Minqi (13)

Lesson 1: POVERTY IN SINGAPORE
From today's lesson, I learnt that we should never judge a book by its cover.

At first, when the teacher showed us two pictures of two different beggars, one of a man , well dressed with shoes, shirt, pants and a beanie and another with a woman with a baby ,wear a dirty shirt and shorts. We were given a choice to help either of them. However, it was hard to choose as both were very pitiful. At first, I had the thought of help none as I was not clear of their background. However my group came up with the idea of helping the woman as they think that with a baby, it is very hard for the woman to find a job while taking care of her baby while the man is alone. Thinking that they made a point, I changed my mind and decided to help the woman.

However, when our teacher told us that the woman belonged to the syndicate while the man was deaf after an explosion during a war he participated in, I really regretted my choice and felt remorseful as I criticized the man without giving a greater thought of his background. After knowing all of this, if I had a chance to choose again, I would have definitely helped the man but at the same time, I will help him find a job as he would not make ends meet if he depended on begging to survive. It is like providing a person with fish, so why not teach them how to fish instead.

Thus after this lesson, I feel that we really should never judge a book by its cover.

Lesson 2:GLOBALISATION
Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

GLOBALIZATION VS WESTERNIZATION
Modernisation isnt westernisation. The fact is that many people demand modernisation which is the model of a progressive transition from a 'traditional' to a 'modern' society and not westernisation which is a process where by societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry,technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle,diet, clothing, language, alphabet, religion,philosophy, and values. In fact modernisation is totally different from westernisation. For example in China, they may have a modernised society like advanced technology but they have totally different cultures as compared to the western culture.

Lesson 3: ICONS REPRESENTING SINGAPORE
When it comes to what represents singapore best, i feel that mr lee kuan yew, our founding father, really represents singapore. Throughout his adult years, he had put in alot of effort in building singapore and makes it what it is today. Many of us here will say hdb represents singapore best, but who is the one who introduces hdb in? Mr lee! Many of us here will say the multi-racism and the food, but who made that possible? Mr lee! Even foreigners come to singapore to pay their last respect. Even when we singaporeans bring out mr lee kuan yew to our family members of other country they know who he is and his history. So other than mr lee, none of the others can represent singapore as much as mr lee can. And i believe even if he is not with us, he will still be the best person to represent singapore.
Cost of living
1. Local's satisfaction with the cost of living in China.
My buddy said that the average salary of a normal employee is only around 4000rmb which is not even 1000 sin dollars. I feel that they wI'll have just enough to spent on the necessities as a bowl of noodles there cost around 10 rmb and a cup of milk tea cost 8rmb while to us, our average salary is around 3000 sin dollars which is about 15000rmb. Here, a cup of milk tea cost around 3 sin dollars and a bowl of noodles cost around $3 also. Although things in China may seem cheap to us p, it may not be cheap for them. Their things cost 2 times or so of ours but their salary does not. So, this will make then dissatisfied with the cost of living in China.

Education
1. Thoughts and observation in class and style of teaching
They are very active in terms of participating in class. Like when ever a teacher ask a question, most of the students will raise their hands fighting to answer the question. But however their facilities isn't really good. Until now, they are still using blackboards to teach and their sitting arrangement are in pairs which I think isn't really useful. It its very hard for group discussion and it's very squeeze. Overall their behavior is much better as they show interest in the lesson and only talk when necessary. 


2. Write about the life of a student in China 

Homework load - average students do about 2hrs. 

School hours - 11hrs. 

Tuition-no time for that.

Sleep- same from 11 to 6 depends on their traveling hours.

So from all this information, I can see that they actually emphasize more on studying than things like cca and stuff. Their ccas are mostly conduct on Saturdays and pe hours is only about 6% of their school hours. Although they don't have any tuitions, they spent lots of time on their homework. They can complete more homework and revision of more subjects and even have their free time do do what they like even though they have spent a lot of time in school. This also shows how hard they have been working towards their goal of getting good marks for their test. Maybe because of the competition between their classmates in school or even in future their colleagues. They actually see schooling as a chore although they look like they are enjoying it.

Monuments

1. A picture of a stamped postcard that u sent home

2. A poem about a monument of ur choice

南宋将领，抗金名将。

精忠报国，受人敬佩。

遭受陷害，被捕入狱。

英雄死后，举世闻名。

OELP DAILY REFLECTIONS

DAY 1

House-->Airport-->Bullet train-->Dragon Well Tea Plantation-->West Lake-->Yue Fei Mausoleum-->Hotel

Today marks the beginning of the OELP trip, my first ever overseas trip with my classmates!!! I left my house for the airport feeling very excited but nervous at the same time.                                                                             After saying goodbye and hugging our parents, we boarded the plane and went onto the most amazing trip ever!

