OELP daily reflections
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Day 1: Departure at Airport and visit to the Song Dynasty Town
This day was the start of the epic journey of 2F in China. The day was pretty short though due to the preparations and baggage checks at the airport in the morning at 7.30am and the 5 hour aeroplane ride. When we arrived at the Song Dynasty Town which is situated at the southern-west part of the West Lake scenic area backing on Wuyun Moutain with the Qiantang River on its south. The Song Dynasty Town is the first and largest theme park featuring the civilisation of Song Dynasty in China. The Song Dynasty's period was from (A.D 960-1279) and it was the dynasty in which its development of economy, science technology and culture was advanced at that point of time. When we reached the Song Dynasty Town, I was surprised and shocked to see that the theme park was not like any other theme park like Disney Land or Universals Studios, with its roller coasters and fun rides, but it is just a theme park with shops and various themed venues to allow visitors to experience what was it like to be in the Song Dynasty's era. I realised that the people living in the Song dynasty era live in wooden houses due to that their technology was limited and that there were many trees in there thus they can use the wood from the trees and the likelihood is that they would build wooden houses. However, the contractions of this is that if a fire would occur, it would be very hard for the people living in wooden houses to escape due to that wood conducts fire easily and that the risk of deaths is very high. The Song Dynasty Town tourist attraction has amalgate cultural as well as historical aspects into it and i feel that there are many possibilities for Singapore as Singapore has a rich and diverse history, from the founding of colonial Singapore to the saddening death of our late Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew, hence, it would be not hard to amalgate cultural as well as historical aspects into a business. After dinner, we headed to the hotel where we were given a long debrief about the trip to the Song Dynasty Town and could not wait for the days in OELP to come.
Group picture taken outside Song Dynasty Town Tourist attraction
Picture of the performances which depicts the Song Dynasty Era
Day 2: Wahaha Factory visit as well as visit to ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum and Tea plantation
The next day, we were told on the bus ride to the Wahaha Factory to read up on the achievements of the Wahaha Factory and how it became a huge successful company from a small set up shop in an elementary school in HangZhou, Zhejiang. The Hang Zhou Wahaha Group is currently China's leading domestic beverage producer with roughly 70 subsidiary companies and 40 manufacturing bases scattered throughout China.The owner of the company, Mr Zong Qing Hou, started his business on a tricycle, selling ice cream, soda drinks as well as exercise notebooks. However, through taking advantages of situations and thinking out of the box to venture to new methods as well as innovative marketing methods, Mr Zong Qing Hou progressed his small company to a huge successful company in just 11 years. One of the situations when he took advantage of is that when the milk powder in China had severe problems, Wahaha Company created a new brand of milk powder that has many health benefits which caused a massive boom in the sales of Wahaha Company. Next, by having advertisements for the product, a catchy slogan for the product as well as using celebrities to promote its products and many other methods, it allows the citizens of China to remember Wahaha's products easily so that they will recall its popularity and buy it in the market or shops.The Wahaha Company also dared to ventured into new technology to even purify their water for it to be the most purified water in China and thus it would increase sales of purified water in Wahaha Company.
Afterwards, we headed to the ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum and Tea plantation. At the Tea plantation, we were shown how the tea plants were grown, how to keep the pests away as well as how to pluck the leaves out of the plant properly. Then, we headed to ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum to know about the culture as well as the history of the tea leaves and to also taste the Tea leaves. Some of the tea leaves that were yielded were the MaoFeng tea, Chrysanthemum tea and the Red tea. Tea played an important part in the culture of the Chinese as the young always serve tea to the elder generation as a form of respect.I also learnt about the uses of the various teas and how it is used to treat people.
