OELP Everyday Reflection

Day 1: Night Trip to Song Dynasty City

Squeals of excitement could be heard from our class when we got off the plane in China. It was our first day there in Hangzhou, and I was really happy and excited at that time. We went to the Song Dynasty City (宋城) at night, and although I was afraid that it would be very boring initially, my emotions were replaced with wonder and curiosity when we arrived at the Song Dynasty City. The Song Dynasty City is the largest theme park dedicated to the Song Dynasty in China.  The place was a replica of the olden times, and practically everything was made out of wood. The streets were lined with shops, restaurants, and stores, all of which were designed to look like they belonged to the former Chinese culture. The shop houses looked very run-down, and the people in the shops all wore very traditional costumes. It felt like we were in a totally different world when I tried to take in what I saw. I was surprised and amazed when I saw all of that, because in Singapore we seldom see anything that was preserved or carried forward from the olden days. The whole place really let my imagination run wild, and I felt like I was living in the Song Dynasty for a while during the trip. I realized how much the world has changed when I noticed the differences between how China is now and how it used to be then. It was as if we all went back to the past when we were there.  We went for the Song City night performance show (宋城千古情), which started at around 8pm. The performance was brilliant, displaying a wide array of colours to attract our attention. It consisted of stories on the history of China, and the dramatic performance was really eye-catching and amazing.  It felt really cool and wonderful to have such a vivid live experience because I don’t really go to such performances and I must say I was very glad I managed to attend something so lovely. I was happy I was there to see it for myself to get the best experience, like the slight spraying of water on us, and even seeing the performers walking down the aisles alongside our seats, wearing their flashy and bright costumes. However, one thing I did regret was the fact that I was not really prepared for the performance, so I was a little confused when they were performing because I was not too sure about the plot. However, I was fortunate enough to have one of my classmate explain it to me, and I got very interested in the stories and how they came about in China. After much thought, I really noticed the drastic change and how different the world is now, and I felt that the performance really reemphasised the fact on how far we have reached today. Even though I probably needed some background information on the history of China or the stories behind it to truly enjoy the beautiful performance, I was happy enough to be there to see it and I am sure everyone else enjoyed it. I believed that after that performance, the stories really sparked my interest in the history of China, and I felt that I became more open towards their culture and tradition. I found out that when I was there, I really managed to learn a lot more about their culture and how it used to be or rather, how it is different from their culture now in the present. Looking back, I actually realised how the great tourist attraction was also a form of good memory for China as they designed it to look like the Song Dynasty days. To be honest, I was very touched when I was in the Song Dynasty City because I felt like there were a lot of good memories and experiences that I also enjoyed very much in Singapore, and although it was only the first day, I felt a little homesick and missed home a little bit after we went back to our hotel.

 

Day 2: Factory Visit at Wahaha, Tea Museum and Plantations

Before we went to the factory, we were asked to read up on Wahaha beforehand, and there were even some articles in the learning booklet to help supplement us so that we are better prepared for the factory visit later on. In 1991, with a team of only about 100 employees, Wahaha merged with Hangzhou Canned-Food Factory. The latter had about 2,000 employees then. The cost was 80 million RMB. Following the merge, Wahaha Food Group Co., Ltd. was established. The new company commenced to make profit, though the canned-food factory as its predecessor had posted an operating loss of 40 million RMB just three months prior. By the end of 1991, the revenue broke through a threshold of 100 million RMB for the first time, reaching 217 million RMB. Wahaha has turned into a large enterprise as a result. We were greeted by one of the employees there, who very kindly brought us through the history of Wahaha and its reason for success. As much as I knew that there would always be obstacles ahead of a growing company, I was surprised when I learnt how the company conquered the problems and came up with unique and feasible solutions to solve the situations. For example, at the time where advertisements were not popular, Wahaha was one of the few companies which actually introduced their small business at that time to the world by advertising. However, instead of just stopping there, they eventually thought of even greater an better ideas, such as getting current local stars and idols to advertise their products in order to grasp people’s full attention. In times of despair, Wahaha never backed out from it and they never give up hope no matter what they come across. That, I believe, is why they succeed. The company takes calculated risk and tries out different methods to make themselves different from other businesses, as well as thinking from different perspectives of the citizens and consumers, such as the oral nutritive liquid which won a favorable response ever since its launch with its evident function of solving children’s protracted food partially. Also, despite production difficulties because of SARS, energy supply shortages, and raw material price increases in 2003, the company still managed to surpass its sales target of 10 billion RMB last year. The Wahaha company was very successful in managing talents as well. There were different statuses and levels in the company, and higher ranks would definitely enjoy more benefits, such as higher pay and many more. In rder to ensure that employees will continue working hard instead of remaining stagnant and being satisfies with their current status, they will be incentivized to satisfy the conditions and come up with better ideas that can benefit the company in the process. This means that only the most talented, capable and hardworking employees would be able to hold the most important positions. Because of their great planning and management within the company, Wahaha was very innovative and often had a lot of major breakthroughs as mentioned earlier. They never stopped to do scientific research and find out more about the demands in the population of consumers and buyers. Their products were thus very special and always had a sort of freshness to it which was why it attracted so many customers. All of this eventually led to the great success of Wahaha.

