits her childhood home and takes readers beyond the gate guarded by stone eagles, through rooms with big mirrors and marble floors, and shares interesting anecdotes growing up in Gedung Kuning.
Through 28 short stories, readers get a historical narrative detailing the lives of people living in Gedung Kuning and the Malays of Singapore from 1850s to 1999.  While journalism adheres to an assumed universal ethical code and methodology, its goals and functions are essentially framed by local factors, and to an extent, existential imperatives. Discussions on what constitutes best practices of journalism in the Asian context are ideologically polarised. For instance, governments in new industrialised countries and socialist bloc see the media more as a state apparatus and a prime mover of national development. This conflicts with civil societies' conception of professional journalism as a public trust, a representative of the common people that keeps a close check on those in power.
This book eschews direct references to the Pulitzer-type criteria as the exclusive benchmarks of journalistic excellence. Instead, it canvasses the scattered literature on best media practices for a cultural context and gathers the opinions of working journalists in Asia to grasp at these elusive benchmarks. The eclectic achievements of Asian journalists featured in this book show the varied - and at times notional - forms of "best practices" in the region. This book concludes that best practices in journalism are essentially culturally defined and best understood from within the realities that influence the socially transformative work by Asia journalists who have built their professional career and won awards for their enterprising coverage of human development issues.  Many archival photographs enhance this study of the life and legacy of Eu Tong Seng (1877-1941) whose lifestyle, wealth and achievements in the development of Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong are still material for myth-making. Eu's life, ideas and enterprises brought him immense wealth. His empire included theatres, cinemas and major public building and palatial residences for his vast family as well as commercial estates and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Eu Yan Sang shops which are now so well known in Southeast Asia and beyond. The basic principles which underpinned Eu's enterprises are highlighted and a chronology charts relevant milestones to 2007.  People across Asia carry multiple names meaningful to different audiences. Some are used only in family relations while others locate individuals in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, caste, class, and nation. This path-breaking volume classifies and theorizes the systems underlying naming practices in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia where systems are abundant and fluid. Using historical and socio-anthropological perspectives, the authors of this exceptionally close collaborative effort show the intricate connections between naming systems, notions of personhood and the prevailing ethos of interpersonal relations. They also show how the peoples of Asia are fashioning new types of naming and different ways of identifying themselves to suit the demands of a changing world.  Standing, as Somerset Maugham once said for all the fables of the exotic East, Raffles Hotel in Singapore has always been an unique institution. The haunt of celebrities ranging from Hollywood stars to Heads of State, it has been the setting for innumerable films and television productions. Roberto Pregarz, who was the Assistant General Manager of Raffles Hotel from 1967 to 1972, and then the General Manager from 1972 to 1989, was instrumental in making Raffles Hotel one of the most famous hotel in the world. He worked closely with writers, journalists, broadcasters and film directors to tell the world the Raffles Hotel story. Now, in Raffles Legends and Stories, Roberto has written his own reminiscences of his time at the hotel. Originally published in 1990 as Memories of Raffles, this updated edition includes a short segment on the re-opening of Raffles Hotel in 1991 after a major restoration.  The expansion of the Cholas from their base in the Kaveri Delta saw this growing power subdue the kingdoms of southern India, as well as occupy Sri Lanka and the Maldives, by the early eleventh century. It was also during this period that the Cholas initiated links with Song China.
Concurrently, the Southeast Asian polity of Sriwijaya had, through its Sumatran and Malayan ports, come to occupy a key position in East-West maritime trade, requiring engagement with both Song China to the north and the Chola kingdom to its west. The apparently friendly relations pursued were, however, to be disrupted in 1025 by Chola naval expeditions against fourteen key port cities in Southeast Asia. This volume examines the background, course and effects of these expeditions, as well as the regional context of the events. It brings to light many aspects of this key period in Asian history.
Unprecedented in the degree of detail assigned to the story of the Chola expeditions, this volume is also unique in that it includes translations of the contemporary Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions relating to Southeast Asia and of the Song dynasty Chinese texts relating to the Chola Kingdom.  Centuries ago, immigrants landed on Singapore's shores. All had the will to work and realise their hopes in the new land. Bringing new faiths and cultures with them, they had a common mission - to make Singapore their homeland. Some of our forefathers have left a legacy with far-reaching benefits, which continues to influence and enhance the lives of generations of their descendants and the community at large, particularly in the form of Singapore's monuments.
