This Singapore primary school Chinese textbook features children of different races playing a game of skipping on the cover. Such depictions reflect the desire of the Singapore government to foster multiracial understanding and harmony through education. World Book Company produced two sets of Primary Chinese textbooks in 1975 and 1976, in accordance with the syllabus set forth by the Ministry of Education. This particular series published in 1976 was also compatible with the new hanyu pinyin curriculum. World Book Company (the fore-runner of Popular Holdings) was also pivotal in the textbook publishing industry in Singapore. Founded in 1934, World Book Company started as a book distributor and publisher and their first retail bookstore on North Bridge Road. After World War II and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the company incorporated the World Publishing Company in Hong Kong to publish Chinese language books for the Asian market as the supply from China was cut off. In 1952, publishing houses were set up in Singapore and Malaysia to publish Chinese language textbooks.