Next, we went to the Xie Yuda tea plantation, where we were shown and taught how to determine which ones are tea leaves and which one are not, as well as how to pluck the tea leaves. In the process, we learnt a lot of other things regarding tea leaves, such as how it is better to pluck them when they are still considered pretty young, what kind of tea leaves they have and so on. Since I was a tea lover, I was actually very amazed and pretty much in awe at all the tea leaves they have there. We then went into the Museum, where we learnt a lot more about the company itself and was then later brought to a room where we were asked to try some of their tea, namely chrysanthemum tea and Mao Feng tea. We were told about its medicinal effects and how it was really beneficial for the body, especially for the ladies. I was really interested in their medicinal value and lovely smell and taste, so I was really enjoying myself during the taste test.

Day 3: Cheng Dawei Abacus Museum, Tunxi Ink Factory, Hongcun Ancient Village, Xidi Ancient Village, and Tunxi Ancient Street

We headed for the Cheng Dawei Abacus Museum. We were greeted by our guide, who told us more about the history behind the museum and how it came about. We were told how calculating money was often an issue there, and since Cheng Dawei was a prodigy when it came to math, he managed to come up with the abacus as well as a simpler and easier method to calculating all the sums. Cheng Dawei (1533–1606) was a great master of ancient abacus in Ming Dynasty. He published "General Guide to Calculation" and "Strategic Keynotes to Calculation". The museum consists of the Residential Area, Family Shrine House and Abacus Exhibition Room. The two-storied building facing the south is brick-woos structured with binary courtyards. The five-room Ancestor Shrine House lies on the western side of the mansion. The traditional winding corridor, lawns and flower nursery look graceful and elegant. A portrait of Cheng Dawei is hung on the wall of the Abacus Exhibition Hall. There are more than 1,000 abacuses and 3,000 copies of related materials displayed in the showcases. These abacuses are made of gold, silver, ivory, jade, stone, hard wood respectively with different shapes. He was thus deeply respected by everyone in the country and even beyond, because of his capability to standardize the way of calculating money.

Moving on, we went to the Tunxi Ink Factory to take a look at the manufacturing processes of traditional ink. Firstly, they had to collect and make the ink dough into the perfect texture before molding it into blocks and sticks. To do this, they had to use a hammer to pound the dough before they arrive at the texture they want. It seemed very dangerous, because as much as the men were quick to remove their hand away from the dough every time they fold it to prevent getting hit by the hammer, it was very risky and a lot of us were worried that they would hurt themselves despite their experience in this field. We then saw them weighing the amount of ink before shaping the soot or dough into blocks to harden. After that, they had to carve in any design or words into the hardened ink block by hand. It was very tedious and obviously required a steady hand and full concentration as well as focus. We proceeded on to another room, where they started inking gold into the carved areas of the sticks entirely by hand. Everything was done so carefully with so much heart and effort put into it that I felt the tension in the air during our trip around the factory. I was really surprised that they had employees do everything by hand when I was expecting them to rely more on machines and technology instead of doing everything by hand. It was really a lot of effort, but it really did seem very worth it when the products were completed.

We then went to the Tunxi Ancient Street where they sold many different traditional products. We were told to observe and find out one diminishing trade in the place. Our group believed that that would be the caramel candy, where they heat up candy and make designs and pictures on a hot stove before selling it to us. This seemed to be a diminishing trade, as we seldom see people eating or doing this kind of things anymore. In fact, it used to be quite popular in Singapore as well a while back but then the trend and trade died down after a while as times past and generations got more self-absorbed in their own world.

