Daily Reflection- Ya Wen

Reflection for Day 1: 

Today is the day where we set off for China. From the smiles plastered on everyone's faces, I could tell that this trip was a long anticipated one. On that morning, we took the plane from Singapore to Hangzhou, a total duration of merely 5 hours. When we reached Hangzhou, it was already evening and we were brought to a restaurant for our dinner. There was a variety of dishes and from our meal, it could be seen how rich China was in terms of resources. Our dinner consists of fish, meat and vegetables and these took up the entire table. After dinner, we had a night visit to Song Dynasty City and enjoyed a spectacular Song Dynasty Performance. This city preserved the culture of Song Dynasty, the golden era ancient China. While standing amidst the long ancient streets, I could imagine myself time traveling back in time to the Song Dynasty, where everyone led a leisure and peaceful life. After exploring the streets, we went to see a performance that tells the happenings during the Song Dynasty, such as the imperial court, the army and even the myths and legends spreading on at that time. All of these were consolidated into a breath-taking one hour long performance. Like they mentioned, “给我一天，还你千年” , I really learnt much from today's trip to this city. I also realized how much the Chinese value their history and culture, such that everything is so well preserved up till today. Also, the fact that the Chinese has made these places a successful tourist spot, shows how much pride they have for their history, such that they want the world know of China's past. This left a warm spot in my heart. Thinking back, isn't that just how Singapore has pulled through to reach it's place today? A country's fate rests on every single citizen, not just the leader. Singapore is widely known to be a great country to be visited. However, if we hadn't survived through the Japanese occupation or fight off those deadly diseases, Singapore would not have developed till today. Just like China, there are still many icons currently that reminds us of our history such as the Merlion and the samsui women figures we have in Chinatown. Thus, I learnt that as descendants, we should not forget our past no matter how good life is. Anyway, after watching the amazing performance, we checked into the hotel and ended our first day.

Reflection Day 2: 

I used to think that most products made in China are just modified and changed from other products which are already available. However, after my visit to the Wahaha Company, I changed my point of view. Now, I think that the Chinese are very innovative people who came up with new creative ideas that can be put to use in our daily lives. An example is shown by Wahaha's founding father ----- Zong Qing Hou. He started building this cooperation from a small street shop independently. From the first product that he made, it could be seen how innovative and smart he was. While at that time, there were many different types of product on huge market, but there was hardly any one which pinpoints the children. Seeing this point, Mr Zong created his first product, a nutritional drink for young children, and it was a great hit among the people. This caused me to rethink and reflect on the previous concept I had in mind. Also, I learnt that I should not look down on those who modify and change only as they are still contributing to the society in their own means and ways. Modification is a very important process in making a product better for the society. Without it, products would not be as convenient as the ones we use currently. Of course, a good product cannot be created with just these few processes. The great effort put in by every single worker cannot be neglected. Each successful product consists of team work in every process and I think this is the most important point. Only when everyone work together can we achieve our initial goal. Despite the fact that I have learnt it many times in the past, every time I come across this concept again, it always brings me to a new level of knowledge. 

Reflection Day 3:

I used to think that China was a very modernized country. After visiting Hongcun ancient villages and Xidi ancient villages, I now think that China is still a very traditional country that has amalgamated well with western inventories to the point where China is now a widely known country that has great advancements while keeping the culture and heritage in the past. From the streets and villages I have visited today, it could be seen that ancient Chinese culture and heritage has been well preserved over the years. Yet, some of these items, which have been passed down since thousand of years ago, have been implemented with modern technology to form familiar but new products. This is done so as to allow business to continue and not let China fall behind other countries. Thus, it is now wonder why China's economy grew so well over the past few years. Today, China's socialist market economy is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It is the world's fastest growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over the past 30 years. With China being the centre of the region’s growth story now, Singapore has a lot to consider in terms of how our economy growth would be affected if China was to slowdown their economy growth. Looking around us, many objects we see are either made in China or exported from China and this shows the importance of China as our trading partner. With high hopes, China's economy would keep growing and perhaps, help increase Singapore's overall economy as well. 

Reflection Day 4:

Today, I visited China's famous Huang Shan and the beauty of Mother Nature amazed me. I used to think that China's government focused more on economy and education, instead of taking more notice on the culture and heritage of China as I have seen how good the Chinese students are in their studies. But after my visit to Huang Shan, I reflected on my thinking again and see that I was in the wrong for judging China from its state currently. Now, I think that China's government actually did pretty well in preserving the history/culture/heritage of China even when the country's economy and education play a bigger role in China's development. At first, Huang Shan was a mountain with no way for any tourists to climb. However, China's government has implemented the roads, built cable cars and constructed different restaurants and hotels in Huang Shan. There are now many tourists here and they are willing to pay to sit in the cable cars or even stay in the hotels just to catch the once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of Huang Shan. That is a sign to show that China's government has done well to preserve and showcase the mountain to others while having considerations for the country's economy. This is a point which Singapore has used and it could be seen from us being known for our tourist attraction despite being a small country. With the successful tourist attraction we have, we are proceeding well in our economy and emigration statistics and I hope it would last long. 

Reflection Day 5:

Today, we visited Meiling Company and through the dialogue session we had with the guide, I learnt many business strategies from Meiling company. Meiling company focuses mainly on constructing our household item----- the Refrigerator. One of the market strategies they used was to combine the fridge with a phone. It amazed me seeing how I can play music, games, or even check out new recipes on the refrigerator. This is definitely one technique that is successful in the market. I'm glad I learnt new business strategies here. I hope they would come of great use when I grow up.

