Book
One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: The Annotated Edition
Topics
History
12 March 2020
Ever since it was first published in 1923, Song Ong Siang’s (1871–1941) One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore has been the standard reference text on some of Singapore’s early Chinese personalities and their contributions.
By Ong Siang Song and Kevin YL Tan (annotator)
Singapore: National Library Board and World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 2020.
About the Book
Since its publication in 1923, Sir Song Ong Siang's One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore has become the standard biographical reference of prominent Chinese in early Singapore, at least in the English language. This fact would have surprised Song who saw himself primarily as a compiler of historical and biographical snippets. The original was not referenced in academic fashion and contained a number of errors. This annotation by the Singapore Heritage Society takes Song's classic text and updates it with detailed annotations of sources that Song himself might have consulted, and includes more recent scholarship on the lives and times of various personalities who are mentioned in the original book. This annotated edition is commissioned by the National Library Board, Singapore and co-published with World Scientific Publishing.