This day was the start of the epic journey of 2F in China. The day was pretty short though due to the preparations and baggage checks at the airport in the morning at 7.30am and the 5 hour aeroplane ride. When we arrived at the Song Dynasty Town which is situated at the southern-west part of the West Lake scenic area backing on Wuyun Moutain with the Qiantang River on its south. The Song Dynasty Town is the first and largest theme park featuring the civilisation of Song Dynasty in China. The Song Dynasty's period was from (A.D 960-1279) and it was the dynasty in which its development of economy, science technology and culture was advanced at that point of time. When we reached the Song Dynasty Town, I was surprised and shocked to see that the theme park was not like any other theme park like Disney Land or Universals Studios, with its roller coasters and fun rides, but it is just a theme park with shops and various themed venues to allow visitors to experience what was it like to be in the Song Dynasty's era. I realised that the people living in the Song dynasty era live in wooden houses due to that their technology was limited and that there were many trees in there thus they can use the wood from the trees and the likelihood is that they would build wooden houses. However, the contractions of this is that if a fire would occur, it would be very hard for the people living in wooden houses to escape due to that wood conducts fire easily and that the risk of deaths is very high. The Song Dynasty Town tourist attraction has amalgate cultural as well as historical aspects into it and i feel that there are many possibilities for Singapore as Singapore has a rich and diverse history, from the founding of colonial Singapore to the saddening death of our late Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew, hence, it would be not hard to amalgate cultural as well as historical aspects into a business. After dinner, we headed to the hotel where we were given a long debrief about the trip to the Song Dynasty Town and could not wait for the days in OELP to come.
Group picture taken outside Song Dynasty Town Tourist attraction
Picture of the performances which depicts the Song Dynasty Era
Day 2: Wahaha Factory visit as well as visit to ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum and Tea plantation
The next day, we were told on the bus ride to the Wahaha Factory to read up on the achievements of the Wahaha Factory and how it became a huge successful company from a small set up shop in an elementary school in HangZhou, Zhejiang. The Hang Zhou Wahaha Group is currently China's leading domestic beverage producer with roughly 70 subsidiary companies and 40 manufacturing bases scattered throughout China.The owner of the company, Mr Zong Qing Hou, started his business on a tricycle, selling ice cream, soda drinks as well as exercise notebooks. However, through taking advantages of situations and thinking out of the box to venture to new methods as well as innovative marketing methods, Mr Zong Qing Hou progressed his small company to a huge successful company in just 11 years. One of the situations when he took advantage of is that when the milk powder in China had severe problems, Wahaha Company created a new brand of milk powder that has many health benefits which caused a massive boom in the sales of Wahaha Company. Next, by having advertisements for the product, a catchy slogan for the product as well as using celebrities to promote its products and many other methods, it allows the citizens of China to remember Wahaha's products easily so that they will recall its popularity and buy it in the market or shops.The Wahaha Company also dared to ventured into new technology to even purify their water for it to be the most purified water in China and thus it would increase sales of purified water in Wahaha Company.
Afterwards, we headed to the ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum and Tea plantation. At the Tea plantation, we were shown how the tea plants were grown, how to keep the pests away as well as how to pluck the leaves out of the plant properly. Then, we headed to ChengKan Xie Yuda Tea museum to know about the culture as well as the history of the tea leaves and to also taste the Tea leaves. Some of the tea leaves that were yielded were the MaoFeng tea, Chrysanthemum tea and the Red tea. Tea played an important part in the culture of the Chinese as the young always serve tea to the elder generation as a form of respect.I also learnt about the uses of the various teas and how it is used to treat people.
Trip to the Chengkan Xie Yuda Tea plantation
Wahaha Company's wide range of products on display
Day 3; Tunxi Ink Factory, ChengDaWei Abacus museum, Tunxi Ancient Street and HongCun as well as Xidi Ancient Villages
First, we went to the ChengDaWei Abacus museum. There were many abacuses there, even with some preserved from the early 1900s. The guide told us that in HuangShan, there were many mountains, little plantations and fertile soil, hence the people there had to resort to going to other places to trade for food and thus the need for calculation. Cheng Da Wei was a gifted mathematician and built a calculator known then as an abacus to simplify calculations easily. His contribution of the Abacus proved a great help to people across the world and he was even respected by renowned mathematicians.
