1)When I first went on this trip, I wanted to know about AnHui’s culture, due to the different cultures in different provinces of China, and wanted to bond with my companions. The main reason I wanted to go on this trip is because that I would love to understand my classmates better as well as try to be more independent. Personally, I also had craved to know more about the place, as my grandmother originated from AnHui, then moving to another province. Considering that she came from AnHui, I had known next to nothing about the southern provinces of China. So, I had decided to focus on the cultural prospects of AnHui when I set off. Now, after the trip, I feel that most of my goals were fulfilled, being that I now have an idea of the differences and similarities between the different provinces from China, as well as bonded more tightly with the class. In my opinion, I feel that before the OELP trip, our class was closely-knit for a class but after this trip, I truly feel that I can relate with all these people. Now, I think I have managed to understand them, truly, with what goals they have, or small things like their usual habits, in total just to have a connection, and to know them better.
2) The one situation that impacted me the most was the beggars on the streets. To be honest, I expected beggars, from past experiences in other provinces of China. However, for some reason, I really began to think. We have pushed aside a beggar on our trip, just so that our packed schedule would not be delayed by more beggars coming along, once they saw that one beggar has gotten a little bit of money. That one beggar that we pushed aside really gave me a deep impression. However, I started thinking when I got back. Why do we really push aside the beggar? And why do we try to avoid the scene of many beggars trying to beg for some spare change? Should or should we not help the beggar, under the assumption that no other beggars continue trying to get money? To be honest, not all beggars are crippled, or injured in a way that said person is not able to work to get their own money. Considering that there is a lot of competition in China due to their large population. Before the OELP trip, during CID lesson, we had a lesson about helping a beggar, which could relate to this. The thing is, sure, there is a lot of competition in China, but in that case, the beggar, if not severely crippled, could attempt to build up some money through selling cheaper things, hence earning a thin profit, but at least it’s better than lowering your dignity and running out of determination to beg for a living. If anyone hands them money, it is more likely that the person felt pity for the beggar’s ill fate to be “out of the competition”, and I personally feel that the beggar should still keep that bit of honour, to earn a living out of hard work, instead of living on another’s pity.
3) As commonly misinterpreted, many assume that the students in China are less advanced than us, being that their technology is “inferior” to ours, and that we are the ones with the better society, the better living environment. However, from this trip, it is clear that those assumptions are all just heavily prejudiced. For an example, the students in China are far advanced than us in certain subjects, ranging from Physics to Chinese. Of course, they have been brought up this particular way, and Chinese were their first language. On the trip, many classmates have mentioned that they wished that they could go into an English class, so that they can actually be superior at a subject. At first, when looking at their Physics notes, I have felt the same way, wanting to get into an English class so that I could, to put it bluntly, to “show off”. However, I now realised that that was utterly a childish delight of being above others at a particular subject, and since their subjects are more advanced than us, why not learn from them, if I really crave to be the superior one? Hence, I also realised that if I had just given a little more focus, or even asked a few questions, I may also have been able to understand the subject. In honesty, I really do feel that from this trip, I have understood more about this common flaw of mine and I shall try to use this flaw instead as a motivation for me to work hard, and achieve greater results.
Through this OELP trip, I truly felt that I have learnt a lot, and that I am now able to think deeper and not at a shallow level, as I may have used to do before.
Individual Reflection (Days)
Day 1: Leaving Singapore and Song Dynasty City
For Day 1, we gathered at Changi Airport at earlier in the morning, and proceeded with the flight to China, landing in the afternoon in HangZhou, China. Later that evening, we then went to Song Dynasty City, proceeding to both observe the architecture of the Dynasty as well as to watch a live,
well directed performance that simply just displayed the best of the cultural background of the Song Dynasty. Also, the architecture of the buildings were mainly grand and impressive, bring into the limelight the prosperity of the Dynasty.
Day 2: Wahaha Factory Visit and Tea Plantation, Tea Museum
For Day 2, we went to the Wahaha Factory, and spent some extremely educational time listening to the guide talk about Wahaha, straight from its humble beginnings, that went past the numerous challenges that they had to face, such as the SARS outbreak, and the prejudice that the company was just one of the small, weak, and insignificant companies that will make no difference, as to the humongous company that stood as opposed, now one of the most significant big companies that have spread throughout the other countries. In my opinion, one very crucial role in the current success of Wahaha is the creativity. Though the company's creative ideas, they have managed to create new and better products, attracting more consumers and hence becoming more successful.
After the factory visit, we went back on the coach and headed to the Tea Plantation and Museum, where unfortunately we spent a little less time at, due to the tight schedule, and delays. Still, we had a wonderful time there, hearing the guide introduce us to ways of plucking the tea leaves, and the different processes through making tea. Afterwards, we tried different varieties of the native tea, ranging from green tea, red tea and chrysanthemum tea.
Day 3: Tunxi Ink Factory, Cheng Da Wei Abacus Museum, Tunxi Ancient Street and HongCun and XiDi Ancient Villages.
First, we went to the Cheng Da Wei Abacus Museum, where we learnt more about Cheng Da Wei’s character, and also the Abacus that he invented. Cheng Da Wei was particularly gifted in Mathematics, skilled and inventive, such to the respect of many, even Japanese, who used the Abacus.
After that, we headed to the Tunxi Ink Factory, where it was situated close to the Tunxi Ancient Street, and situated on a small hill. In the Ink Factory, we saw the exquisite work of the workers who kneaded the soft dark ink into squarish shapes, such as to then proceed to cut the solid ink into smaller rectangles, that resembled the final product roughly in shape and size. After that, we saw as other workers painted golden paint delicately into the ink pieces, letting the design embedded onto the ink settle.
Then, we headed to Tunxi Ancient Street, where we spent at least half an hour walking through the Ancient Street, which was mainly the place where many of us scoured though the street, both learning the cultural handicrafts, and spending our money on gorgeous little trinkets like a miniature gold-painted Abacus that was fascinating in how intricate the handiwork is.
Following that, we drove to the Ancient Villages and admired the intriguing infrastructure. For example, the different statuses of the people will also mean that the building and symbols on the walls, or corners of the residence would be different, such as how if it was an official’s residence, lions would be carved onto the decorations inside the house. A thing that surprised me was their air conditioner. Originally, I have anticipated that the inside of the room would be humid and stuffy, but however, the underground air conditioner caused the room to be cool and much colder than the outside temperature.
Day 4: HuangShan
On Day 4, we headed to HuangShan, a place that sounded incredibly intimidating when we first heard about the trip there. After half an hour’s worth of riding a coach to the foot of the mountain, we then moved onto the cable cars heading up the mountain, taking 6 passengers at once in which we took in our respective CID groups. As we headed up the mountain in the cable car, the view was absolutely spectacular, although as it headed up the mountain, the mist became so thick that we could not see anything outside the cable car. To be honest, the trip to HuangShan was a little disappointing as the mist was particularly thick that day, and the visibility was low. As we got more and more tired, the class started singing songs and although it felt a little humiliating ruining the peacefulness of the mountain, I believe that our class have further bonded together.
Day 5: Meiling Factory Visit and School Immersion
I found that the Meiling Factory visit was actually quite enjoyable, and in fact, very much more modern than our usual everyday refrigerators, with much more appliances such as a program to keep track of whether the food is overdue or spoilt, or what food is stored in the compartment. It even has built in recipes and music that can provide help when cooking as well as entertainment, which makes our refrigerators just seem inferior. When we then had a tour of the factory, I realised just how much progress could be made and just how China’s development has became over the years, absolutely different from our separate prejudiced opinions.
When we then went to the school for the immersion trip, I believe most of us were all incredibly nervous due to the fact that we, were going to be performing in front a huge crowd of over 1000 pupils. I had felt that we were going to mess something up although the numerous hours of hard work and sweat that we had put in for this very performance. After performing and watching their own performance, I realised how much they had put in for preparation of our arrival, from the little kind acts of lending us their textbooks to avoid sitting directly on the dirty floor of the track.When we finished our performance, and continued watching their performance, I felt briefly ashamed somehow, despite our efforts, that they had put us in a inferior spot, our meagre performance a little awkward. Despite our attempted jokes afterwards, I could see that everyone felt a little disappointed with our performance.
Day 6: School Immersion and Supermarket
Through the second day of school immersion, One of the most significant things to me was the fact that during their Chinese lesson about duck eggs, the entire group brought duck eggs and also markers to draw on the eggs. After the lesson, all of them gave their duck eggs to me, decorated with vivid designs. Also, they specially prepared gifts for me, just making my gifts seem barely anything. This was very unexpected for me as I barely expected that the group would have regarded us so highly.
At the end of the day, we went to the supermarket, where we spent quite some time searching for the specific prices.
Day 7: Home Visit, Bookstore, FengYang Drums and HuangMei Opera
For the home visit, I found quite endearing that our house visit buddy had especially taken out snacks and drinks, and took time to clean up. Somehow, I feel that us and our China counterparts are not that different, just that they go through a little more stress and that they have to be mature, so that they would have a chance to achieve a good future.
The bookstore was absolutely huge as compared to our usual bookstores, every floor with a specific theme. However, I have seen bookstores bigger than this one in China and this, although already huge compared to our bookstores in Singapore is slightly small compared to the other bookstores.
Day 8: High Speed Rail, HaiDiLao Restaurant and Return to Singapore
On the high speed rail, the speed was an impressive 333km/hr, occasionally slowing down, and the rail was quite very comfortable considering the length of the ride. In fact, my ears started ringing just because of the sheer speed of the rail and the fact that I was a little feverish from the dry climate. Truly, the speed and conditions in the train is very impressive and do an excellent job in making the 3 hour ride more comfortable.
At HaiDiLao, the services were simply just wonderful, such that even the toilets were quite high class, even with people handing out warm towels for us to wipe our hands with. Every single ingredient was carefully handed out and cooked, even adding in entertainment of singing after eating, or to perform, and make the special noodles at the same time.
