Zemin

Trip Task (Heritage and Monuments)

The third day of our trip, we went to Lion Grove Garden. We arrived in Lion Grove Garden and we went walking inside Lion Grove garden for a while . Everywhere there are trees, which were found next to a  man-made pond. There lots of buildings with Chinese architecture which were actually in quite a good condition. The tour guide told us more about the place and how there was actual written words by Qian Long there and the requirements for a chinese garden.

Tension between Heritage and modernization







Modernization


Trip Task(Education)

For the fourth day, we got to experience how school was like in China. The students had about 5 minute breaks in between their lessons and before their first lesson started, they would either have a short radio broadcast or they would do their morning exercise . My buddy told me that music would be played for 3 minutes before lesson started to tell the students to start preparing for their next lesson.  Once the music stopped, all of the students would rush back to their seats. Most people would rush back their sits just a few seconds before their lesson started but one major difference they had different from our school was that they do not greet their teachers before lesson. I asked my buddy why and he explained to me that it was because they would waste time greeting their teachers instead of having lessons for that same amount of time. I think that this really shows how study orientated the Chinese youngsters are, quite true to the stereotype,

  The teacher would then start the lesson. The behaviour of the students were actually quite similar during the different lessons. They usually were very quiet and the teachers usually did not tolerate any amount of noise.

  During the break time in between the lessons, the students would all become rather rowdy. They were actually shouting around, and playing, sometimes they would eat in class to and wander to talk to their friends in other classes. During their recess time, it was quite similar to how they behaved in their break time except that they went to eat in their canteen.

Trip Task( Cost of Living)

I chose to compare the difference in our supermarket and their supermarket with a bottle of coke. A 0.3 litre of Coke in Singapore goes for an average of S$1.65(according to http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Singapore) while a 0.3 litre of coke in China goes for about $2.20 rmb which is around $0.44. As you can see, you can buy around 22 bottles of coke with S$10 in china while only 12 same bottles can be bought with S$10 in Singapore.

Level of satisfaction with the standard of living

  As I was on the car with my buddy and his mother, i asked them about their standard of living. She said that their standard of living was actually quite high as compared to the average family living in China. They are actually considered quite rich as they had a house in a good region and a good car which was what they used to judge their standard of living.

Similarities and Differences between the Singapore and China supermarkets

Similarities between the supermarkets:

1.      There are labels for different sections very visible to everyone so consumers can know where to find the item they are looking for.

2.      They have employees all around so you can ask them for help if you require any assistance.

3.    They have  have imported goods. 

Differences between the supermarkets:

1.      In China, they sell chewing gum but it is illegal for us to sell chewing gum in Singapore.

2.      We are charged extra for plastic bags in China and it is not like a basic thing that comes when you buy goods in their supermarket but more of like an add-on.

3.      In Singapore, our employees in our supermarket are multi-racial while their employees are only Chinese or mostly Chinese because we did not see any other employees who are not Chinese there.

Post Trip Reflection

Year 2 Suzhou OELP
Name	School	Class	Stream	Period of Internationalisation Experience	Country Of Visit
Zhang Zemin	River Valley High School	2G	Integrated Programme	20 May to 26 May 2016	China
Reflections: After our trip to Suzhou and Shanghai during OELP, I have benefited a lot and learnt a lot. This made me think about why I had chosen to go on this trip in the first place as many things did not go as I had expected. I had first chosen to go on this trip because I had wanted to experience something that I would not in Singapore and to learn more about the Chinese culture. Also, my friends played a part in me deciding to go on this trip because I would be able to bond with them through the 7 days. Some of the decisions I made when I chose to go on to this trip were that I would start talking to and spending more time with the people that I would usually talk to in class normally. This is because we would spend 7 days in China together as a class and would be a perfect bonding opportunity for us to bond together. Next, I would also hope that I would learn more about Chinese culture in their country, how they live their daily lives and to find out about the truth about the stereotype that all Chinese are very rude. Moving on to the experiences that we encountered on our 7 day trip to Suzhou and Shanghai, I must definitely mention about when we were sewing a small grass embroidery as we were experiencing Suzhou embroidery. We took about 15 minutes to sew finish the grass which was so small compared to the entire Suzhou embroidery piece, it also didn’t even look half as nice as the ones the masters were making. This made me wonder and think how long it would actually take for the masters to put into their work.  How did they have such patience to finish their work and how much effort do they actually have to put into their work to complete such a nice Suzhou embroidery piece. After mentioning Suzhou embroidery, I must definitely mention about Russell when we were in the silk factory sewing our own Suzhou embroidery piece. He had actually put in a lot of effort and was sewing a very nice Suzhou embroidery piece. Yet, he was quite known for being very careless and would be the last person you would expect to do Suzhou embroidery well, showing us that even someone who was careless could still put in effort and do something that requires a lot of patience and care. He taught us that we could achieve something more if we just put in effort. Next, moving on to facts that we learnt that impacted me the most.  I think that it would be about how long the masters take to finish a Suzhou embroidery piece. It surprised me that they take about 1 to 2 years to finish a Suzhou embroidery piece, it made me wonder how much patience and passion do they need to have to finish just one Suzhou embroidery piece. I myself would never be able to do such a thing as I get easily distracted. It really impresses me that they have such patience to finish their work. After this trip, it made me more appreciative and more respectful towards the Chinese culture and China. It showed me how great and how beautiful the Chinese culture is and how we are a part of such a beautiful culture. I hope that this will last on for a long time and not disappear as quickly as it came. I think that I would be able to spread the learning culture that the Chinese students have back to Singapore. The Chinese students are very self-directed learners, they study in school with an end goal in mind and are studying hard because they want to and not because they are forced to. I think that this culture would be very beneficial for us and teach us to study harder. In conclusion, I feel that this trip was very beneficial and taught me things that I would not be able to learn in Singapore like the daily life of an average Chinese. I was also able to learn more and not to generalise people as most Chinese were not rude at all and it’s just a few spoiled grapes spoiling the whole bunch. The Chinese were generally very nice and respectful, not rude at all. Overall, I learnt many new things and I felt that this trip was very meaningful and if I were to get a chance to go on this trip again I would.