After that, we moved on to the Xidi and Hongcun ancient village. Both villages were very beautiful and remained the traditional background and culture it had preserved. The people there led very simple and contented lives, cherishing everything they had instead of taking things for granted. A lot of the things that they did, such as placing the decorations and as we moved on, we realized that almost every household had a vase and mirrors on a table with a clock in the middle of it. We were then told by the guide that it represented peace and harmony within the household. I also learnt that Xidi ancient village was very famous for its carvings, such as those on rocks and wood. The layout within the houses was also very unique and a completely foreign idea to me. At the corners of the houses, on the ceilings, there were different carvings that represented one’s status. We then saw the calligraphy writing of the word 孝. Although from far it may just seem like a regular calligraphy writing, when you look at it and pay close attention to it, you will notice that on one side of it is a proud monkey throwing wild punches and on the other side, it is a human that can look up to others. I believe that this means that if you treat your parents well with respect and spend time with them, you are definitely someone worth looking up to and deserve a lot of respect instead of a barbaric monkey who cannot control himself and does not understand the definition of filial piety. I find that this definitely taught me a lot, and I went back to the hotel thinking about the writing, who I was and who I wanted to be. It was really a brain teaser for me, as I thought deeper and deeper into the subject. Frankly, this only made me more homesick and I really thought through a lot which I wanted to say to my parents when I meet them after the trip. I was getting impatient and I really wanted to see them again after this day.

Day 4: Huang Shan

The moment I was at Huang Shan, I could feel the gentle breeze and mist of the  foggy cold atmosphere up there and really enjoyed that feeling when I was there. It was something I actually cherished because it was so cooling and was definitely a kind of weather that I was not going to be able to enjoy in Singapore. However, as we moved on, all of us could feel the weather turning duller as if it was about to rain and became more negative about the trip there. I was initially very excited but I felt a bit worried when I noticed the poor weather condition. Despite all of that, we still moved on with the trip and climbed the Huang Shan. We saw and observed a lot of different plants, such as ferns, and different types of pine trees. It was the first time I saw the pine trees, and I was very amazed by a lot of its unique structure and adaptations. One of the pine trees had branches mainly on one side of the trunk, in order to capture sufficient sunlight. The structure of the tree truly awed me as I was thinking about how it could adapt to its environment. In fact, it was really beautiful, and was shaped like a phoenix’s tail. I believe that Huangshan was striving because of tourism. It was able to be well maintained and preserved because of the great attention it received when tourists visit the place. If not, Huang Shan may have become very poorly maintained and preserved because no one is going to care about it anyway. This is also a great way to earn money – by turning it into a tourist attraction, where people can enjoy their walk and trip at Huang Shan, while still able to gaze and take in the lovely and breath-taking scenery. However, because of the bad weather conditions, we were not able to see very far, and for that we could only rely on what our guide said and imagine what was beyond the heavy fog and rain. Other than that though, I really enjoyed the cooling mountain climbing over at Huang Shan. It was tough, but still worth it.