 

Reflection Day 6:

I used to think that learning Higher Chinese Language was meant for passing my examinations only. Now I think that the Chinese Language is a very important language that carries a lot of culture and heritage with it. We have a lot to learn from this language passed on from many thousand years ago in the past. I have seen how the Chinese students work hard to achieve the best academic results they can and this learning attitude of theirs touched me. Come to think of it, I haven't been at the best learning attitude every time we have lessons which is not in my favour. Seeing how the students pay full attention to the teacher speaking in class, I reflected on my attitude again and again. It is time I should change for the better. Sometimes, I become complacent in learning and I would start to chatter in class or such. I realize that's when I don't learn anything new and start to fell behind. From now on, I think I should give my 100% of attention to every lesson even when it is a lesson of topic I do not like. This is the only way I can give myself a chance to learn.

Reflection Day 7:

Today we visited our assigned buddy's house. It was tremendous fun! Seeing how our buddy have lived throughout these years, I realize there isn't much difference between us despite the fact we are living in different parts of the world. I learnt that we should not have prejudice against one another even when we might have an impression beforehand. We should not judge a book by its cover as what we see might not be the truth. For example, I thought that china students would lead a life that only concerns with education and not much fun as I have heard of how china lay stress on their education and this left an impression on me even before I have met them in person. However, when I visited their living environment, I realized I was wrong and this made me learn to not have prejudice beforehand. My buddy and her family were very friendly and we had much fun visiting the nearby wet market, the supermarket and their park. As we parted one another in the afternoon, I had much thoughts. I wondered when we would see each other again, if fate was with us and that someday we would meet one another again...

Reflection Day 8:

Today was the last day of our journey in china. I believe everyone were sad to know that we would be leaving our friends today. Nevertheless, we still kept our smiles and tried to enjoy this last day together. We went to the Hai Di Lao Restaurant and ate steamboat for our lunch. We watched the waiters and waitresses perform "拉面" and we were lucky enough to catch a special activity they held to celebrate the upcoming children's day. Their service was really good and I think that's why their restaurant is so famous. The waiters and waitresses were like brothers and sisters. Their close bond is most likely what brought them to their good service. I think this is a point we should learn from them. As a class, there are many activities we have to work together in order for it to be fun for all. If we treat each other like brothers and sisters, I'm sure team work would come naturally to us. After lunch, we went to take the bullet train to the airport and took a plane back to Singapore. It felt great to be back to my homeland. I missed Singapore a lot while overseas. This whole trip has made me learn to treasure what I have now as things don't come easy to all of us. 

Oelp Reflection- Ya Wen

1. I have chosen to go on this trip as I wanted to learn more new knowledges. China is a fast developing country and I know that I would definitely gain many new experiences and learn much during this trip. I have a strong interest in the Chinese culture and tradition and thus I wish to know more about China's rich history such as the past dynasties, which has brought the country to where it is today. In addition, I hope that these knowledge that I gained in this trip could be of further use to making Singapore a better place for all. Before I set off for this trip, where I knew much learning would be done, I have made a decision to stay independent and self-disciplined throughout this trip. In the past, I have always relied on my parents every time I encounter an obstacle in life. Whether it is misplacing my items or even simply solving a Mathematics question, I have always seek help from my parents as I knew that they would be there for me no matter what. However, this is the first time where I have to be independent to live and experience the world before me. I know that I would be without my parents in this one-week trip and that in order to be independent, self disciplinary is an important constituent that I have to control well. Thus, I have made a huge decision to focus on my objective in this trip, which is not to just have fun in the midst of learning but also to be disciplined and independent.

 

 

2. There was a situation which deeply impacted me during this trip to Anhui,China. It was the time when we went to our sister school-----ShouchunMiddle School. Seeing how the students pay full attention to the teacher, I reflected a lot on my learning attitude back in Singapore. Before I went on this trip, I admit that my learning attitude was not quite good. Sometimes, when the lesson was of a subject which I favored less, I tend to not pay so much attention. Given the fact that I am sitting at the back of the class, I would also chit-chat with my friends or start doing something else. However, when I saw how the students remained concentrated regardless the lesson or the teacher, I clearly felt ashamed of my past behaviors. Come to think of it, what I did was really disrespectful to the teacher and till the end, the one who comes to suffer is none other than myself. When I went for house visit and interviewed my buddy, I found out that as time goes by, the living standards of the people in china improves. My house visit buddy has taught me something that I would not be able to learn in class. When I went to the supermarket to buy items during the house visit, I had new experiences and learned of the current high living cost in China. At the rate of China's development, it would soon surpass other countries and this fact left a great impact on me. Looking back at our history, isn't that just how Singapore has made it from a third world country to a first world country?

 

 

 

 

 3. This trip has definitely taught me much. I promise to change my learning attitude for the better. I have also learnt the importance of self-disciplinary, together with the independence I have developed during this trip. I hope that this independence can be of a long term effect, such that I will be able to handle different situations form now on, no longer having the need to rely on my family and friends. Not forgetting that learning attitude of mine, I will try to pay full attention to every lesson regardless the teacher or the subject being taught. I believe it would be beneficial to me if I do so and this time, I would give my basic respect for the teacher who is trying hard to help me. I hope that these changes would last long and have a positive effect on my future life. I would also use the knowledge I have gained during this trip to help make Singapore a better place for everyone. For example, I remembered to note down the different business techniques used by the successful companies we have had the opportunity to explore and learn about in China. I'll make sure that these techniques are being taken into considerations in future when I grow up to be one who has the ability to contribute to the society and help Singapore. By amalgamating the experiences gained by each one of us, I believe that it would benefit Singapore's development and improve Singapore to make it a better environment for all of us.

E&C Week Reflection- Xinhui

Day 1 25.5.15

In the morning, we had a talk by a prestige guest speaker in the auditorium about the history of Chinatown. What we basically learned was how Chinese was in a way cheated to come to Singapore because people back in China labelled Singapore as a place with lots of wealth. Many poor people in China were attracted to Singapore after seeing how their fellow friends return back to their hometown with immense wealth and persuasion from others, and took loans so as to come to Singapore, hoping that they would strike rich and return to their homelands gloriously and give a better life to their families. However, some of them died on the way to Singapore, because of the poor living conditions on the ships, while some contracted diseases. To prevent the diseases from spreading, the others would throw the bodies of the sick and the dead into the sea, as the journey from China to Singapore is around 30days. However, when they reached Singapore, they were forced into jobs like coolies and 猪宅as they had to pay off the debts. These jobs had low salaries, prolonged working hours, and their working dormitory was cramped together with many other workers. The living conditions were bad. The superiors of these workers introduced vices such as opium, drugs and prostitution to help them 'relieve their stress', which is a trick to help them earn more money from the workers. Many workers fell to the trap, and ended up snowballing debts. In the end, they could only work in Singapore till their death and never fufilled their dreams of going back to their hometowns rich and glorious, and give their families a better life. I feel that this teaches us to not be greedy and yearn for more riches, and we should be happy we what we have. Because of their hunger for more money, the Chinese came to Singapore to work, lured by wealth, but ended up sacrificing their families and friends back in their hometowns. One should also Iearn to control himself instead of burying himself into vices such as opium to relieve their stress. Had they not fallen to the tricks of their superiors, they might have fufilled their dreams, and gone home rich and spend their time with their families. 

In the afternoon, we went to the pioneers memorial hall. This hall was created to remember the efforts of the pioneers who built Singapore with their sweat, tears, money, and effort. One significant person is Mr Tan Kah Kee, who spent all his wealth into education. He believed that one should have good education to pursue a better job in future. He built many schools in Singapore and in China, and even when he is on the brink of bankruptcy, he did not close down the schools but instead continued to work hard to support the schools. This memorial hall taught us to be grateful to our forefathers who have helped to build Singapore with their bare hands, and taught us to be selfless like them, and contribute what we have to our society.

Day 2 26.5.15

In the morning, we attended a xinyao concert in the auditorium. The performers performed several significant xinyao songs. Xinyao is something like Kpop, but this time it is Singapore pop. Xinyao songs are normally about family relationships, friendships, and lesser about love. Xinyao is a culture I feel that we Singaporeans should preserve and carry it on, because it is a culture in which the older generations would be more familiar with, and this culture should be carried on for our future generations. Xinyao is a beautiful form of art and culture, even though xinyao has been less popular compared to the older days, we should start to support xinyao because it is one of a kind, and it is something we could talk about with our parents, older relatives, closing the age gap between us.

Next, we went to Chinatown. We went to Tian Fu Gong temple, in which the tour guide took us around and told us about the stories of the different gods. The main goddes in Tian Fu Gong is Mazu. Mazu was said to have powers to oversee the dangers that people have in the seas. Once, in her dreams, she dreamed that her father and brother were out fishing(as they were fishermen), and due to bad weather, they were in danger. Mazu managed to save her father in her dreams, but when she was about to save her brother, her mother woke her up and her brother died. Soon, her father returned back safely, but her brother unfortunately died. She moved up to the mountains so that she could see people from high up in the mountains, and help those who have encountered with problems on the sea. Mazu is prayed by those who would go on sea vogages, to pray that they have a safe journey.

Day 3 27.5.15

We had a crosstalk session in school. The performers communicated in a amusing and hilarious way. It was an interesting session and it was really funny. It showed us how one can communicate with each other with just words and actions and make us laugh. 

We went to sun yat sen memorial hall next. We then learned about sun yat sen and his fellow comrades who assisted in the 1911 xinhai revolution. 

Day 4 28.5.15

We had guest speakers to talk to us about Chinese schools in the olden days. At first I thought RV was already a legitimate chinese school as chinese is our first language too. However, Rv is actually not a chinese school, and chinese schools have been lost in Singapore. Chinese schools are schools in which lessons are fully taught in Chinese. 

Day 5 29.5.15

We played games requiring team work.

Daily reflection- Emma

Individual reflection

Day 1: Song Dynasty 宋城千古情 ——“建筑为形，文化为魂”

Song Dynasty Park

We visited the Song Dynasty Town at Hangzhou after our dinner. The Song Town is a theme park which was built to allow visitors to understand more about the Song Dynasty. During our visit there, we watched the cultural performance which portrayed the ancient times during the Song Dynasty.  The highlights of the performance were large-scale singing and dancing performance of the thousand-Year Love in the Song Dynasty Town, which employs advanced high-techs to display the glory of the Song Dynasty. I believed that I had gained more knowledge about the folks during the Song Dynasty. It was an interesting performance as the theme park had managed to amalgamate cultural and historical aspects into business. However I believe that their flaw is to enable all visitors to understand the performance fully.  As I believe that visitors who do not have understanding and background of Chinese history have difficulty catching on to the performance. However, overall I believe that I have learnt more about the Song Dynasty through this performance.

Day 2: Wahaha Factory

Wahaha drinks

On the second day of the trip, we visited the Wahaha Factory. It was too a fruitful experience as we were told by the tour guide about their company’s success story.  During the wee years of the company they only had a small workforce, thus they had to merge with a bigger company in order to stabilise the workforce. However through this they had to battle doubts of the new workers. But no matter how difficult it was, they managed to succeed. With the leadership of Mr Zong Qin Hou along with his hardworking attitude, they managed to prosper and become one of the biggest enterprise in China. From this I learnt that we should always believe in our goals and persevere on in order to succeed. We also got the opportunity to learn about how it became China's leading domestic beverage producer in the span of 11 years. They used advertisements and popstar endorsements, and made use of nationalistic emotions to attract customers to buy their products. By implementing all these ideas, their business would prosper and they would generally earn more profits. Throughout this visit to Wahaha I learnt that the steps to success lies in our very own hands, and we must never give up if we want to succeed.

Day 3: Ancient Villages

During the visit to the villages, we mostly saw shops along the street that were selling merchandise for the tourists. There were also traditional handicrafts and snacks made by the Chinese folks there.  What I learnt was that the shop owners were innovative and changed their packaging of products to suit and cater to the needs of the tourists . For example sellers of the malt candy made the candy in the form of a minion which was now currently trending around the world, through these actions, they can to keep up with the ever-changing world. From this I learnt that we have to change our ways and methods in order to keep up with the progressing world around us,  just like how the China folks made the necessary changes to attract more customers whilst still keeping the traditional trade going. Also I feel that this was a good learning experience as it was if we travelled back in time to see the houses that were built with concrete and stones. Although China is progressing economically, they still preserved many of these villages. I felt that this was a good action as these heritages can educate the younger generation and motivate to strive harder for the greater success of their nation.

Day 4: Huangshan

cable car!!!

cable car admission ticket

unique tree

We climbed Huangshan today and it was really fun. At the beginning of the hike, we were greeted with light drizzle. We had to take a bus ride to a certain point to ride the cable car to a point of the mountain. From there we had to hike all the way! During the cable car ride, it was really interesting as we were ascending to a really high point, although the weather was hazy I was really fortunate to be able to have a glance of the great view from the bird’s eye view. When we reached our destination the atmosphere was hazy and chilly, the path of the hike was really narrow and steep thus many of us had to partner up and support each other along the way. There was not really a designated pathway for us and we had to be careful with every step we took.  What I found really shocking throughout the hike was that most of the tourists or hikers were the elderly.  They were much more stable than us and manoeuvred around without any help at all! I felt that it was an interesting sight to see as many of us youngsters already had difficulty climbing up the mountain. I really enjoyed climbing Huangshan as the weather was really cooling unlike the weather that we have in Singapore. I also felt proud as we all managed to survive this hike together as a class, although it was tough, we all persevered and managed to succeed. It was a meaningful hike as we had the chance to view the really spectacular view and also able to observe the many different plants and trees. Overall it was another one of those fruitful experiences.

Day 5: Meiling Electronics

We were very fortunate to be able attend Meiling Electronics for an industrial visit. For today’s activities, we had a dialogue session with their management. From the visit, we learnt that Meiling company used creative strategies to promote their products. One of the many strategies was the fact that they collaborated with reliable brands such as Electrolux and Panasonic in the manufacturing process of refrigerators. They also implemented many unique features in their fridges that attracted more customers. The features that were added were MP3 players, cookbook recipes, and also a software that allowed the consumer to view the expiry dates 

After the visit, we spent a few hours preparing painstakingly for our performance that we were going to be performing for the students at Shoucun Middle School. Although it was difficult and we had many difficulties, we managed to end with a great rehearsal.

Day 6 School Exchange

mask

wrapping dumplings

Lunch at Shocun school

It was finally the day where we could showcase our performance and have a great time mixing with the China students. As the ride to the school would be quite long, we had to wake up earlier that usual to be able to reach the school on time. 

Soon, we had arrived at Shoucun Middle School and we were warmly greeted by their principal, teachers and students. Throughout the day, we attended lessons and mixed with the China students. It was a great as we had the opportunity to experience the way they conducted lessons and also gain more knowledge about their education system. It was a day filled with many activities and we were really packed. During our visit to the school, we learnt how to wrap dumplings and paint masks. We also had a friendly match with their school’s badminton team and we had a whale of a time playing many ball games with them. I learnt more about their Chinese culture through the activities planned out for us and definitely had a better understanding and gained more knowledge.

Day 7: House Visit

Li Hong Zhang Musuem

fruits

street food

Today we went to our assigned buddy’s house. When we first met up with our buddy, she was really friendly and warmly welcomed us to her house. The walk to her house was around 5 mins and it was really convenient for her as her school was really near. Her parents were equally nice and they entertained us with many activities. After arriving at her house, her parents immediately started serving us their local fruits and introduced us to many local treats. They also managed to convince us to bring some home although we refused profusely. Their house was big and spacious, unlike the houses in Singapore, it had a cozy feel to it and I felt really delighted to be able to visit their really pretty house. After settling down, their father suggested for us to walk around the local streets. At first I was worried that her parents would be very strict however, they proved me wrong as her father was really accommodating and generous. While touring along the streets in the city, her father treated us to many snacks such as a 30 cm long ice cream and many other  more food as we went along the way. He also brought us to Li Hongzhang Musuem where he paid for our admission fee and he also bought a pack of souvenirs card for each of us. I felt kind of bad as he was literally paying for everything that we wanted even though we wanted to pay for ourselves. During the walk in the museum, we managed to take a look at many figures and exhibits of the olden day costumes. After the fun experience to the musuem, we were greeted with a sumptuous meal when we arrived back at our buddy’s house. Her mother had prepared an array of food and the whole table was filled with many different dishes! Overall I felt really comfortable as it did feel like was at home when I spent the half day with them. They were so kind and generous with everything that they had done for us. At the end of the visit, I felt really shocked when her parents presented us with a full calligraphy ink set. I am sure that the gift was really valuable and expensive, I felt the need to reject it politely, however with their persistent persuading, we had no choice but to accept their generous and thoughtful gift that they had specially prepared for us. As we were leaving, we had many items to carry and our buddy’s father offered to help carry the gifts as it was rather heavy. Again we tried reasoning with them that it was okay but he still helped us in the end. Overall I was really touched by their thoughtful spririt and great hospalility I believed that we were really fortunate to be able to experience this!

Day 8: Haidilao

high speed rail

Haidilao!!!

Haidilao with the food!!

Today was the last day of the trip and I believed everyone was rather sad that this fun trip was coming to an end.  We took a ride on the high-speed rail from Hefei in order to reach Hangzhou. This made me think about the upcoming high-speed rail project occurring in Jurong East from Singapore to Malaysia. This high speed rail is similar to the upcoming project and I am sure that this will benefit many people. The high speed rail is spacious and comfortable and convenient for many Malaysian workers to travel back and forth from Malaysia to Singapore. This high speed rail will decrease traffic congestion as it is faster and more convenient rather than driving across the Causeway. 

Before boarding our flight, we had our lunch at a Haodilao restaurant in Hangzhou. It was one of my favourite meals among our eight days as the service was impeccable. They were really friendly and readily served us from the start of the meal to the end. It was a really good experience. 

Daily Reflection-Josiah

Cid Reflection( heritage,education,economy,history,identity,culture )

Day 1

宋城千古情—“建筑为形，文化为魂”

I feel that the visitors can truly experience the culture and heritage of China here as they can be immerse in the culture and heritage of China in various ways, just like the quote from Song Dynasty City:给我一天，还你千年。Firstly food,there are various traditional snacks like 冰糖葫芦. Secondly festive performances which involves street performers in costumes and includes sadens. Lastly, the infastructure. The theme of the park surrounds Song dynasty giving visitors a breathtaking experience. However i observed that there are some drawbacks, no matter how realistic the park is,it is still influenced by modern day technology thus not being able to show how Song dynasty of like entirely. From this visit, i think that people those days are very loyal to their country. From Yue Fei’s example, we could see how important China was to them. The people were also ingenious. There were inventions like saden and various innovations back in those days to make their life more convenient. Overall the people led a simple life as from their clothings I can see that they did not expect much of how they look. The dynasty was also prosperous as there was no war thus the people had funds and time to develop on the arts and cultural aspects of the country. After the visit, I asked myself a few questions one of them was if the performers’ individual excellence was more important than team coordination. It was through reflection that i realise that even though individual excellence was what everyone was striving for,without a team’s effort and coordination the performances would not be able to be carried out successfully as the team is only as strong as the weakest man.

Day 2

Today we went to Wahaha Company. I learnt about the history of Wahaha Company and its relative informations. Wahaha Company face challenges like battling imitations, short supply of plastic bottles during certain season and not having enough funds. However Wahaha Company overcome these problems using these strategies. They entice workers to work at the company using ways such as stock shares,promotion criterias,food and financial aid for workers that are doing badly ,awards and rewards every year to the best employees. Also at that time advertisements were not used much and Wahaha used advertisements to attract people to buy their products through star endorsement. I realised that the way to get your workers to really put their heart and soul into their work is to treat them like family-this is also what all the strategies above have in common. They make their workers feel like part of the company,the workers feel like they are not working in the company but instead also have a share of the company which makes them want to help the company progress as they themselves are part of the company and the company is also what they have.

Day 3

Today our focus was on historical places,one of the places we went to was TunXi Ancient Street. The street is filled with traditional snacks, accessories and architecture. It shows us that the street has certain sentimental value to be preserved in its original state despite the rapid progression of China’s economy. The shop owners also displayed entrepreneurship and creativity to keep trade alive by catering to the needs of the tourist. For example changing the packaging of traditional tea and 糖画. They change the packaging of traditional tea from plain tea bags into tins of all shapes and sizes with pictures and figurines of characters from popular culture so as to attract tourist which eye on specialities more than local culture. Another example is using traditional caramel candy to do drawings of characters like despicable me minions this allows tourist to appreciate the culture and traditional value of the caramel candy.Upon reflecting, i realise that with the progressing world around us, we have to make necessary changes to keep up with the ever changing world just like how to keep the traditional trade going the shop owners have to make innovations to attract customers from different background to a common tradition-the trade of the traditional Chinese items.

Day 4

Today we tried climbing the Huang Shan. The mountain trails were really steep and dangerous and we had to support one another to complete this arduous task. On the way up the mountain there was a really steep way that had no designated pathway for us to walk on we had a really hard time climbing the way up. i noticed that there were a lot of elders climbing Huang Shan and it really surprised me as there we in their mid-60s however they were still in the pink of health. When i had difficulty supporting m classmates across the steep way, an old lady with a confident smile offered to help me. I think that in comparison with the elders in our country the people of china were really fit and healthy. They were also extremely kind and helpful in contrast to the hostile and cold typical Singaporeans. From this i learn that stayng healthy is really important to be able to live our life to the fullest,as only when we are in the pink of health then can we do things we enjoy doing. The elders i met on Huang Shan was a perfect example of this, despite their old age they kept an active lifestyle and take charge of their life by keeping healthy. There were still able to climb Huang Shan despite their, this makes me a little ashamed of myself thus this reflection of mine. 

Day 5

今天我们到了寿春中学做了交流。让我留下最深刻影响的是寿春中学学生们的诗歌朗诵比赛。他们个个朗读的都是爱国的经典诗歌。学生们个个胸怀大志，对自己的国家中国都充满热忱。学生们在台上个个都胸有成竹，虽然只有十三岁大便是如此惊人的自信实在令人赞叹不已。学生们每个村催的嗓子里都包含着对国家的爱，看得出他们都很想成为中国社会的栋梁。我觉得身为新加坡人的我们应该从学生时期开始为我们这片土地我们的家园尽一份力。身为学生的我们也应该向他们学习勤奋，乐于学习的热忱，唯独有发奋图强地不断进步才能取得最后的胜利。才能让新加坡这个小红点在国际舞台上发光发亮。

Day 6

Today we continued with our exchange program in Shou Chun High School.k After interviewing the Chinese students i discovered some amazing facts. Despite their 12 hours long and tiring school hours from 7a.m. till 5.30 p.m. they have a lot of homework spending an average of 3 hours a day on homework with homework like mathematics which includes 5 pages of 20 questions per page.This leaves them with only at most 6 hours of sleep daily. The Chinese students think that our school life is more fortunate than theirs and they were stupefied when we told them about how we spend our everyday lives. Upon reflecting, i feel that despite the abundance of time we have we Singaporeans lack the intuitive to take charge of our own learning and improve ourselves but instead waste precious time which is a given privellage on matters that are not as important as our priority as students. However the Chinese students’ mindset of tuition is somewhat similar to Singaporeans. They too do not like tuition but in contrast to us they would see the necessity of having supplementry lessons despite their already heavy workload if time permits and learning calls for it. Whereas Singaporeans see tuition as a weapon of competition against other fellow Singaporeans, this mindset is inappropriate thus instead of competing we should go for tuition because we want to improve ourselves as individuals and not to satisfy our ego of winning.

Day 7

Today we learnt about Huangmei Opera at the Anhui University of Arts. I realised that China’s Education system integrate Huang Mei Opera unto music courses in Anhui as part of the efforts to promote traditional culture. I infer that with dwindling audiences and fewer youths expressing interest in Chinese Opera, this intrinsic part of Chinese heritage might be on the verge of becoming an endangered art form in Singapore. Regarding this issue, I thought of a few way to promote Chinese Opera to the youths in Singapore. If we change the Opera characters by incoperating popular culture and edit the the dialogue for example adding the common slangs that youths in Singapore use in their daily conversations,words like LOL, YOLO, we would be able to relate Opera to the youth by involving them more sparking their interest. We can also do so by incoparating a wider range of instruments for example including instruments from popular culture like the electric guitar and keyboard to produce sound effect that draws the youths attention to a whole new Opera that they would be interested in. A way to start this is by incoporating Chinese Opera into advertisements on television as youths are heavily influenced y media that there are exposed to,thus by integrating Opera with for example a new product it might start a common topic that involves Opera in it, slowly building up to a wide scale popularity. 

Day 8 

Today for our last destination of this fruitful learning trip we went to Hai Di Lou Restaurant. The restaurant itself left me with the deepest impression and ended this chapter of the trip with a beautiful closing. The customer service of the restaurant was indeed remarkable. They staff at the restaurant treated us as though we were guest visiting their family. The team dynamics of the workers there were incredible due to the fact that they were closely knitted like brothers and sisters. Their hospitality was commendable and i think the only reason why such high level of customer service could be obtained was due to the fact that they did not see what they were doing as a job but instead treated what they were doing as missions to accomplish a common goal which is to bring out the best of Hai Di Lou Restaurant leaving every single customer with best memories. I heard that they even had staff outside of the toilets to clean the hands of the customers. I learnt that only when we do our best at what we are doing then can we bring out the best in ourselves.

Oelp Reflection- George

Reflections:

The reason I chose to go on this trip, in the very beginning, was just to solely have fun, like what I did during our Primary School trip. But as this emphasized a lot on the "learning" process, I was intrigued by what the school have offered us. And when they announced that it was Hefei that I was going,it piqued my interest and excitement even more,as even though I have been to many places in a China, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, etc. I have not been to my father's birthplace, and where he grew up in. I also did not manage to go to too many places stricken with poverty, and I wanted to see how life was like there. I hoped to learn more about the lives of the people, the students, and such. Before I left, my parents told me that China was a rapidly improving country, especially in the cities that may have been considered run-down in the past, and I wanted to see what it was like for myself. I had some idea of their standards and cost of living, but no in depth, which was also something I wanted to understand. Lastly, I also wanted to bond with my class more and understand more about them outside the class.

