Rickshaw Coolie: An exploration of the underside of a Chinese City outside China, Singapore 1880-1940: Towards an approach

This paper represents the working through of some problems related to the purpose and usefulness of my research in progress on a trilogy on the urban/social history of Singapore with particular reference to the Chinese labouring class. The initial volume is about the life and labour of the rickshawman of Singapore. Rickshaw Coolie examines the origin and development of the rickshaw trade in Singapore; its control and regulation from the standpoint of the Chinese and British; the method of earning a livelihood in rickshaw pulling, and the character of a rickshaw coolie's life. The other two volumes are provisionally titled “The Social Evil: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Singapore, 1867-1941” and “Chinese Suicide in Singapore, 1883-1939.