This book unfolds the unique tales behind our monuments as framed and captured through the lens of our photographers. The images "freeze" the quiet beauty of each monument, illuminate its synergy with man and the surrounding landscape, and magnify fleeting scenes of life depicted through rites and rituals. Through these photographs and stories, the passion that drove their founders and the energy of those who bring the buildings to life today is revealed.  This substantial "biography" of Singapore draws on the resources of the National Museum as it brings to life people and events that since early times have shaped the island of Singapore. Anecdotes and sidelights as well as archival material make this both a scholarly and an accessible view of the country's people and development up to 9 August 1965. With high-quality illustrations, end notes, bibliography and index.  The 2009 revised 3rd edition of the Mary Turnbull's 1977 History of Singapore charts and discusses events in the Republic up to 2005 and the appointment of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The additions and revisions to the text and the author's at times astringent analyses ensure that this scholarly narrative history will continue to be a - if not the - basic textbook of Singapore's eventful development. With extensive references and bibliography and index.  Much has been written about how the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) lost the shooting war in the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). Much less has been written about what happened thereafter. By 1960, the CPM's 'long march" from the Malayan interior into Southern Thailand was complete. There, the CPM reorganised, reviewed their strategy and bided their time. From 1968 to 1989, the Malaysian security forces and the CPM once again confronted each other in the jungles of the Malaysian-Thai border in what was known as the Second Emergency.
In an attempt to subvert the populations of Malaysia and Singapore and win them over to their revived revolutionary cause, the CPM embarked on a clandestine radio war. From a Chinese military base in Hunan, China, the CPM's underground radio network transmitted under the codename Project 691 and on the airwaves as "Suara Revolusi Malaya" or "Voice of the Malayan Revolution" (VMR).
This edited volume, for the very first time, reproduces a selection of those broadcasts. These hitherto classified transcripts of the Internal Security Department, Singapore, are supplemented with an introductory essay and chapter introductions that seek to situate the selected documents against the revolutionary events of the 60s and 70s in Southeast Asia. This selection is accompanied by a CD containing all available transcripts of VMR broadcasts made from its very first broadcast in 1969 to its very last in 1981.  These nine papers are those given in English at the 2007 international conference on Chinese Migration at Singapore's Chinese Heritage Centre. They explore Chinese migration patterns and expectations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia with separate papers on the Philippines and Malaysia. A paper on Singapore Tea Merchants highlights comparisons of orientations and loyalties in the pre- and post-WWII periods. Three case studies of Singapore Chinese migrants serve to illustrate aspects of transnationalism. With index and separate bibliographies.  This collection of essays by young Malay/Muslims provides a refreshing, if somewhat provocative, alternative to the views that currently permeate the local Malay/Muslim community. The sometimes self-critical, yet always constructive, reflections, sample the psyche and the thought processes of young members of minority group in a heterogeneous society. They straddle ideas on the effects of Islamic extremism and radicalism; the implication and the utility of the internet; the impact of the environment on Islamic Thought and Practices; the current state of Muslim women activism; the critical need for inter-racial interaction; the urgency to emphasize education and scientific understanding; the future role of Malay/Muslim Youth Activism in Singapore. Crucially, the essays ask how young Malay/Muslims should develop a religious and a cultural identity alongside a Singaporean urban identity.  Southeast Asia is known to many as a region teeming with tourist destinations, economic opportunities and ex-colonies, but a lesser-known facet is its colourful Peranakan culture. In this book, Straits Chinese culture is viewed through the lens of beadwork production. As a vital part of Peranakan culture, beadwork becomes an important social document. Although languishing by the second half of the 20th century, a revival of the metier has been brought about in recent years single-handedly by the renowned beader and teacher, Bebe Seet.