Pre-Trip Reflection

    Our Suzhou OELP trip is around the corner. In about 2 to 3 days time, we will be traveling to Suzhou. I cannot lie and I just cannot hide the fact that I am just so excited about this OELP trip. I would be able to have many new experiences on this trip. I would be able to go overseas with my friends, living in a room with my friend, Jerale and I would also be able to spend 7 whole days with my classmates. I would also get to try out the food there, experience the difference in our culture from the food that we eat. One of the thing I am most excited about would be the Haidilao in Shanghai as the tour guide had told us that the restaurant that we would be dining at for the Haidilao was quite famous and I just cannot wait to try the delicious Haidilao. The fact that all of this is just 2 to 3 days away just excites me. I expect this trip to be a fun and exciting one.

    However, though we get to enjoy ourselves, we must not forget that this is a learning trip and that we are suppose to learn something from this trip. Though learning can be fun too, we would get to have many hands on activities there to experience their culture and there would be tours through different areas of Suzhou, we would even get to spend 1 and a half days with our buddy in Lida School in Suzhou. Through which, we would be able to gain a deeper understanding of the educational system in China. Through all of this fun and exciting activities and tours, we would be able to ultimately learn our their cost of living, their educational system and their culture which would benefit us greatly in one way or another.
    I also hope through this trip our class could take this opportunity to bond together as it is a great opportunity for us to bond together as we will be spending 7 days a week seeing each other day in day out. Thus, we can take our time and talk more with our classmates and be able to know each other better and overall become better friends.
   Thinking about our class bonding together, this made me curious about how the Chinese Youths bond together. Do they have any special trademark which separates them from the rest of the youths around the world? Do they have anything that allows them to just connect instantly like a catchphrase or anything? I hope I would be able to get a good answer while in Suzhou.
     In conclusion, I hope that this trip would bring us the answers that we seek and at the same time we would be able to enjoy this trip too.

  

Singapore - Reimagining the future

  I have drawn what I think Singapore looked like in the past in my point of view. In the past where the merlion is today would be just the sea as where it is today is reclaimed land. Thus, that is the reason that I have drawn the merlion surrounded by the sea. The reason that I drawn the trading ships as Singapore was a trading port in the past and ships from many different places like China and England would all come to Singapore to carry out their trades which would have been a common sight to see in Singapore. I have also drawn fishing boats as fishing was very common in the past and many people were fishermen in Singapore. I also drew the Dragon Teeth Gate which would have been a landmark in ancient Singapore as most of the ships coming to Singapore passed through the Dragon Teeth Gate before coming into Singapore for good luck. Looking back at the past, you can tell how far we have come with our advances. We have managed to get more land with the aid of technology. This makes me wonder if we can even reclaim land with technology, what else does the technology lie for us in the future. It also shows how we move from a third world country to a first world country where nowadays, we can barely find fishermen in Singapore. Even though there was been so many changes, we can still find similarities. Just as in the past, Singapore is still a busy trading hub today with one of the busiest ports in the entire world. Thus, comparing the present with the past allows us to truly see what we have advanced to and perhaps might even give us a glimpse of the future.