A situation which impacted me the most is the wastage of food. Now, to many people it may seem like a trivial thing, but if you actually think deeper, it is not. Firstly, a table of teenagers. And 9 or more dishes are brought to the table, unless they are sumos or Georges, it is practically impossible to eat so much food, not even if you stuff yourself. And all the time, a lot of food is left, and sometimes, the vegetables are left untouched. We should not waste food, and instead, be grateful, why order so much when we can't even finish. It can be seen in practically every restaurant. For example, to celebrate a joyous occasion, a bunch of people come together and order lots of food and drinks and make merry. But when they leave lots of food is left. If it is not to their liking, it may be acceptable, but why order it in the first place? And if there is too much, why not takeaway? That is not a shameful act, but one that should be praised for. And you could tell the waiter/waitress to serve the dish in lesser amounts. The effort the farmers put into growing the rice, the time it takes, and everything from shipping to washing to cooking and preparing. Lots of sweat, tears and blood is required, just for one meal for a group of people? And the fact that they don't appreciate it and treat it as though it is not worth caring about? A chicken is slaughtered for meat, and fruits are harvested from trees, but you only take a small portion and throw away the rest? It is also not environmentally friendly, and resources are depleted to cook and stuff. And even though this can be considered shallow and such, like "We pay our hard earned money to them", but do the people who worked so hard actually get so much money? They may not even earn enough to support their families. This is my opinion, and what I feel strongly about, and I recommend and suggest, in this context, do not bite off more than you can chew, or do not order more than you can finish, literally. One of the teachers that brought us along, Mrs Lee, taught us many things, and constantly reminding us of the fact that we are not here to play, but here to study,and also the fact we are representing our school. Or else we may have fooled around, and not think deeply or observe the things and events which are happening around us, and personally, I think, I would not have such a fruitful trip.

This trip was quite like what I had expected, and I am not a wasteful person, at least in terms of food. And the fact that you need to observe, think deeper, and consider a problem, and truly understanding it before you open your mouth or voice out your opinions and such. I would try my best to change as in the past, I do think, but not deeply enough, and always speak first before truly understanding a certain topic. Applying what we learn not just in lessons but in our daily lives was an interesting thing to talk and think about everyday.

Overall, it was a very fun trip and I had a lot of fun and did learn quite a few things from Wahaha and Hai Di Lao "treat everybody like family!"but I was a little bit disappointed as we only went to the city and did not manage to go to places with much different living standards and conditions compared to Singapore, and also a little more time to enjoy the scenery. It was also really different to go with classmates and friends compared to going with parents and is something I would remember and treasure for a lifetime.

And thank you to the teachers that brought us along and spent lots of time to come up with the debriefing lessons, Miss Huang Ming Na, Mr Eugene Hui and Mrs Lee Li Mui. And many other things such aslooking after the sick classmates and such.

Oelp Reflection- Emma

Reflection

Why do you choose to go on this trip? 

What do you hope to learn from this trip? 

What decisions were made differently in the trip and has a different result in the end? 

I chose to go on this trip because this was planned by the school and I am sure that the school has organized this trip to broaden our knowledge and insight. I wanted to understand China’s culture and wished to have a deeper knowledge of China’s history, maybe even speak like the student’s there and be able to hold a conversation with them. To also learn more about China’s living standards and experience new learning opportunities during our trip. Another point is to let us appreciate Singapore as it is by comparing Singapore to China as we have higher living standards, to be appreciative that we are living in the city and able to live comfortably and also to be proud to be a Singaporean. During the trip it consists of a school exchange programme and it would be a great bonding session with my class during the programme. Hopefully we would will have a stronger sense of teamwork through our performances that we have been practicing and preparing painstakingly for the past few months. Also I believe that we would learn to work as a class and participate as a whole when we go for different activities during the exchange programme.

I hope to learn new abilities and have a really fun time there. Also to sightsee many new China exhibits were I have never been before. Interaction with the Chinese students may also improve our Chinese Language. I also want to be more independent and have a better understanding of responsibility during this trip as I need to take extra care of my belongings and myself. As this trip is with the school and without my family, we must be extra careful in guiding ourselves properly and listening attentively to instructions of our teachers and tour guides to avoid getting lost or injured. Even if I dislike the food I must be understanding and respectful and try to accommodate to them as we are still the guest and they are the host. We must show appreciation to them and consume what they cook. CID lessons should be related to this trip and Paul’s Wheel also needs to be used to think and reflect when we are completing the tasks assigned to us. We should apply our critical thinking skills and constantly ask ourselves questions and reflect on what we have learnt during that day of activities.

What I found different was that I thought our whole class would be visiting the same class, where our buddies will be guiding us along the lessons by explaining our queries to us. However, we were all assigned to different classes and had to sat individually with a group of Chinese students. We were all separated and it was nerve-wracking as it was hard to understand what the teacher was saying during the lesson and you could not consult any of your classmates. Then again the Chinese students were really helpful and they helped me in every way possible, making it comfortable to approach them if I had any questions. This definitely helped me boost my confidence. In normal lessons in school, it is always a difficult task for me to raise my hand and answer questions as I am always afraid to share my opinion thinking that it is always wrong, however, the China students convinced me to answer what I felt was correct and they demonstrated to me by shouting out a wrong answer to the teacher, no one mocked them and instead applauded them for the courage. I tried answering the question and got it right as the China students had given me the answer beforehand. I believe if I was not assigned to the China group individually, I would not be able to experience this opportunity of answering the question as I would probably be pushing the answer away to my other classmates.

What is one situation you come across that you feel strongly about?

What is one person that you had seen that taught you more than what could be achieved in class? 

What is one fact that you had learnt during this trip that impacted you the most?

What I felt strongly about is the performance of the Tarzan and Jane by our class facils and some other volunteers. When the music was first played, I could hear snickers and laughter erupt within the audience, it was understandable, as I am sure they are not used to these kind of music and sound effects. However it got worse and some of the students at the front row were starting to point and comment on the dancers, I knew this as I was sitting amongst them. I am sure all these movements and gestures would be very obvious to the performers. But they were not affected by this at all and continued to dance and sway confidently. There was also a part where the music skipped a beat and it repeated, but they still performed on without anyone noticing it, that was how fast and well prepared they were to improvise that one part. In the end, they were still given a big round of applause from the China students, and also our peers. I feel that this is a great learning opportunity for us, as we are constantly influenced by what others think, which clouds our judgement, causing us to perform badly. However, our few classmates were not affected and continued to dance confidently with precise hand movements following the beat. This is what I feel strongly about, and I would like to learn from them.

The person that I believe taught me more than what could be achieved in class is Class 8-32 chairperson. He was a really confident and righteous leader, who had a sense of responsibility and teamwork. When we first entered the class, we were assigned to different tables which consisted of groups of four. From then on, we listened to his welcoming speech in Chinese made by the Class Chairperson and took a glance of the many cute drawings that they had drawn on the blackboard to welcome us. I was assigned to the same group of the chairperson and throughout the whole lesson, he was really active and constantly participated in discussions during the lesson. His vibrant energy is what I think brought his team and him to success. During the session where they had to talk to us, he was the friendliest and constantly conversed with me. Although I was very nervous at the time, but I think it was him that helped me overcome that barrier and I soon started conversing with them as if they were my peers. Overall the school exchange programme was a fruitful one and I believe that we should all learn from the class chairperson and inherit his qualities for he has showed me something that is more than it could be achieved in class.

I learnt a fact that we should do our best in everything that we do, and even if we did not get a good score or good outcome, we know that we have tried our best and it is good enough. For example, when the China students were performing, they are doing almost the same thing, as the theme was being patriotic to their country, China. During the various performances, I noticed that many of the performers had prepared the same item, but they just performed it differently. Therefore in the end, many of them had different scores. Some were higher, and some were lower. What I saw was that they were not even upset over who scored higher, they cheered and hugged each other. As from what I saw, they all performed a really interesting performance and I believed they all did their best. From reciting the words flawlessly to instrument playing, I am sure that they did prepared and rehearsed painstakingly for months and months. Therefore, I learnt for a fact that we should always do our best and if our best is not up to our expectations, we should continue striving forward and work hard.

How would this trip affect your future behaviors and attitudes?

What are some long term changes you hope will take place? 

What did you learn in this trip that you can bring back to Singapore?

I think this trip will benefit me in many ways. I have learnt more life lessons during this trip. Firstly, through the guidance of our three teachers and tour guides, we have become more independent and have a better sense of responsibility during our stay there. We take care of our self regularly and take care of each other too. When our classmates were feeling sick and unwell, we all played a part in helping them feel comfortable by accommodating to their needs. We also have a better sense of awareness during the trip. For example, during the hike of Huang Shan, many of us were equipped with rubber soles which made it hard for us to walk or climb up the steep part of the mountains. There was a period of time where we had to climb to the top of the mountain, however it was very difficult as we had little help and it was dangerous as we may fall instantly if we made the wrong move or step. Although the view up there was great, many of us decided not to climb up there to prevent ourself from getting injured or even worse. I find that this was a good learning opportunity as I was one of the people in the group who chose not to climb up. I was not influenced my classmates who were gushing about the view and instead though about my safety. I found my act to be sensible and that is what I lack. Throughout this trip, I realised that I had not only grew in knowledge, I also grew as a person.

Also through the many attractions in different parts of China, we have all gained much knowledge of their culture and history. We stood there and listened avidly as the tour guides explained about that attraction and the history of how that place came about. I am sure that I will put those information to good use if anyone asks me about China.  China is developing rapidly and in the future, we may have to work with them for business deals and business related co-operations. It will be to our advantage to gather information about China when we are still young as I am sure those information will be instilled in our minds. By doing so, we may have common topics when conversing with them, to enable ourselves with a successful partnership. While we are still young, this can still be to our advantage as we are bound to meet China transfer students in our life, by knowing their culture and history, we can have a fruitful friendship and have a wider circle of friends too.

During the trip, we visited many ancient villages and I learnt a valuable lesson there. In one of the villages, there was a big Chinese maobi painting of the word 孝, which meant filial piety. According to tour guide, the maobi painting depicted a monkey and a boy bowing down to his parents, the monkey is being abusive to his parents but the boy is being respectful to the parents. The top of the character looks like a man profile’s on the right side (one who follows the right way is a man), and the opposite side looks like a monkey’s profile. What I learnt that can be brought back to Singapore is that we should show respect and filial piety to our parents. Our parents have given this life to us, and we should learn to cherish it by constantly respecting and abiding by our parents ways. Even if we dislike the rules they set for us, we must accept them as they are doing this for our own good. We must also do well in our studies to make them proud and spend quality time with them no matter how busy we get in the future. This is how we show them filial piety and what we should do to fulfill our part of their children.