Next we headed to the Tunxi Ink factory, the guide there told us that firstly, black soot was collected for the black ink. Then, the black ink was formed into rectangular blocks and then painted with gold ink to be heated and dried up. It was told that the process could take up to one year. Both the Tunxi Ink Factory and the ChengDaWei Abacus museum are both similar in the terms that they both contain significance as well as a purpose.
Then, we headed to the Tunxi Ancient Street. There were many traditional goods for culture and snacks there. I feel that one of the diminishing trades on the Tunxi Ancient Street is the abacus. I chose the abacus as with the invention of the modern calculator nowadays, rarely people use the old "calculator" abacus again. Besides, the calculator is way simpler and easier to use rather than the abacus. It tells me that traditional goods are slowly losing to technology nowadays. In order to promote their goods to us, various shop owners played their musical instruments and showed-case it to attract customers. I feel that some of the older trades in Singapore such as the small shops lying around in the shopping malls are diminishing. Since young, I had always seen small shops lying around in shopping malls in the form of carts but nobody still seems to buy from them and thus no business converts to no money and hence shopping carts in Singapore are not ideal for business.
Afterwards, we headed towards Xidi Ancient villages as well as the HongCun Ancient village. We learnt that the types of houses that people stayed in depends on their status and their wealth. The houses there were built by stones and not concrete. I also learnt that the richer people there spent alot of money to protect their houses from robbers or kidnappers by placing many security measures by their door.
Afterwards, we headed towards Xidi Ancient villages as well as the HongCun Ancient village. We learnt that the types of houses that people stayed in depends on their status and their wealth. The houses there were built by stones and not concrete. I also learnt that the richer people there spent alot of money to protect their houses from robbers or kidnappers by placing many security measures by their door.
Paranomic view of the village
A small provision shop in the Cheng Dawei Abacus Museum
Some abacuses at the Cheng Dawei Abacus Museum
Day 4: Mt.HuangShan
That morning we woke up especially early but only to meet the wet drizzling rain. We were very sad but all of us still persevered on and took the shuttle bus to Mt. HuangShan. We took the cable car to the top of the Mt.Huangshan. It was especially chilly and misty that day due to the early morning drizzle. Along the trail on Mt. HuangShan, there was a kind old lady that offered me her wooden walking stick. Personally, I was shocked as it was not everyday that you would see a person helping out another person out in the open. I was very touched and also thanked that kind old lady profoundly. Huang Shan is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature, as well as modern photography besides being a popular tourist attraction. The experience of climbing Mt.HuangShan was a very refreshing and fun one as I climbed the mountain with my classmates and it is the first mountain that I have climbed. On the way back my teachers asked us a question to debate on in the bus, "Why does tourism help to preserve HuangShan?" They then seperated the class into 2 groups to debate. I was in the group that agreed that tourism helps to preserve HuangShan. I agreed due to the fact that if HuangShan was not famous, it would just be a mountain and it can be destroyed for more housing space or development space. However, HuangShan is a popular tourism sight and it provides money for the government from the selling of its tickets and if the government decides to shut HuangShan down, it would be a great loss in revenue. Hence, tourism helps to preserve HuangShan. After the climb, my friend told me a memorable quote that would be etched in my mind which was "2F came, 2F saw, 2F conquered." That night, we spent long hours trying to get our performance right and proper to give a good impression for the people at ShouChun High School.
Day 5: Meiling electronics and visited ShouChun High school as well the market
This morning, we were very fortunate to have an industrial visit to the Meiling electronics manufacturing factory. Meiling electronics is a manufacturing company that helps other branded companies such as electrolux and panasonic to manufacture their products and have it " Made and China" and sold at a cheaper price instead of the "Made in Japan". This provides a revenue and profit for the Meiling electronics due to the popularity of the brand.
When we reached the school, we were paired up with our buddies to mingle around. At first it may be awkward, but it was quite fun after awhile. Then we were assigned to different classes to have lessons. I was shocked initially to find out that the board used for the lessons was the blackboard and they used chalks. I was also very shocked that in the toilet, there were actually no cubicles and everything was just shown to the naked eye. It was also explained that there were no cubicles in the toilet so as to prevent students from loitering in the toilets and return to class to resume studying. The discipline in the school was also way stricter than in Singapore. When we had our conjoined performance with the choir of ShouChun Secondary School, we swayed side to side while the choir stood firmly and straightly. This reflects strongly in the discipline of the schools.