Day 5: Meiling Company

We were told about the reason and purpose for our trip to Meiling company, and that was to learn more about their strategies and how they were able to find growing success. Meiling company produces their own refrigerators and other electronics. However, when they were still a start-up company, they knew that people would not buy from a company without good experience and background. So, they came up with a brilliant idea to earn money by helping other more well known companies mass produce refrigerators under contracts and deals. We were all very surprised when we realised that the Panasonic brand actually let Meiling company help with the production of refrigerators. I guess we were shocked at the fact that the two countries would coincide in this matter and we realised how successful Meiling might just be when we noticed that such a well known brand in Singapore was actually under the contract of Meiling. It was pretty interesting as well when we saw the production of the refrigerators, how they were made, how the parts were assembled, and how they packaged them. It was a kind of experience I would never have been able to have so I was very thankful that I was fortunate enougg to be on this trip. It was really cool to see how they mass produce such big and bulky objects but it was really something I could not take my eyes off.  In short,  Meiling used reliable brands to promote their product. They also manufactured their own goods, but sell them at a lower price in their own country so that they could attract a larger group of customers. To make their refrigerators attractive, they also came up with feasible and cool innovations and functions, such as an electronic interface that keeps track of the food you have in the fridge, or allowing you to listen to music and watching TV, and other much more interesting and different yet unique ideas that might just blow me away. To be honest, I don’t think that Singapore is a very attractive place for businesses to set up their operations in, because it is more expensive, and depends on the imported goods, which add on to the cost of production, such as transportation, shipment and high tax rates.  Moreover, there is an obvious lack of space, which prevents companies from expanding their business easily and will be even more expensive when doing so.  In my opinion, not a lot of companies in Singapore can survive because of the nature of business that Singapore attracts. Singapore is a country where children are taught how to care more about academics and less about holistic education, like arts, music and others, which is why the business attracted to the country would be more on education. This limits the kind of businesses companies can set up here. Lastly, it is also too competitive for start up countries. Most of us in Singapore only look for the best and top quality products, or at least those with famous well known branding, this means that a lot of beginner companies would not be able to make a profit and may even have money loss after paying the rental fee of the place they own. This makes everything very difficult for the companies, therefore I do not think that Singapore is an attractive place for businesses to set up their operations in. After that, we headed for Shou Chun High School. I was very excited on our way to the trip because I was really curious and wanted to know the friends I will meet and how different the environment would actually be. When we arrived, we were greeted by a lot of lovely faces of students and we were directed to the multimedia room, where we knew each other more. We then proceeded to our respective classrooms. For us, we headed to Class 13 and were warmly greeted by the class. We then followed them to the Chemistry Lab, where we sat through a lesson with them on determining the levels of Vitamin C each drink had. It was something really interesting and fresh to me. What really surprised me was how flexible the lesson was. Everyone could bring their own drink into the class for the test, unlike what I would expect, which was that everyone had to have the same types of drinks. This really made me ponder and I realised how inflexible I really was. These made me further wonder if Singaporeans were really so inflexible and how different we were in terms of upbringing. I made a lot of friends and I felt really at home when I was with them because of their easy acceptance of me I guess. I felt really blessed to meet them and I was glad I did not miss the opportunity to talk and interact with them.

Day 6: School Immersion Programme and Supermarket Research

The first lesson we attended was Physics lesson and during the lesson, I could feel myself getting very confused and blanking out because I could not understand the topic on Friction since we were not on that topic yet in Singapore. However despite all that, I had the help of my group members who noticed my confused face and lent me a helping hand by explaining to me as simply as they can to me in plain Chinese. I was very happy that they would actually go to all that trouble just to help someone they just met and felt really touched by their hospitality. Later on, we had Math and Chinese lesson. I was very worried when it came to Chinese lesson to be honest because I already knew my incapability to understand them as easily. During the Chinese lesson, we were told to analyse and read out a poem and I was really scared because I seriously did not know what was going on. Everyone else was reading with so much burning passion and energy that I was worried I would pull the whole group down when it was my turn to speak. I was relieved when they told me it was okay because they knew I would try my very best and I was really moved when they said all those words of encouragement. After the lessons, the students in my group started bombarding me with questions about me and Singapore, like how the place is, the languages we speak, the things we do and eventually we exchanged our QQ numbers as well. I was really sad when I had to leave them because I believe you could say that we were already getting so close together that I felt like I relied on them a lot. They were so nice they even gave me some farewell gifts and in the end we took pictures together to keep this day in memory forever. I was really happy that I have met so many friends and it was an experience I could never get out of my head.  After we left the class, we went on with sports meet, where I ended up learning how to play volleyball. I never really was good at playing sports, but I tried to grasp the techniques and put in a lot of effort to try and get the basics right. It was really thanks to the student who taught me how to play that I learnt something fun that day and could play at least a little bit of volleyball. It was a day I could not forget and I was super worn out that day because of the drastic change in emotions and work out.

We then headed for the largest supermarket in Hefei for our market research, where my group was assigned to research on mineral water, congee, juice and rice. We found out that the prices really varied a lot and there were a lot of fluctuations and differences in similar products. I learnt how to take note of the quantity and prices of goods a lot better after doing the market research. 

