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- Josiah

1)Why do you choose to go on this trip? 

What decisions were made when you choose to go on this trip? 

What do you hope to learn from this trip?

I chose to go on this trip as I want to learn about the differences between Singapore and China. One of the main differences that I want to learn about  is the type of various cuisine and their diet thus I choose to go on this trip as I want to expose myself to a slightly different culture as compared to the culture in singapore. As the Chinese people in China is governed by a different government therefore their living standards would also be different from Singapore as compared to what China offers. I want to be exposed to this different culture so that I can know what I can learn from from the Chinese people. I chose to keep a open mind towards different people, different cultures and their foreign traditions. I held on to a keen learning attitude to be able to learn as much as I can from as many people as I can. I maintain a positive mindset towards the various challenges that I would meet with on the trip. So that I can maximize both my learning and enjoyment throughout this important learning journey to China. On this trip, I hope to interact with the locals to understand them and their lives, I would also like to try out new things like what the Chinese people do in their everyday lives so that I can have a sense of what it is like to live in China.  I would also like to learn essential life skills and knowledge on how to interact with people of different backgrounds and age group to better manage my life in the future. I would also hope to learn how to adapt to a completely new environment so that I am competent to face future challenges that might arise throughout my life as a member of the society. I would like to learn about the similarities and differences between Singapore and China. For example China’s various customs and things like dining ettiquete, the difference in how the Chinese people have their meals and how they interact with guests at the dining table. I hope to also learn about Singaporeans in the eyes of the Chinese people, what do they think of us and how they think they are similar and different from us.

2)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?

I came across the situation of a beggar begging for money on Tun Xi Ancient Street and i felt really strongly about it. We were about to take a class picture when a beggar came out of nowhere and started begging for money. Our class faced a state of moral dilemma as we really wanted to help the beggar but our tour guide warned us about our safety before we alighted from the bus. He told us that if we helped one beggar more of the beggars will sense this as a rare opportunity to extort money from gulleble foreigners like us, if we did not give in to their demands they might turn violent making it very hard for the teachers and the tour guide to ensure our safety. We really wanted to give all the help we can provide to the beggar but on a second thought considering the safety if the teachers tourguides and our classmates we chose to went against our will and turn our back on the beggar. At that moment i was thinking, were we humane to turn our back on a desperate fellow human for the fear of our own personal safety? I guess prevention is better than cure, taking the risks involved into consideration is better than facing the consequences of our act of kindness. The tour guide Xiao Yu taught us more than what we could achieve in class. As a tour guide he was expected to be knowledgable and we should be able to rely on him. I felt that although he was a tour guide he was more like a teacher to us. He patiently imparted his knowledge of China bit by bit to us and cared about our welfare from daily meals all the way to finding a way to let us try the seasonal fruit Pipa. He did his best to teach us about the real China which includes how the people lived instead of just doing his job of introducing the places well. He supported the teachers in every way possible and facilitated our learning in the best way he could. I learnt about how one can does his job in the best way he can. The fact about how to treat our parents impacted me the most. We were at Xi Di Ancient Villages when we saw what seems like an ordinary chinese calligraphy painting of the word fillial piety. However after the introduction by the tour guide we learn that there are actually two opposite characters in the painting-a abusive monkey and a respectful man. I am quite amazed when I know about this fact as I did not know that deep meanings could be hidden within such a ordinary looking word. If we are respectful towards our parents we would be like the respectful man bowing to his parents, if we are disrespectful towards our parents we would be like the abusive monkey with no discipline and moral codes, thus abusing its parents whom the monkey should grateful to instead. I learnt that our parents really did a lot for us and we should really be grateful towards our parents. Their selfless and unconditional love for us, truely leaves us indebt to them.

3)How would this trip affect your future behaviours 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?

On this trip I benefited the most through the interaction with our Chinese counterparts-the passionate students of Shou Chun Secondary School. Their passion towards learning,enthusiasm during lessons and their perseverance admist the heavy homework load and long and tiring school hours. I would be more passionate in lessons in the future and be a active learner and constructive contributer to the society. I will try to learn and improve myself in everyway possible and seize opportunities that comes knocking on. I will have the right attitudes towards learning and be grateful for being able to learn I will be grateful towards the teachers who imparted their valuable knowledge to us who have no relation to them at all. I hope that people can benefit from this trip and be contributive towards the nation. The Chinese people had a very strong sense of national identity they were really proud to be citizens of the Republic of China and they really loved their country. Everything they do was geared towards benefiting their nation so that they can progress together as one nation. The Chinese people were really determined in whatever they do and they have the right attitude and mindset that contributed to their success in various aspects in life. I hope that Singaporeans would have the passion and love for this piece of land that our ancesstors set foot on and the land our forefathers lay their blood sweat and tears to build this nation miracously from barren land to towering skyscrappers and the modern metroplis. All that we have now does not come easy and I hope more Singaporeans can have a stronger sense of national identity and love the nation that provided us with shelter and the fortunate lives we are living now. I learn that in order to progress we should be geared towards one common goal and this goal should be what guides us through the up and downs of our journey as individuals. This could be seen in the example of the big red banners pasted on to the walls of places like factories and schools. This guides the workers and students and reminds them of their goals,objectives and mission as only when one is not diverted off the path from where we are progressing towards then we can progress together at the same pace. I hope to bring this determine attitude of theirs back to Singapore so that we all would a have a goal a principle to guide us through what ever we are doing in every phrase of our lives. 

Folks- Josiah

Notable figures of Hefei

Bao Zheng (999–1062), Northern Song dynasty bureaucrat and judge whose name has become synonymous with judicial wisdom and uprightness.During his twenty five years in civil service, Bao consistently demonstrated extreme honesty and uprightness, with actions such as sentencing his own uncle, impeaching an uncle of Emperor Renzong's favourite concubine and punishing powerful families.Nicknamed "Justice Bao" (包青天), Bao Zheng today is respected as the cultural symbol of justice in Greater China. What left the deepest impression in me is that when he died  It was recorded that he left the following warning for his family: "Any of my descendants who commits bribery as an official shall not be allowed back home nor buried in the family burial site. He who shares not my values is not my descendant. Built in 1066, his burial site in Hefei contains his tomb along with the tombs of family members and a memorial temple.

Han Qizhi, (b. 1970), first person to climb up the tallest building in China. He was the first person to climb the exterior of the Jin Mao Tower.^[1] At 88 stories, the Jin Mao was the tallest building in China at the time—and 5th tallest building in the world (measured by roof height). In early March 2001, Han walked around the building at ground level a couple of times with a companion before removing his jacket and starting upwards.^[2] An official report would later say he was "struck by a rash impulse" before climbing the skyscraper while barehanded and while wearing regular day clothes. What struck me most was that  Han had no professional climbing experience. Apparently a hope that his feat might bring fame to himself and to his shoe business in Hefei was a factor.

                                                  

Beliefs

A Chinese kid gets a haircut in Hefei, Anhui province. According to beliefs in traditional Chinese culture, getting a haircut on the second day of the second Chinese lunar month is likely to bring good luck.

Singapore's National Icon-Josiah

Do you think the merlion would make the best national icon for Singapore? 

I think it's suitable as the Merlion give Singaporeans a sense of identity. It reminds us of our humble beginnings progressing to the present metropolis. It represents us Singaporeans and our multi-racial roots. It really tells the story of our nation through the lion head and fish body, it is a unique combination of a mythical creature that all Singaporeans have different interpretations of, it shows our humble beginnings as a fishing village and the legend of Singa how our country was named. We would be recognise by the Merlion and we will be proud of it.

The Merlion has a lion head and a fish body resting on a crest of waves. The lion head symbolises the legend of the rediscovery of Singapura, as recorded in the "Malay Annals". In ancient times, Singapore was known as Temasek, a Javanese word for sea. In the 11th century A.D, Prince Sang Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya Empire rediscovered the island. When the Prince first landed on Singapore's shores, he sighted a mystical beast which he later learnt was a lion. The Prince then decided to name the island "Singapura" which in Sanskrit means Lion (Singa) City (Pura). The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek and represents Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village.

The merlion is unique as it was designed as an emblem for the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in 1964. The designer was Mr Fraser Brunner, a member of the souvenir committee and a curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium.The Merlion statue, measuring 8.6 metres high and weighing 70 tonnes, was built by the late Singapore craftsman, Mr Lim Nang Seng. It is made of cement fondue. A smaller Merlion statue, measuring two metres high and weighing three tonnes was also built by Mr Lim. The body is made of cement fondue, the skin from porcelain plates and eyes from small red teacups.

The Merlion is the national personification of Singapore.Due to the influence of overseas Singaporeans, Singapore investors and friends of the country, variations of the Merlion statue can be found in Japan, China and the United States of America.