At the super market, we were sent to do our market research. We found our for most of the same quantity of goods, it is cheaper in China than Singapore.
Day 6: Full Day School Immersion Trip
Today, we went to the ShouChun High School for a full day immersion. From morning till the afternoon, I took Chinese and math classes. The atmosphere in the Chinese lesson was different from what was like in Singapore. Even though my Chinese was very awkward and it made my new group China members laugh, they still taught me the harder Chinese words with ease and patience. They read their Chinese paper with such gusto and tone which amazed me as in Singapore, no matter how much tone and expression that we try to put into our reading, we could never read with as much gusto as them. Surprisingly, during math class, the students do not try the questions first but always wait for their teacher to teach them the methods before applying it in the questions.
After the lessons, we headed to the teacher's cafeteria to learn how to make rice dumplings as well as eating our lunch there.We were taught how to make the filling and wrap the leaves. Rice dumplings are an integral part of the Chinese culture. In Singapore, we usually buy rice dumplings from shops and that we rarely make our own rice dumplings. Hence, I felt that this was a good opportunity to experience our roots, our tradition.
After the rice dumpling making session, we headed to the conference room and started our lesson on the culture and history of the Peking Opera as well as the face painting mask session. I was one of the few people who was selected to go on stage with the mask to do a performance.
At the end of the day, we were given the opportunity to face the schools basketball, badminton as well as volleyball team. I headed to the volleyball section. Despite not being able to challenge them to a match, they were still kind enough to teach me the fundamentals of playing volleyball.
Day 7: House visit, book shop as well as the University or Arts
That morning,we assembled in school to meet the buddy whose house we were going to visit. The group members that were assigned to go with me are Keefe,Isaac and Ying Cheng. As soon as we got to know our buddies, we clicked instantly and talked for the whole trip to his house. At his house, our buddy's father immediately cooked for us while I played chinese chess with the 2 buddies. Surprisingly, I beat the 2 of them in Chinese Chess and our buddy's father came to play with me. The game was intense and it finally was ended to the favour of our buddy's father.
Then, we went out to play badminton as well as catching, we played till we were all sweaty and tired and returned back to the home for lunch. The lunch that was prepared by our buddy's father was plentiful, with ranges from meat to vegetables as well as dumplings. I felt guilty as all of us only ate a little portion of food before resuming playing our games.
After the house visit, we headed to the prestigious and famous book shop which consists of 6 levels. There were many books there and our kind Chinese teacher offered to pay the books with her card which allows a discount.
At the end of the day, we headed to the University of Arts where we were taught about the dances and history of the Peking Opera. We were to follow their simple dance routine too and it was quite an interesting experience.
Opera Dancing opportunity at the University of Arts
It was the last day of our trip and we bought tickets to board a high-speed rail from Hefei back to HangZhou. It was an exhilarating experience as I had never boarded a high-speed yet so stable train before. It took only a few hours to reach back to HangZhou and it was time to go home. The 8-day experience was a very memorable one as I learnt alot about China and that I had gained a new profound respect for Chinese. Besides, this High-speed rail also reminded me of the planned high-speed rail project from Singapore to Kuala-Lumpur. By having a high-speed rail, it would save even more time instead of being congested at the causeway and making it even more convenient to travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Of course, I will never miss the good times I've had with the fishes HAHAHA. OELP is definitely an experience that I will never forget.
View from the Cable car on the way to the peak of Huang Shan
Huang Shan moutain's view
Day 5: Meiling electronics and visited ShouChun High school as well the market
This morning, we were very fortunate to have an industrial visit to the Meiling electronics manufacturing factory. Meiling electronics is a manufacturing company that helps other branded companies such as electrolux and panasonic to manufacture their products and have it " Made and China" and sold at a cheaper price instead of the "Made in Japan". This provides a revenue and profit for the Meiling electronics due to the popularity of the brand.