In this present volume, Bebe provides an avenue by which our current knowledge of beadwork is reconstructed. Through her expertise and her clear, illustrated instructions to beginners, the book also aims to underline the ways in which beadwork is still relevant in our contemporary society. The result is a much-needed breath of fresh air injected into a dying form of art, and any lover of Peranakan culture will find this tome a comprehensive and insightful overview of the history, aesthetics and methods of beadwork, much of which has remained - until now - in the realm of amateurs and connoisseurs of the craft.  A substantial article by the Curator of the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, introduces this first translation of the major 1910 study of the Javanese Kris by Isaac Groneman (1832-1912), Court Physician to the Sultan of Yogyakarta. New colour photographs drawn from several collections enhance the original study. Details of the processes of forging, selecting tools and materials, of styles and symbols, the significance of different handles, dress (sheaths), motifs, ceremonies, usage demands, and maintenance are all detailed with illustrative drawings and photographs. With extensive glossary and some working diagrams.  The Philippines has been at the confluence of diverse cultural influences, including early Austronesian migrants, Chinese traders, Hindu-Buddhist and Muslim Southeast Asians, as well as Spanish colonisers and the Roman Catholic Church. The interaction of these influences has produced styles of art and architecture which are unique in Southeast Asia and have profoundly affected the development of Filipino culture and identity.
This publication coincides with the exhibition Land of the Morning: the Philippines and its People, held at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM). The diverse material culture of the Philippines is explored, from ancient gold, and Catholic sculpture to tribal textiles and costumes and contemporary art. This publication features nearly 300 objects, both from the ACM's own collection as well as from the Ayala Museum, the National Museum of the Philippines, the Central Bank of the Philippines and private lenders in Manila and Singapore. This is the first time that this superb group of objects, including a number of important national treasures, has ever been seen together, making this publication an important document on Filipino culture.  This is the first comprehensive history of Burmese painting, from eleventh-century Pagan to the present, including over 175 painters and more than 300 photographs of work. The book explores the historical transformations of the art, with psychological interpretations of major artists, the legends which followed them, and analysis of their oeuvres. It also probes the unusual lateral dimensions of Burmese painting, where 1,000 years of tradition have continued to survive and shape a rich corpus of largely unknown work. Ranard links the traditional roots of Burmese painting in India with later influences from China, Thailand, Britain, Northern Europe, and America. Burma is an isolated country, but its art has been a major wellspring of inspiration in Southeast Asia. Today, the country struggles to reconcile complex pressures, and Ranard digs deeply to uncover layers of conflict reflected in Burmese painting.  Over the last two decades, Anjalendran has established himself as one of Sri Lanka's leading architects and his work has attracted interest across the entire Indian continent. His buildings have a simple directness and although totally modern in spirit, they acknowledge the rich traditions of Sri Lanka. Whether working with ample budgets or a rock bottom cost (as with his SOS Children's Village orphanages), his projects focus on not only creative buildings, but also their landscaping, furniture, and decoration.
This book begins with an introduction to Anjalendran the man. We are then invited to explore his work through the many examples of townhouses, suburban houses, country houses, offices, and SOS Children's Villages. The text is supplemented by a wealth of rich, colour photographs, as well as architectural plans.  Creative communities in Asia are increasingly able to operate on a global stage and achieve cross-cultural interchanges with the West. The diverse cultural and social practices in Asia are now having far-reaching implications for the theories and practices of architecture and design. A two-day conference on Asian Design Culture was held in Singapore in late 2008. This collection of essays comprises six stimulating theoretical papers and four insightful city-oriented papers addressing the three themes of design culture, creativity and criticality. The papers covers issues from contrasting cultural traditions, current global urban practices, the archival of cultural memory, urban history, contemporary fringe art and the emerging Asian art scene. Contributors to this volume include Li Shiqiao, Reinhold Martin, Nikos Papastergiadis, Bobby Wong Chong-Thai, John Philips, Jiang Jun, H. Koon Wee, Eunice M.F. Seng, Pratan Teeratada, Chi Ti-Nan and Andrea Mina. There is also a prologue by William S.W. Lim.  In September 2008, a group of architects, academics and affiliated professionals from AA Asia embarked on a 5-day journey to explore Taiwan's architectural and urban culture. Taiwan: Complex Character, the first bilingual AA Asia Monograph, is a travelogue recording what was seen, learnt and experienced, as well as a collection of critical essays by both the travellers and the local hosts, on the architecture, culture, and urbanism of Taiwan.  