Why Singapore cannot get complacent

  Singapore should not and should never get complacent as when we get complacent, we would think that we are already the best and we do not have any need to improve. If Singapore ever gets into this mindset, we would get overtaken by other countries such as China and we would lose our relevance to other countries such as China. Shanghai has already widen the gap on Singapore while securing its place as the busiest container port in the world. In 2014, the gap between Singapore and Shanghai was only one million containers and in 2015 the gap has become 1.3 million. If Singapore stops improving itself, Singapore will be long forgotten by other countries and would lose its relevance to other countries causing Singapore to fall behind in terms of economy and lose its edge on economy, causing Singapore to get poorer and poorer eventually turning into a third world country. If Singapore loses its relevance, people would also stop trading with Singapore causing Singapore's economy to crash and that is why Singapore should never get complacent or else it would start to fall behind and lose its title as a first world country. We must instead learn from other countries to cover our weak points so as to stay relevant and to reach even greater heights than we are today.

  Another reason why Singapore should not get complacent is because of our environment. First of all, our clean and green environment did not come easily. It was something that happened through our forefathers' hard work and the many different policies that they came up with to support our clean and green environment. Thus, we should not get complacent or else our forefathers hard work would all be wasted and preserving our clean and green environment is like continuing on their legacy. If we start to get complacent in terms of our country's own cleanliness and greenery, we would stop taking care of them and when we ourselves Singaporean do not take care of it, no one will, and Singapore will just turn into a giant rubbish dump. This would deter away the tourists that flood into Singapore every year and a big part of Singapore's economy come from our tourism industry. This would impact our economy greatly. Next, we ourselves Singaporeans would lose our sense of belonging to Singapore. We would start having thoughts like 'ewww, this country is such a dump, why do we still live here, we should migrate to a much cleaner place'. If this were to happen Singapore would fall under a threat as our people would just migrate away and not solve the issue at hand. Thus, we must not stay complacent to prevent all of the scenarios above from happening.

  Therefore, Singapore should not get complacent or else it would get overtaken by other countries, losing its relevance in our world, and Singapore's economy would be greatly affected,Singaporeans would also lose their sense of belonging to Singapore. We must also keep in mind that Singapore is not perfect and we have many things to learn from other countries and to never stop learning to keep ourselves relevant in this world and to bring Singapore to even greater heights.

3-2-1 Reflection

3 Things that I have learnt- I learnt how having a one child policy affects a country's economy.

                                          - I learnt that Singapore itself had implemented a 2 child policy.

                                          - I learnt that the one child policy will have very bad effects later on, as the working population will not be able to support the aging population. 

2 Perspectives I have gained - I learnt the perspective of a mother that wants to have 2 children but is unable to as the one child policy was implemented.      

                                              - I learnt the perspective of policy maker when his country is facing the threat of overpopulation.

1 Question I have - Is there such thing called a perfect policy where it does not have any flaws?

Chingay 2016 Reflections

  The first formal Chingay parade was held all they way dating back to 1973 as an effort to bring back the festive spirit during Chinese New Year due to the ban of fire crackers as a result of it being a fire hazard. Chingay was first mooted by then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew who was also the chairman of the People's Association(PA). Today, Chingay has come a long way to become the biggest street performance and float parade in Asia. Chingay first started off in 1973 with mainly only Chinese performers , but took a multicultural flavour in 1976 and has come to include many types of performers like Malay, Indian, Eurasians and many other performers. Chingay 2016 has come to include different performers from all over the world, there were even Japanese performers. 

  

  I have recently went to watch Chingay Parade 2016 Rehearsal. It left a deep impression on me and left me thinking. What is the purpose of Chingay, what exactly is it for? Thus, I went to find out more about Chingay. Then, it dawned upon me that the purpose of this Chingay Parade 2016 was so obvious, it is just right there in its theme, "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore". Chingay 2016 is held on the year in which Singapore marks its first year on its voyage towards SG100. There is two parts to this purpose as in the theme, "Lights of Legacy" means the legacy and wisdom of Mr Lee and our founding fathers and which the core values they believed in. "Brighter Singapore" means that if we live by the core values in which Mr Lee and our founding fathers built Singapore upon, we will be able to bring Singapore towards a brighter future. 