Day 7: House Visit, Bookstore, and Huangmei Opera

We met our buddy in school in the morning and her parents were there to greet us as well. I felt a little nervous at first because I was afraid they were very strict with us and everything but it turned out that they were very warm and friendly and I was slightly more at ease after talking to them a little bit more. We went into her house, and it had a very cosy and warm feeling to it, probably because most of the furniture were made from wood and the floors were mostly parquet. It was very beautifully designed, and the house was really kept in good condition. They gave us a warm welcome by treating us to their local delicacies and best local fruits, such as the cherries and snacks. Shortly after that though, our buddy’s father offered to bring us out into the city while her mother stayed at home to cook. To be honest, we felt like a burden when we were there because they had to go to such lengths to give us the best hospitality treatment we could have. I realised how friendly they really were and wondered if the same would happen if we were in Singapore, like whether we would cook for them or just bring them out to eat and so on. We went into the city, where her father really treated us to 30cm tall ice cream and refused the money we gave him to pay for the ice cream. Later on, we went to visit many road side shops and he bought us more food. We felt very bad, but he told us it was really okay and that we should just eat whatever he bought because it was all on him. He even brought us to the Li Hongzhang Museum and paid for our tickets as well. While we were in there, we saw a lot of historical items, and learnt a lot about the late Li Hongzhang. The exhibition consists of a lot of miniature figurines and figures of ships and boats that Li Hongzhang used and all for the attacks and everything. We also saw different types of guns and their formation, as well as the attire and what they wore in the past during the time. The displays there were really very eye-catching and getting the real life experience by being there was simply amazing. When we headed back to our buddy’s home, we were greeted by a strong aroma of delicious and tasty looking dishes. We dug into a sumptuous meal and although I was not able to fully adapt to the way they cook, such as more oil and salt, I got to say that her cooking ws really fantastic and top-notch. I felt really at home during the stay at their house for half of the day because they treated us like family. After lunch, we ended up playing some card games. Our buddy taught us how to play one of their local games using poker cards, and we in turn introduced them to UNO. Although UNO is not really a Singaporean game, it was something that practically everyone in Singapore knows how to play so we decided to teach them how to play the game as well. Of course, we had a lot of fun talking and just chit-chatting about almost everything. I enjoyed myself to the fullest during the house visit and was even more surprised when they gave each of us our very own calligraphy set – 文房四宝. It did seem extremely expensive and despite our initial responses to politely reject the precious and heartfelt offer, they made sure we brought it back with us and told us it was their gift to us. I was very touched when they were so polite, kind and friendly to us and I truly felt like a real great burden to them. I was afraid I may have burnt a hold in their pocket for all the trouble and expenses they had to go through to let us enjoy the trip.  It was really fun and I was really glad I went to their house.

We proceeded to the Anhui University of Arts after saying our goodbyes to the family in school, where we watched some of the Huangmei Opera performed by their very own students. We were then taught the actions and some of their basic steps. I was a bit nervous and shy at the same time so I did not really dare to perform at my best. After gaining more insight from the school, we were asked to think about how we can better promote traditional opera to the youths in Singapore. Our group believed that we can promote by introducing traditional opera during music lessons in our curriculum, or even incorporating some modern content into traditional opera in order to attract students to it. In fact, we may even have a festival for traditional opera where we let different CCAs come together to form and complete a Chinese opera project in order for them to understand and learn more about it.

After that, we went to the bookstore, which had 6 levels in total!!! I was so excited because I had always been a big fan of going to bookstores and having it 6 times more really increased my excitement level by 6 times as well. I bought some stationery and a notebook, but best and most of all, I bought a whole series of Sherlock Holmes for myself. It was shocking even for me because I did not even care about the consequences, such as the space I have left in my luggage but I was really delighted when I saw that Sherlock Holmes series actually came in a whole set, so on impulse I purchased it all at a really cheap price. Even though it was an impulsive buy, the fact that I love Sherlock Holmes books never fades away so I believe that there is enough motivation for me to go home and read the Sherlock Holmes books that I bought. 

Day 8: Trip Back to Singapore

We went to the train station to take a train back to Hangzhou in order to go back to Singapore from there. After the ride, we took a break at HaiDiLao restaurant, and they greeted us with the best service ever. The food was absolutely delicious, and their service really made everything feel very pleasant. Towards the end, they had a wonderful and cool performance when they pulled the noodles and stretched them while performing. It was really amazing and I was in awe when they performed. It seemed like so much fun and I could not imagine the amount of time they probably had to spend to try and get it right. We were later told that every employee in HaiDiLao had a part in the shares of the company, which was probably why they had such great treatment and service. I was really surprised when I heard that, because that was actually a considerably risky thing to do, and yet that was a very unique idea that seems to work out really well. After all that, we were even given a cup of snacks to take home with us. We headed for the airport and eventually back to Singapore. Even though I was always homesick in China, I suddenly felt sad and did not want to leave China when we had to. It was kind of like a stir of mixed-up emotions, but I was really happy I could go on this fun and enjoyable trip as a class.