Golden Age of Singapore-Josiah

I have learnt that for a civilisation to be seen as going through its golden age,we gave to determine if these developments had contributed to the political,economic and social stability of the country significantly and also if the progress is sustainable long after its time. From what I learnt about Mr Lee Kuan Yew I can say that he is truly the founding father of our now prosperous nation till the point that without him our country will never progress to what we are today. Firstly politically, as Singapore had problems with political corruption. Mr Lee introduced legislation giving the CPIB greater power to conduct arrests, search, call up witnesses, and investigate bank accounts and income-tax returns of suspected persons and their families.Mr Lee believed that ministers should be well paid in order to maintain a clean and honest government. By doing so,he built a zero corruption government which is a crucial factor to Singapore's success. Secondly economically, at first Singapore was an island without any natural resources to call its own. Since then, it has pulled off a dramatic transformation - boasting two casino-integrated resorts and an airport that has frequently topped the "world's best" list. All of these could be credited to Mr Lee.Thirdly socially,as Singapore has traditionally relied on water from Malaysia, this reliance has made Singapore subject to the possibility of price increases and allowed Malaysian officials to use the water reliance as a political leverage by threatening to cut off supply. In order to reduce this problem,Mr Lee decided to experiment with water recycling in 1974.This gradually lead to the formation of Newater which contributed to the social well-being of Singaporeans. We really need to thank him as without Mr Lee Singapore would really still be a little dot, we should treasure what we have and love our nation working together to built a better Singapore.

China's Economy-Josiah

China's economic growth

By opening up their country,China would be more prosperous as more countries will have business ties with her. Due to China's population,cheap labour which makes mass production possible, China can afford to have cheaper products and more countries will trade with China as the prices are lower thus China will be more prosperous with increase trade. The tax rates in China is also relatively lower,this attracts foreign investors to China setting up their business in China which indirectly benefits the country as China would be more developed. Their exchange rates also makes trading with China more worthwhile as traders can buy goods at a lower price before selling it at their own currency thus lowering the capital cost. In China itself,because of this growth more people will have jobs due to more foreign traders setting up factories,standard of living also increases as people are more well off. This growth also leads to negative impacts, more factories will result in pollution of air water and even the noise. There will also be increase in income inequality as income gap between cheap labourers and wealthy businessmen would be greater as not everyone has an equal opportunity in this growth. China's economical growth would also attract Singapore as the goods are also cheap,due to the income inequality more people might also migrate to singapore to look for better opportunities.

1 child policy-Josiah

Reflection(26/1/2015)

Given the dwindling population growth, singapore will face the crisis of a ageing population. If I am the only child,what used to be done by parents will have to be done by me all alone which increases the burden on the future generations as the cycle continues. With the disinclined population growth caused by lower birth rates there will be more and more people who are old, this might result in a manpower shortage as death rate increases with ageing population and birth rates continues to decline. In the future society's advancements may eventually come to a stop hindered by the lack of talents due to the dwindling population growth which affects a country's prosperity.

We have to prevent these by managing the number of deaths and births in Singapore. We have to ensure that the population does not age and decline so as to ensure that the country always have enough people to function. We can also encourage birth by providing financial aid and benefits to both the parent and the child for example the Edusave which financially helps the parents who are nurturing a child acadamically.

We must also not overlook the problems as to why people are hesitating to have children, as we have to respond to the root of the problem instead of the effect of the problem. Only by doing so can we truly prevent a such a crisis.

Reflection-Josiah

Reflection (19/01/2015)

Base on the Little India riot I can say that the fatal accident might not be the truth cause of the riot but 

instead it is just the smokescreen of a wider picture. I realise from the video shown today that we are prejudice against foreign workers and might have even gone to the extent of discrimination. It is unfair of us to judge them base on what we see in our daily lives when we ourselves do not know them well enough.

Their living conditions and treatment locally should be reviewed again, are they treated fair enough? Maybe we can start by having an open mind to accept people from different backgrounds and not draw a line between us,after all we are living on the same piece of land for now.

If we don't try to accept them and allow them to blend into our society it will only make everyone's life harder as we spent time guarding against the workers and as they try to find own way in this foreign land.

Poverty-Josiah

Poverty

I wanted to help the woman with the baby at first as I thought of the pitiful state the baby was in. When I realised that they were from a organisation I felt cheated I should have helped the man who really needs help instead. What first came into my mind was that the baby is innocent,I was stupefied when I was told that they tend to feed the baby with vodka so that he would be asleep which would facilitate the begging process. They should not have gone to this extent as the baby is just a defenceless toddler they should not have use him which could have caused emotional and physical harm.

Singapore manages poverty issues rather well as beggars by the road side is not a common sight. Senior citizens can count on CPF savings when they retire and people who are financially handicap can seek assistance from the government. Although poverty might not be in the extreme cases but jobless people is not uncommon in this city of high living standards. They might depend on others which would then cause financial difficulties. Employment availablities might be more open towards uneducated individuals so as to help them with living, if Singaporeans can be more humble towards the kind of job they are doing and lower their expectation they might be able to get a job and live.