When we reached the school, we were paired up with our buddies to mingle around. At first it may be awkward, but it was quite fun after awhile. Then we were assigned to different classes to have lessons. I was shocked initially to find out that the board used for the lessons was the blackboard and they used chalks. I was also very shocked that in the toilet, there were actually no cubicles and everything was just shown to the naked eye. It was also explained that there were no cubicles in the toilet so as to prevent students from loitering in the toilets and return to class to resume studying. The discipline in the school was also way stricter than in Singapore. When we had our conjoined performance with the choir of ShouChun Secondary School, we swayed side to side while the choir stood firmly and straightly. This reflects strongly in the discipline of the schools.
At the super market, we were sent to do our market research. We found our for most of the same quantity of goods, it is cheaper in China than Singapore.
View in class when the teacher is teaching
Showcase of fridges at the Meiling Electronics
Day 6: Full Day School Immersion Trip
Today, we went to the ShouChun High School for a full day immersion. From morning till the afternoon, I took Chinese and math classes. The atmosphere in the Chinese lesson was different from what was like in Singapore. Even though my Chinese was very awkward and it made my new group China members laugh, they still taught me the harder Chinese words with ease and patience. They read their Chinese paper with such gusto and tone which amazed me as in Singapore, no matter how much tone and expression that we try to put into our reading, we could never read with as much gusto as them. Surprisingly, during math class, the students do not try the questions first but always wait for their teacher to teach them the methods before applying it in the questions.
After the lessons, we headed to the teacher's cafeteria to learn how to make rice dumplings as well as eating our lunch there.We were taught how to make the filling and wrap the leaves. Rice dumplings are an integral part of the Chinese culture. In Singapore, we usually buy rice dumplings from shops and that we rarely make our own rice dumplings. Hence, I felt that this was a good opportunity to experience our roots, our tradition.
After the rice dumpling making session, we headed to the conference room and started our lesson on the culture and history of the Peking Opera as well as the face painting mask session. I was one of the few people who was selected to go on stage with the mask to do a performance.
At the end of the day, we were given the opportunity to face the schools basketball, badminton as well as volleyball team. I headed to the volleyball section. Despite not being able to challenge them to a match, they were still kind enough to teach me the fundamentals of playing volleyball.
Face painting opportunity in ShouChun Secondary School
Making rice dumplings
That morning,we assembled in school to meet the buddy whose house we were going to visit. The group members that were assigned to go with me are Keefe,Isaac and Ying Cheng. As soon as we got to know our buddies, we clicked instantly and talked for the whole trip to his house. At his house, our buddy's father immediately cooked for us while I played chinese chess with the 2 buddies. Surprisingly, I beat the 2 of them in Chinese Chess and our buddy's father came to play with me. The game was intense and it finally was ended to the favour of our buddy's father.
Then, we went out to play badminton as well as catching, we played till we were all sweaty and tired and returned back to the home for lunch. The lunch that was prepared by our buddy's father was plentiful, with ranges from meat to vegetables as well as dumplings. I felt guilty as all of us only ate a little portion of food before resuming playing our games.
After the house visit, we headed to the prestigious and famous book shop which consists of 6 levels. There were many books there and our kind Chinese teacher offered to pay the books with her card which allows a discount.
At the end of the day, we headed to the University of Arts where we were taught about the dances and history of the Peking Opera. We were to follow their simple dance routine too and it was quite an interesting experience.
Opera Dancing opportunity at the University of Arts
Playing at our Buddy's house
Day 8: Returning to HangZhouIt was the last day of our trip and we bought tickets to board a high-speed rail from Hefei back to HangZhou. It was an exhilarating experience as I had never boarded a high-speed yet so stable train before. It took only a few hours to reach back to HangZhou and it was time to go home. The 8-day experience was a very memorable one as I learnt alot about China and that I had gained a new profound respect for Chinese. Besides, this High-speed rail also reminded me of the planned high-speed rail project from Singapore to Kuala-Lumpur. By having a high-speed rail, it would save even more time instead of being congested at the causeway and making it even more convenient to travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Ticket for the High speed railway
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