This is a novel about the life of a Hainanese family from the late Qing dynasty to the present time. In it, one follows the story of how the family survived great hardships in a poverty-stricken village in Hainan, China and found hope and future in their adopted land of Singapore. It tells of a determined and resourceful young man who started life in colonial Singapore as a coffee-shop assistant, peddling bread and kaya on a rickety bicycle along the streets of Katong who later overcame the odds to become a successful contractor for the British colonial administration. The author traces the difficult life the family led, especially during the unsettling days of the Japanese Occupation and the turbulent fifties. However, the trials and tribulations did not deter the third generation of the family, who found success in different pursuits around the world. Written with a fine journalistic eye honed through a long career as a reporter in a local Chinese daily, the author brings a strong humanistic touch to this vivid and often moving portrayal of events and personalities, not just in Singapore and Hainan, but also in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Pakistan, and Canada. In Chinese.  Boey Kim Cheng is a prize-winning poet with four published collections. Between Stations traces Boey's travels through India, China, Egypt and Morocco. In each place he visits, the cosmopolitan mix of peoples, the markets and crossroads, the overlays of history and religion, remind him of old Singapore and of his gambler father, who would return after long absences to walk with him down the vanished arcades and alleys, past the shophouses and hawkers' stalls. Boey's essays capture a historic moment in the modernisation of the Asian city; they chronicle the break-up and the resilience of the family.  Set in the background of Singapore's struggle for independence, the narrative explores the notion of predestination. Determined to live a life far removed from that of her mother's and grandmother's, the protagonist, Lisa, sets off on her own to discover a life beyond her comfort zone. In this journey of discovery, she is wrenched from her traditional mode of thinking as she confronts betrayal, homosexuality, wife-battering, murder, suicide, fraud and lechery.
Interwoven with these are the historical moments which shaped the development of Singapore from a British Crown Colony to an independent nation. Although the narrative is rooted in autobiographical parallels and details, the portrayal of characters and dialogues are fictitious.
In The Tessellated Path, Rosaly Puthucheary has constructed an engrossing tale with allusions to the myths and legends of this region. The Vedic astrological sign, the Dragon's Tail, which hangs like a hostile force over the protagonist, becomes a metaphor for the unknown forces she must encounter to finally reach her destiny.  Disillusioned with her London life, anthropologist Bethany Parker takes a last minute offer to help build an eco resort in the Indonesian rainforest, trading cappuccinos, a lacklustre boyfriend and her one bedroom flat for mosquito nets, longhouses and an international team of environmentalists. Thrust into a lush, colourful and sometimes brutal world of tribal traditions, tensions and struggles between east and west, Bethany is forced to learn about herself as she learns about Borneo. A Taste for Green Tangerines was the No. 1 best seller at Foyles for three consecutive weeks when it was launched.  This is Book One of Volume Two of the Writing Asia series. This series contain significant studies of Singapore-Malaysian literature written in English since the 1940s. The 30 papers by leading scholars in both countries illuminate and analyse both the very considerable output of poetry, fiction and non-fiction works, the political, social and academic contexts from which they emerged, and also some of the controversies which have been associated with local writers and their views. With bibliographies and index.  This is Book Two of Volume Two of the Writing Asia series. This series contain significant studies of Singapore-Malaysian literature written in English since the 1940s. The 30 papers by leading scholars in both countries illuminate and analyse both the very considerable output of poetry, fiction and non-fiction works, the political, social and academic contexts from which they emerged, and also some of the controversies which have been associated with local writers and their views. With bibliographies and index.  These six thoughtful papers by specialist academics are revisions of those given at the 2008 Singapore seminar on Muslim Reform in Southeast Asia. Two papers are on the religious context and theories of the Reform movements. Two papers offer perspectives of the different social contexts and dynamics of Reform in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. The significant roles played by higher educational institutions in Indonesia are also explored. With bibliographies and index.  Accountant and businessman Tan Wee Cheng has a taste for travel to places where tourists don't go. He chooses destinations associated with controversy and confusion and misperceptions. His accounts of his travelling in North Korea, the Western Balkans, the Yemen, Libya, the Sudan, Iran and Lebanon are laced with shrewd, original and often unexpected comments on people and places. With black-and-white photography.  