After 5+ hours of filght, we left the airport and met our china tour guide - Sun jie jie. she treated us hamburgers from kfc, our second meal in china. the first one was on plane where most of us cant even eat. soon we reached the bullet train station, i was quite amazed when i see the bullet train , the sight was totally different from Singapore's Mrt station. It was much bigger and the bullet train was much longer too. We also had tickets for the bullet train unlike singapore where we just have to tap our  ezlink. When i first entered the train, it feels and look more like an airplane than a train to me, it has toilets on it and there were people selling food while the train was moving. Even though that allowed eating and drinking in the train, the fact that the train was still clean shows that the passengers are very responsible in a way that they would not leave their litter behind. the whole ride was quite comfortable as the train was fast but smooth.

The price of a ticket is 73 RMB which is around S$12 - I find it quite reasonable as it brings you to your destination fast. Even if you drive there, you will also have to pay quite a lot at the China's 'ERP'.

Part of the bullet train from 50 degree view.

Finally we arrived in HANGZHOU DONG station, we went to the Yue Fei Mausoleum which i have been looking forward to. i have always admire Yue Fei ever since i watched one of the drama (精忠岳飞) which allows me to know more about him as well as his army. I believe that my hatred for qin hui was as much as the chinese public then, just by watching the show (just kidding) but he was indeed a villain. Just after we entered the mausoleum, our tour guide explain to us the significance of Yue Fei and why the chinese respected him so much that they build this mausoleum just for people to pay their respect and know more about him.

The statues of 2 of the villains who have caused the death of Yue Fei.

Next we went to the west lake for the cruise. Before I even went to Hang Zhou, many people were talking about the west lake. All were praising that this lake is beautiful. I didn't believe it at first until I went there and experience the cruise.

The scenery was beautifully beautiful!!! As what the tour guide says, it was surrounded by mountains on three of the sides and on the last side, it was the city. It was further beautified by the pagodas at different spots of the lake. It was too misty for me to take pictures of them... All turned out blurred . The legend of the white snake occurred right in Hangzhou, the west lake during the Song Dynasty. If there's a chance i would like to visit all the pagodas. As the cruise move, there was a gentle breeze which make me feels even more comfortable. I don't even mind living in the cruise.

Sometimes I also wonder how they maintain the cleanliness of the lake...

Next we arrived at the dragon well tea plantation. I thought that we could try harvesting the tea leaves but they say it was not yet the season for harvesting ); I felt that the plantation covers quite a big area and often wonder how much time they take to harvest all the tea leaves?

After which, they brought us to a room where we get to taste the dragon well tea. While we are drinking the tea, they talked about the benefits of their tea, taught us the correct way to drink tea and that we would have to tap 2 time on the table with 2 finger which means to ask them to stop adding tea to your cup. I was so attracted by all the benefits thus I bought 1 can back home to let my family try. (毕竟有福同享嘛!)

There were a lot of merchandise sold there too like peanut candies, teapot sets, etc. I wanted to buy a packet of peanut candy but it was just the first day and I had spent 200RMB on the tea so I left the plantation with just a can of tea leaves.

Later part of that day, after we return back to the hotel for debrief, I learnt about the high speed rail project which connects singapore and Malaysia. We are suppose to reflect on the exciting, the worrisome, the need and our current stance about this project.

DAY 2

Southern Song Dynasty guan kiln museum--China national silk museum--chenghuang pagoda--Song Dynasty city

A new day begins! So, first we went. To the guan kiln museum where they introduces us to clay and porcelain. Clay-陶 which is rougher and porcelain-瓷 which has an extra smooth layer.

We started off make a easier type of clay work ourselves, they call it the soft clay which I feel that it looks like playdoh.

Our work vs their work  

To be honest, this isn't easy at all. It took us quite a long time to complete one piece of work. But I enjoyed this hands on experience although claywork isn't new to me.

After making this, we went to visit the museum while our clay in s being heated up to harden. Some clay work from the past are very nice but most of them were smashed. It was said that the work wasn't perfect enough for the emperor and in that time only the emperor has the right to use it. Since the emperor don't want it, it could only be smashed. Thus when the companies dig out, it's only a fragment of the whole clay.

Also there is a kind of pottery called “陪葬品” where it accompany the deceased. It has a special characteristic where the design of the top of it is more complicated.

Afterwards, we are brought the exact spot where the they made pottery or porcelain for the emperor. We learnt the process of making pottery there which I was amazed by it! How can they even find the exact spot and this museum?!?!