  Then, I realised that the purpose of this Chingay Parade has changed a lot from being a compensation of firecrackers to chase away the evil spirits to celebrating the core values in which our founding fathers built Singapore upon and us living by it to bring Singapore towards a brighter future. It kept me thinking how did such a change happened and why did it happen. I think that this change happened base on a lot of many factors but mainly 2. We mainly have lost a lot of our traditional thinking throughout this 50 years and the customary of chasing away the evil spirits by using firecrackers have been lost. Ever since fire crackers were banned, people stopped using it and as time passes on, we would forget about this custom and we got used to it. Thus, the purpose of  being a substitute of firecrackers has become quite irrelevant so it needed to change. This is where the next factor comes in. Singapore has progressed a lot throughout its first 50 years from a third world country to a first world country. During this 50 years, Singapore has achieved quite a lot and it also managed to do this through a lot of learning from other countries, but if Singapore were to prosper for another 50 years, Singapore has no country to learn from and must achieve this on its own. Thus, people have been anxious and scared of what the next 50 years might mean for Singapore so what the new purpose of Chingay seem clear. What else better to use the same old core values that the founding fathers built Singapore upon and brought us to such great heights today to bring us to even greater heights in the future. Thus, the new purpose of Chingay was formed in which us living by the core values that brought us to such great heights today to be used to bring us to even greater heights in the future.

  After realising all these, I think I got a deeper understanding of the entire performance of this Chingay Parade. I actually understood more about this performances and why they have so much LED lights used in their performances, all the beautiful lights used to decorate the floats, all the LED lights on the performers costumes, the LED light bulb they gave us in our goodie bag. All this LED lights were lighting up the dark sky with their bright and beautiful lights. They all mean the same thing. It actually means how Singapore is going to be in the future, prospering and shining as brightly as the LED lights used in the whole performances. This will happen if we do our own part and live by the core values that our fore fathers built Singapore upon, then only will Singapore continue to prosper and shine brightly in the future. This successfully brings forward the entire purpose of this Chingay Parade, thus I think the organisers have successfully fulfilled this purpose.

 

In conclusion, I think that our trip to watch this Chingay Parade rehearsal 2016 was a great experience for us and I learnt a lot of new things and got a deeper understanding of what I already knew about it. After learning all this, I will definitely do my part to bring Singapore towards a brighter SG100.

Poverty and Happiness 

I think people mindset of happiness is always closely associated with being rich. But is the us being rich truly lead to us being happy, and if that is so why is China happiness index higher than us even though they are much poorer. I think I may have the answer...

 Like what I have said people closely associate being rich with being happy, so in their pursuit to be happy, they try to make as much money as they can. Sometimes while they are chasing their materialistic needs, they might forget what is the important things in life like their family and this is one of the main reasons that the rich are not as happy as the poor.

 Like for example, one person who has devoted a lot into his work but he neglected his family a lot. This person might be rich but not happy as although he gained success from his work as he neglected his family a lot. Consequently he might even feel sad and not happy even though that he is rich. On the other, someone can be poor but he might get to spend more time with his family so he can still be happy even though he is supposedly poor.

 Thus, I think that money does not have much to do with happiness. Yes, money is good but it is more of a 'want' than a need. Is career success really so important or should you spend more time with your family and friends and be more relaxed, not pressurized to make money in order to make your family rich. Yes, I agree that money is good to have but money will not solve every problem that you have but your family will always be here for you no matter what problem you get stuck in. They will try their best to help you. Family will always be there for you and you will have lots of fun spending time with them. Thus, I think that money is not so important in your happiness as to the end, it is only a materialistic need.

Extraordinary in the ordinary

Theme: Voting

I guess that everyone has seen this before which are the posters of the candidates running for the upcoming 38th  Cabin Council elections. I think this elections has just made its way to become an ordinary thing for us every year. We just see the candidates and vote for them each year. What is so different right? That is where you are wrong. Voting to choose our own cabinet leaders is actually an very extraordinary thing, something that we do not realise. This is really extraordinary as we get to select our own cabin councils that we want to elect which does not really happen in most schools but yet we treat it like it is such a normal thing. That is main difference between RV and most schools is that we have a choice and we have a say towards who is going to become the leaders of our student body. We get to listen to each candidate's ideas and what they would do to improve our school lives before we get to cast our important votes for them. That has already gone into our lives like it is something so ordinary but yet it is actually something that is very extraordinary. I think that we are very lucky as we actually get the chance to vote and put people up there that we think are eligible to help and lead the student body. This trains us to grow up to become a responsible voter. Thus, I think that this is a very extraordinary matter.

Self Introduction

Hi there, My name is Zhang Zemin and I wanted to keep this self introduction short and simple so my personality is pretty straight forward as you can guess and pretty optimistic most of the times. I enjoy doing wushu as part of our school team and that's all and I absolutely love reading especially about history. I am very excited for CID due to OELP and I hope I can learn a lot from this fun and enjoyable trip.