The Merlion a significant National Icon for Singapore?
My answer is yes, it can provide a certain sense of identity for Singapore, and it has enough meaning to provide tourists or even foreigners a brief impression of Singapore. For example, it can represent us through our roots.
As we all know, Singapore is originally a small fishing village, surrounded with vast ocean. When we are originally found, the first impression was of a lion. Thus, it spring forth, a Lion City.
The Merlion is also unique to us, and us alone. We are unique, just like how the Merlion is. We are although a small country, we have developed far and wide, into the successful nation we now are.
On February 28, 2009, the Merlion was struck by lightning. That brought upon us many bad omens, but as the Merlion was rebuilt, nothing happened. It is as if nothing could ever bring us down.
Yes, there are other choices to our national icon, such as our national flower, Vanda Miss Joaquim, but I still feel that only the Merlion is able to convey the impression of our country.
The majestic creature is unique, meaningful and portrays our country in its own way. Thus, I personally feel that the Merlion is a suitable icon for Singapore.
Since the last two decades, China's economic growth has increased over the period of time, as they finally open up their country to international trade, ranking 4th in terms of GDP per capita, meaning that the rich-poor divide is widening. Due to the large land space in China, they will have more natural resources, as well as space for office buildings, residential and commercial buildings. Not to mention that China's tax rate is 25%, one of the lowest in the world, that attracts more companies to come to China for production. Thus, China has went through its economic growth.
China's One-child Policy
China's one child policy is a policy to control China's growing population. This policy ensures that the parents can concentrate on one child rather than a few children. In 2007, 36% of China's population was subjected to a strict one-child restriction, and an additional 53% was allowed to have a second child, but only if the first child was a girl. Failure to obey this policy will mean that the parents of the child will be fined, and might lose their jobs.
Actually, the reason my parents came to Singapore was because of the
very policy. My brother was born in China, and my parents had a good
job. However, as they had a second child, which is me, they came to
Singapore because of the one-child policy, so they will not lose their
jobs, or have to pay the fine. This is also called birth tourism.
However effective China's policy might be, there
are its repercussions. Due to the policy, China's sex ratio is out of
balance. Like how a rural Sichuan roadside sign stated, many parents
discriminate against, mistreat, or abandon baby girls, and gender
equality is apparently hard to achieve in the modern society. Also, as
there are no penalties for twin births, many couples are now seeking
fertility medicines in order to induce the conception of twins, thus the
amount of twins born in China had doubled.
Some parents might also over-indulge in their
child, resulting in potential social problems for the child like how
some Chinese medias referred to as the "little emperor syndrome". Since
the 1990s, people have been worried that the future generations will be
too self-indulged to be social, thus affecting their social
communication skills and cooperation skills.
On the other hand, us in Singapore are facing the
opposite problem. It is estimated that the population size in Singapore
will start shrinking, and our younger generations will be forced to take
money from elders, given the fact that many parents nowadays want to
gather all of their money resources and concentrate them on one child
compared to distributing the resources on many children, to develop them
to their full potential. Thus, the future population size will
decrease, and all the pressure and stress will be put on that one child.
All of the elderly left in Singapore will have to be supported by one
child, and the support to the country will be mainly from the manpower
of other countries compared to our citizens.
To improve this situation, our government is giving
special privileges to those parents who will bring up more than one
child. This, I believe will help with our situation. And hopefully bring
a brighter future to the next generations.
My December Holidays(Chenxin)
During the December holidays, I went to San Francisco, California, USA in order to visit my brother who was studying in a university there. It was almost winter there, the temperature at around 15 degree Celsius.
The main attractions was at pier 39, where fat, sleek sea lions lay on the wooden floating platforms, it varying shades of grey, brown and black. The birds, especially the seagulls are bold, and are not afraid to snatch up a hot dog straight from an unsuspecting tourist's hand, and snatch with the other birds for the prize.
POVERTY (Chenxin)
Although in Singapore, poverty is not much of. A problem for us, as our government will provide with us the nessasary living space and conditions, there is not much of such a problem in Singapore. However, we shouldn't stay unknowing to the poverty in other countries. In the picture, it was showing a vulture looking at a nearly starved boy. Apparently, the vulture was preying on the poor, half-starved boy. Awful as it seems, vultures feed on carcasses of dead creatures, so the boy will be viewed as dead to the vulture's eyes. Now looking at the situation from a different point of view, the food situation is so bad in those areas that the animals, even the vultures, have been driven to the desperate point such as to risk eating a living human. The photographer, on the other hand, after taking the picture, scared the vulture away. Afterwards when he went back to his country, he was so stricken with what he saw, and the guilt of not saving the child from anymore of the situation in the country, committed suicide 3 months later. Some might say that the photographer is cruel, in his way of not saving the child, and instead taking his time to take a picture of the situation, but he actually felt so much remorse that he brought upon his own death. We, on the other hand, might be able to do something about this.
Just by donating some money, even just some spare change to the children, or going overseas to help them, or other innocent children, these kind of situations can be avoided.
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