Next we went to another museum, the silk museum! The tour guide explained to us the history of silk, the uses of silk and the process of producing silk. What I really like was the pictures below!!

One of the four famous embroidery

The emperor clothing

After this, we finally get to go up the chenghuang pagoda!!!! Although I had height phobia, I find it fun climbing the stairs up to the top. Along the way there was beautiful flowers and scenaries 

We were served with 藕粉 when we finally reached the top and were welcomed by the music of the Chinese orchestra. Although the 藕粉 did not turn out as what we expected, we managed to forced it down our throats or maybe.... Give it to Jize. The view of the west lake from the top of the chenghuang pagoda was amazing! Not only can we see the whole west lake but also the surrounding mountains and city. It is also the best place to take jump shots!!!

After we had enough of photo taking, we headed towards the Song Dynasty city. That place was crowded like our orchard road, however, we are allowed to explore the 怪街 where I discovered weird things like seriously weird things. From 倒屋 to a 25 degree slanted house, to an illusion house.

Then we went to watch the Song Dynasty performance which was one of the three famous performances in hangzhou. It depicts 4 main historical story. The best part of the show was the effects. They used real water for the water fall with I didn't noticed until my friend told me ️. They also used water as rain and even sprayed some on the audience. Later I went onto the Internet and research about this show and found out that the tickets wasn't cheap but the theater was still fill with audiences. This performance is indeed worth watching.

After all these fun stuff, we have come to the end of day 2 and had a debriefing session again. Today we talk about whether we should preserve Mr lee Kuan yew's house. Our grp as the tourist promotion board feels that we should definitely preserve! Why? In this case it will attract not only the tourist to come all the way to singapore for this but also the locals. We would be able to earn more money when they come. Not only that, more people would be able to know more about mr lee, our great founding father! So why not? But however, are the tourist interested to know more about mr lee? And the land use is still under the URA.

DAY 3

Chinese paper cutting --> Ge Yuan --> Dong Guang street

After resting for one whole night, everyone was ready to go! We had around 4 hrs of buss ride before we reach yangzhou and first we went to the chinese paper cutting museum where they show us the paper cuttings done by the professionals. After viewing all those professional works, I thought it will be easy doing the paper cutting ourselves. How ever when we finally get to try it our, I realized that paper cutting requires a lot of patience which I don't have. While doing this, i wanted to give up as I find that paper cutting doesn't suit me but when I saw one of my classmates work which is so nice, I decided that no matter how ugly my work could be, at least I should finish it. Finally after an hour of torture, I finally cut out the flower! Although it was very ugly, but I felt proud of myself, proud of my perseverance.

Tools aka free gift from the museum.

After that we headed towards the ge yuan, the 四大名园之一. The decorations and the plants there really make me feel extremely good as goes well with the theme- garden. The bamboo was yellow in Colour, my first time seeing yellow bamboo. I wonder if there is other colours other than yellow and green. Even the floor was decorated with bamboo tiles. In the ge yuan there was also rooms like the chinese 古代 house. After walking inside for so long it started making me feel like I have time traveled to the past. My friends and I started playing or maybe acting as the characters in one of the Chinese drama. Characters like the emperor(朕), the guard, the empress, the servant and even the eunuchs. This was one of the most memorable thing throughout the trip. Let's come back to ge yuan, not only that the decorations were attractive, the 五大盆栽 was amazing. This ge yuan was indeed worth going.

In the past, this type of stone is even more precious than gold 

After we left the ge yuan, we finally have our first free time where we can shop in dong guan street. I feel that the glass doors of the shop could be improve to fit the 古代 feeling. I remember we bought milk tea and twisted potato there and almost exceeded the time given for us to shop as it took too long for the twisted potato to be made. What I really treasure there was the time spent with my cid group and my friends. We waited for the potato together and ran back to the gathering place together. If there was more time for us, that would be great.

Reflection of the day....

See: what is considered iconic in hangzhou and why?

Hangzhou west lake - known for its beauty.... Most beautiful out of 36 west lakes.

- surrounded by mountains on three sides and city on one.

Think:what is considered iconic in singapore and why?

Botanic garden - has singapore nation flower

- lived its name ... Green city and flora and fauna

Wonder: what do you consider as an important in the choice of an iconic building?

It should represent the country and when it's mentioned, straight away people will think of the country.