An illustrated catalogue of the 123 colourful natural history drawings of the Raffles Family Collection, acquired by the British Library in 2007. In February 1824, Sir Stamford Raffles and his wife Sophia set sail for Britain on the Fame, with the collections made during his years of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. These included two to three thousand drawings, priceless Malay manuscripts and living animals, including a tiger specially tamed for the trip. Tragically the ship caught fire with the loss of all the collections. During the next ten weeks until the next boat sailed, a Chinese and a French artist managed to replace about 80 of the drawings that, with earlier drawings, including some made on the Malaysian island of Penang for the East India Company surgeon William Hunter, form the core of the collection.  Background information on the Borneo climate, avian habitats and topography introduce the species details and impressive inset illustrations of the 631 bird species known to inhabit Borneo. Each of the 631 entries includes species details, behaviour, nesting and habitat information, a distribution map and one or more colour illustrations. With bibliography and scientific and English name index.  This revised edition of Trees of Our Garden City has been redesigned to make it more reader friendly. This edition contains expanded chapters and the introduction of 70 species of plants not covered in the first edition. This richly illustrated book opens with the story of the greening of the Singapore, followed by chapters introducing tree and palm species, tree biology, tree care, rooftop gardens and the relationship between trees and the environment. With glossary, bibliography and an index of botanical/common/Mandarin tree names.  New 2009/2010 edition of the Miele Guide for foodies looking for top-level restaurants in Asia. Location details and ranked reviews - but not price levels - are given for some 450 restaurants in 16 countries. There are also listings of the Top 5 in each country. Index.  Vietnam is one of the few Southeast Asian nations to experience four seasons and with the passing of each season, the land and scenery undergoes changes that are both profound and beautiful. In the rites associated with each season, we begin to perceive the ancient practices that are the focus of this book - rejuvenation, refreshment, and reinvigoration of mind, body and soul. This respect for Nature represents an important aspect of the spa concept in Vietnam.
This attractively illustrated book does not promote spa facilities in Vietnam. Instead, it explores some of the secrets of wellness, youthfulness and beauty, secrets that have been developed and preserved by the people of Vietnam since ancient times. This journey of discovery begins with a look at the ingredients used in traditional spa treatments, healing practices of the royal court, the different schools of healing practices that exist, the secrets to keeping the body looking good, the health-promoting principles of Vietnamese cuisine, and finally, the importance of mindfulness in all things we do.  Food is an abiding Singaporean passion - an obsession quite simply because there's so much of it that's so good on this tiny, multicultural island. This book is a veritable compendium of beloved classics, including the most fabulous Hainanese Chicken Rice and Singapore Chilli Crab you will have ever eaten, as well as less common but equally delightful dishes, such as Ayam Tempura and Nasi Ulam.
The recipes are easy to follow and accompanied by clear, colour photographs. The reader's acquaintance - or re-acquaintance - with Singapore food promises to be an exciting and mouth-watering experience.  Here are some 60 illustrated recipes in the Straits Teochew culinary tradition. This book serves not only as a cookbook, but also a loving and insightful account of three generations of a Singapore family. The author's forbears tell how since the 1930s they have experienced disruption, poverty, tragedies, hard work and have shown indomitable adaptability. Some of the recipes are for delicious and economical traditional dishes now rarely eaten. With archival photographs and index.  This is the second book in the 'Asian Values' series, which aspires to introduce children to Asian values in an accessible and enjoyable way through simple, engaging and thought-provoking stories.
In this book, Baby Panda learns about the importance of Respect. Baby Panda was not very good at showing respect - to his mother, his elders or even to his environment. One day, he becomes lost. With the help of Tiger, Baby Panda is finally reunited with his mother, but not before he has learnt about the importance of respect.
The first book in the series is Water Buffalo's Reward.  The Horse Race is a modern day adaptation of the ancient Chinese classic, Tian Ji's Horse Race. It was first recorded in the "Shi Ji" by the famous Chinese historian Si Ma Qian, circa 100 BC. Set in the ancient Kingdom of Qi between 356 BC and 320 BC, the story documents a horse race that takes place between the King of Qi, Qi Wang, and one of his subordinates, Tian Ji.
The text of the story is presented in English and simplified Chinese with pinyin transliteration. Whether you're a child or an adult, a mathematician, a historian, a student of military tactics and strategies, a lover of fables, an equestrian, or simply curious about China and the Chinese language, you'll find "The Horse Race" a delightful and pleasantly challenging reading experience.  While this richly illustrated encyclopaedia of the history of Malaysia is meant for children, it could give anyone a pleasurable introduction to Malaysia and its background. With quizzes, chronology, glossary, bibliography and index.
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