In the early 1900s, as the bid to overthrow more than 200 years of Qing rule in China gathered pace, the Chinese community in Singapore kept a keen eye on the revolutionary movement, channelling funds and setting up newspapers and political associations to drum up support for the cause.

Their efforts ultimately contributed to the end of imperial rule in China and paved the way to the establishment of the Chinese republic. At the same time, such activities also left behind an oft-overlooked legacy here: the emergence of cartoons in Chinese-language newspapers here.