DAY 4

Ye chum chai sei-->Volkswagen factory --> block printing museum --> slender west lake -->xin hua bookstore --> qianqiufendai performance

We started off the day right! First we had our breakfast at the famous ye chun chai Sei where we get to try different dim sum there, at first they served the appetizer which we thought it was the main course. When they served all the bun and Kueh, most of us were almost full so we didn't really eat a lot of those. Next we visited the Volkswagen factory to see the process of making the cars. We were brought around by a small little so called car. All of us seemed to be more interested in the so called car than the real car. For me, it was my first time sitting in those cars so it attract my interest more then the cars that u always see on the road. But the process of making the cars using robots were amazing. Seeing the fire sparks, the transporting of car parts by robot is something that we can't see from the textbook or can't be easily seen unless u are the employee there. Unfortunately photo taking was not allowed if not I will spam my gallery with this kind of rare sight

Next we went to the slender west lake which is a slimmer version of the west

Lake. I didn't quite like the slender west lake as while we walk along the lake and plants, THERE WAS ALOT OF BUTTERFLIES. But however, the beautiful part of the lake is the bridges and the pagodas along the path that we walked. It was an awesome sight to see that when you are feeling down. It will definitely cheer you up just like the west lake in hangzhou.

Afterwards we went to another museum, the block printing museum. We didn't have time to explore the whole museum but we were given a short tour around the museum.

Before another performance, we went to the xin hua bookstore. Their bookstore consist of 6 levels where mostly they sell chinese historical books, chinese novel and some other chinese books and less of the English ones. I actually liked the books there and wanted to buys lots of them but I didn't have a lot of money then thus I only bought 1. The stationaries sold there was also cheaper than singapore. Some of the girls even grabbed lots of notebooks. In conclusion, I prefer xin hua bookstore to popular.

Qianqiufendai... It was a performance that I thought would be similar to the Qianguqing but it turn out otherwise. It was a totally different kind of performance. What I like most was that they provided us tea while we watched the performance. The distance between us and the stage was lesser thus we were able to have a closer look. But the effect was not as good. I don't know if it was an error or it was like that, they make it so heavy that the smoke covered the faces of the performers. But the performers here and the performers in the Qianguqing was incomparable.

Debrief :

DAY 5

Yang da fu zhong-->lushi old mansion-->supermarket

The most exciting part of the trip had finally come. We finally got to see our buddy and perform the dance that we had practiced so much for. So when we reached the school, we were greeted with yang da fu zhong's principle and a sign ... (Picture below) which made us burst out in laughter. But was later proved to be a mistake. Chantry school was a British school

Then we were brought into the conference room of their sch where the principle made a short speech followed by our teachers. Next our buddies performed for us and their performances was great. Until our turn to perform, everything turn out to be a disaster. We had some technical problems and our performance's song was mixed up. The worse thing was that we wanted to rush of the stage half of the class ran the wrong way and ended up in a small store room. I felt so embarrassed but had no choice but to stay until the performance end. Afterwards the teachers introduces us to our buddy. I finally got a chance to talk face to face with my buddy but it turned out awkward. I was tongue-tied the moment I see her but luckily she initiated to talk to me. Wait ... I don't seem to understand what she was saying, is she speaking in chinese? The accent was totally different from singapore so I was confused with what she was trying to say but I tried my best to figure it out and continue our conversation.

We got to try different cultural stuff there, like chinese painting although we get to do it in RV lit lesson but in yang da fu zhong, we had mix the Colour ourselves. Like basically do everything by ourselves. My buddy and I took one side of the rice paper each and I followed her instructions as to how to draw the flower. But ours was disastrous as both of us had no talent in art. Luckily her teacher came over to help and drew a nice flower in the middle. It then became the focus of the painting as the flowers we painted was too ugly. But I was glad that we managed to paint something out together. The main point is the process not the product.

Then we learnt chinese knot tying which I did it in my primary school before. So my buddy was actually shocked when I complete it even before she teach me. We had a lot of time left after we completed it so I got my chance to find out their school life and I realized how much stress they had compared to us. We finally had lunch after starving for the whole morning. We had buffet which my buddy said that normally they would not have.

We got a quiz on dragon boat festival where prizes related to the festive were given out. Most of the enthusiasm came from the students in China and lesser from us. I felt that we can learnt from them, the active participation in class. My buddy fought so hard for a prize jus to give it to me. At that moment, I felt awkward and touched at the same time.

We got to have a break which was quite different from singapore. We were kind of forced to take a nap before leaving for the dumpling making. I find it quite refreshing after I wake up from the nap. I heard from my friends that some even drooled on the table.

So we were group in to six where we compete in our own group. The top three nicest out of the six will get a sachet while the rest will get a bracelet. At first I find it hard to get the leaves to be folded nicely but after I get the hand of it, It was quite easy. But I feel that the ingredients provided was not proportional. The leaves were used up in less then a minute while there was an abundance of meat and rice.

