information:classification, stylistic:style_transfer
Singapore

Singapore received its first rickshaws in 1880 and soon after they were prolific, making a "noticeable change in the traffic on Singapore's streets." Bullock carts and gharries were used before rickshaws were introduced.

Many of the poorest individuals in Singapore in the late nineteenth century were poverty-stricken, unskilled people of Chinese ancestry. Sometimes called coolies, the hardworking men found that pulling a rickshaw was a new opportunity for employment.

In 1897, martial law was declared to end a four-day rickshaw workers' strike.