Literature =]

1. Do the respective authors use these traditional Chinese rituals ( eating paper dissolved in drink, burning of paper money and houses, lighting joss-sticks and praying to dead ancestors ) just for irony or for more profound purposes? What are these purposes?

I think that the respective authors used those traditional Chinese rituals for more of profound purposes. The authors could be trying to show the tradition of Chinese rituals to people of other races to tell them that even after out ancestors pass away, we will still pay our respects to them by doing things such as burning paper money and houses and lighting joss-sticks. They are also trying to show to others that Chinese believe that by eating paper dissolved in drinks will help to improve our health.

2. Would you yourself, as a modern young Singaporean, see the relevance of such cultural rituals in your society as necessary still, or are a hindrance to progress and enlightened thinking?

Being a modern young Singaporean, I do find such cultural rituals a little bit of a hindrance as we may have to wake up earlier just to carry out the rituals but I do believe that it is necessary as it is our tradition which we have to pass on down to the future generations so as to keep the cultural ritual alive and it also helps to comfort the older generations as some rituals could be for protection for the ones that they love.

3. Do you think the elderly in Singapore are out of touch with the contemporary world? How far is it a virtue to remain contented like old Mrs Li and think that there is nothing more that a person, especially an elderly one, can want?


I think a minority of elderly in Singapore are out of touch with the contemporary world but a majority of them in touch with the contemporary world. Everyday in our life, we can see some of the elderly using things like handphones, mp3 which shows that they are still in touch with the contemporary world. It is not far a virtue to remain contented like old Mrs Li and think that there is nothing more that a person can want than anyone can achieve that.



4. Is looking back at the past necessarily a good thing? This particular story uses the past to affirm strong ties, emotion and sentiment, but when can it become negative habit?

Sometimes, looking back at the past is a good thing because it helps us to learn from our past mistakes so we won’t repeat the same old mistakes. And the past also have lots of memorable things, nobody would wants to forget those happy moments. But thinking too much for the past may cause us some depression. We may be very upset and we will kind of regret what we did and we will keep scolding ourselves hence, these will lead us to depression and it can become a negative habit by distracting you from work and also it may affect the our life.