Afterwards we were supposed to go to our buddy's cca but my buddy's cca was literature where they sit in the library to read. She thought it might be too bored for me so she brought me on a tour around the school. I find that their school was bigger than ours but their facilities wasn't as good as ours.(like we have gym and volleyball court, etc) however I was quite surprised that they had a small version of a supermarket in school, where the students there will have this card that they can top up and pay for the food.

After the tour, we went back to the conference room to listen to a presentation on chinese musical instruments. I realized that although I learnt musical instruments but there still a lot of things I did not know. I realised that no matter what instruments you play, the music is beautiful.

After we bidded goodbye with our buddy, we left the school with the dumpling that we made, the gifts from our buddies and a class photo. When we were about to take the photo with the banner, we realised that the banner was gone. I feel that as part of the banner ic, it is also my responsibility and that we can't blame the person alone.

Next we went to the lushi old mansion for dinner. The food there does not fit my appetite thus I didn't eat much until finally the yang Zhou fried rice was served but we were only left with 5mins to eat. The culture there was actually to serve everything first before the rice unlike singapore so I wasn't really used to. Overall the food there was good and some of them were even my first time seeing it. One word ... Impressed.

Finally we get the chance to stock up our food! It's time for the supermarket. I was totally dumbfounded when the tour guide told us that is was at -1 level (负一楼) the supermarket was three or more times of singapore's. More like the basement 1 and of our shopping mall.my buddy tole me that it's because of the differences in the population size so as to fit every chinese into the supermarket, they have to built it bigger. I took the chance to buy some of the special, nice looking Yangzhou food back for my parents. The things sold was also cheaper than singapore, my friend and I only spent around 200 rmb which I think I would have spend over 70 sin dollars if I were to buy those stuff in singapore.

Debriefing:

Connects... Subjects studied are almost the same

Extends... School hours-11hrs (China) 7hrs(SG)

Challenge... Communication-sometimes when I talk to my buddy or her parents, I don't really get what they say thus communication becomes a problem.

Day 6

Buddy's house--> the bund --> nanjing road

Today is the day where we had our freedom! Our buddies will bring us around their neighborhood and explore Yangzhou. Finally got a day to spent with my buddy and her 5 year old cute little brother!

We went to her house after meeting with her in her school. I went there with may as her buddy's house was not available. When we reached, we were welcomed by her family members as well as a beautiful board made by her. We were introduced to a chess called 五子棋. We all had fun playing with it while our buddies guided us. This was then I realize that they are very smart and quick thinking. After that we headed towards the supermarket to shop. They bought a lot of things for us showing how generous the Chinese are. They also bought us 手抓饼 and 东关煮 which is quite special as they can't be found in Singapore

As we just ate all those food, and we had lunch prepared by her mum for us right after that, I had no appetite at all. Furthermore, I didn't really like the food there but I tried to eat. After eating her parents even ask us if we wanted to buy some bread as we are leaving for Shanghai soon and they were worried about us, if we will be hungry along the way. I felt a sense of belonging in her house and her parents were very caring. When we left I felt quite sad as we might not have the chance to meet again. My buddy even told me that she could not bear to watch us leave afterwards.

We left for Shanghai that afternoon and the journey was long and tiring. After around 5hrs of bus ride, we finally reach reached Shanghai and had our dinner. While having our dinner, we celebrated Jasrene birthday. The cake and candles in China was different from singapore and I felt that it was a very rare chance to see it.

After having a filling dinner, we went to the bund where we had an amazing sightseeing and Shanghai was really brightened up by the bund, the pearl tower, etc. we had our class selfie there too. Although I went Shanghai the bung before, it was totally a new feeling when I was there once again with my fellow 2G friends.

We headed towards the Nanjing road where we had our second free shopping. I felt that the place was more like orchard road and more mordernized than Yangzhou and hangzhou. We walked around nanjing road and we realised that most of the shop could be found in singapore. So we headed toward the food section where there's a lot of food that we have never seen before thus we decided to try them. Not long after we have to gather, thus we left the place and went back to the hotel.

Debrief question:

Last day

Shanghai urban planning exhibition hall-->airport -->home sweet home

After a fulfilling Oelp we finally came to the last day of the trip. We went to view the miniature map of Shanghai early in the morning and left for the plane in the afternoon. 7 days had just fly past in a blink of an eye. It was as if yesterday was just the start of the trip. As we took an afternoon flight, everyone was busy watching their movie. Afterall I really enjoyed the trip.

Debrief question: