Reflections for OELP- Anhui

Toh Zhi Yang(33) 2E

Day1

  Whizzing on a high speed rail from Shanghai to Hefei was a thrilling experience for me. After spending an estimated 3 hours on the ride, we arrived at Hefei. Our stomach was moaning in hunger so we set out for a sumptuous lunch, which turns out to be the otherwise. I was not accustomed to their cuisines, so I didn't ate much but it was a really a eye opener to me, regarding their unique local culinary skills and dishes. After having our lunch, we headed off to Sanhe Guzhen. When we arrived at the destination, I was awed by the beautiful scenery of Sanhe Guzhen, which encompasses its majestic architecture and wonderful residences of famous people in China. We were guided by a tour guide, who told us the long and informative history about each and every residences of Sanhe Guzhen. From our visit to Sanhe Guzhen, we learnt a lot about the Chinese history and how did those people in the past changed China into what is it like today. After that, our eye bags were visible so we decided to check into the hotel, before going for dinner.

Day2

Today, after having plentiful sleep last night, we headed off to Hefei 45 Middle School. When we arrived at the school gate, we were warmly welcomed by the students and teachers there, followed by a group photo. After that, we were led by the students to the school auditorium for the vice principal's short speech to welcome us. Followed by that, we were given a souvenir which was contained in a nice, intricate-designed box. The box contained a opera mask bookmark, and a brief note on the history of it. After that, we were led to their classrooms for lessons. The lessons there were enriching and I learnt more about an interesting topic, which was not included in our syllabus, which was politics. Even though the lesson on politics was quite difficult to understand, but the contents were quite interesting. What was interesting was that at the end of the lesson, there would be a ring and a voice thanking the teacher for teaching the class. I think that it was quite creative and interesting. This ring could thank the teacher for their hard work and also incentivized and made them have the drive to work and teach harder. I think that this ring was quite good and should be included in school, so as to incentivized teacher to work harder as well as notifying the teacher that his or her lessons had reached to an end, so that they would not eat into our break time. After that, my buddy brought me along, to visit the streets of China, and he took me to boat riding and I got a taste of the China's version of fast food near a shopping centre. After spending about two hours with my buddy, I left with the class for dinner to fill our hungry stomachs

5 things I love about RV

1. Toliets

2. Auditorium

3. Location

4. Classroom

5. Shorter school hours

Day3

After a hearty breakfast, we set off to Anhui museum. When we arrived at Anhui museum, I was shocked to see the magnificent museum of Anhui, it definitely did not disappoint my expectations. Its maze- like tile looked alike to a ladyrinth. It's architecture was amazing and it definitely set a good impression for me. When we set foot inside the museum, it was marvelous and we were brought along by a guide who told us information that really widens our knowledge. We learnt about '鼎' and the different versions of it from different dynasties. We also learnt about some of the famous philosophers, like Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi. We also learnt about the deep secrets built within the memorial arches. We also learnt about the history of the four treasures of study. I was awed when I saw brushes of different sizes, like chicken clawed shaped brush and famille-rose-shafted brush with dragon design of Emperor Qianlong. After that, we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

CSI( Anhui Museum )

Color: Gold

The colour, gold is suitable for describing and conveying the message of prosperity and success that is carried on for generations to generations that created the China today.

Symbol: 鼎

鼎 is chosen to show to that China is a developed nation, that can withstand and uphold their culture, and was able to preserve this national culture heritage site.

Image: Traditional House

This image of traditional house was shown, because of its traditional and elegant designs displayed all around the house.

Day4

After filling our stomach with delicious food, we set off to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. When we reach there, the entrance was decorated with beautiful designs and a water fountain to bring in the relaxing atmosphere. When we explored the place, it was quite quiet and there were no other people in the park, so we went to an animal circus. When we watched the circus, what was displayed totally changed my perception of a circus before watching it. Animal cruelty was fully displayed as the circus trainer beat the tigers into to perform an act and they did it repeatedly, not even thinking of the consequences. Animals are also living things, but why are they beating and punishing when they cannot perform an act. As most of us were disturbed by this act, we went out halfway. After that, we went to a large playground, where everyone was challenging themselves to finish the horizontal rock wall, but some of the students were just downcast and did not play at all. After that, we set off for dinner but almost everyone was quite sad, including my friends and group mates sitting around my table. After that, we set off with complete silence in the bus back to hotel.

Day5

After eating our last breakfast at Holiday Inn Express Hefei South, we set off to a 4 hour long bus ride to Huangshan. Everyone seem to be a lot cheerful and energetic after yesterday's sleep. On the bus, the back portion of it was quite noisy, and some of them were even playing cards and most importantly, they were laughing together as a class, bonding as a class. After that , our teachers allowed  us to buy some tidbits at a nearby rest station. Everyone was excited and some of them ran to the market and bought a handful of tidbits back to the bus. When we reached Huangshan, we went for a 1 hour trek to our hotel, which was situated near the peak of Huangshan, but after an arduous trekking, we did not have any sweat as the temperature was quite cold, so there was no sweat at all, coming out form our forehead. After that, we filled our stomachs during lunch, but the dishes were not that appealing as Mr Wong had told us earlier, that everything, including all the materials needed for daily lives, food had to be brought up by people, so,the quality of food would not be so good. After that,we went to the various mountain in Huangshan area, for their scenic view. When I set foot upon, it gave me a heveanly feeling, and the mountains below that formed Huangshan Scenic Area, formed a beautiful landscape. After exploring and admiring the scenic view, we transferred to Yixian for an one hour ride.

Day6

We set off to Xidi. The residences there were quite ancient and it was one of China's Cultural Heritage Site. As we explored the Xidi village, I learnt of one type of architecture, which was called'马头墙'. This was set up on the roof of all residences. The purpose of setting up this wall, was to prevent fire from spreading to other residences in case of emergency, when a fire breaks up in the community. From here, we can see that people from the past were quite intelligent from the way they thought of the idea to prevent fire from spreading. When we went into the residences, we noticed that both halves of a table were put on separate side of the living room. The tour guide told us that it was to tell visitors that the breadwinner of the house, who was the master, was not at home. When the master is at home, the halves of the table would be combined to form a complete table, which symbolizes'团圆'. From all the residences we explored, we found that that at every living room,there would be a vase at their ghosted and a mirror at the left side, it symbolizes serenity, which means'平静' in Chinese. From Xidi village, I learnt a lot from the traditional practices reflected in their residences, and what lies behind these, were the long, meaningful history that was preserved for many centuries. After that, we went to Hongchun village, which fully resembles Xidi village. After visiting these two villages, I learnt about the various traditional practices in these two villagers, their customs and it was truly an eye opener to me. Next, we went to Tunxi for a 1 hour ride. We started off by visiting Shexian and Huishang Big House. In Huishang Big House, I saw that the house was very big, lavishly designed with huge lake and several pavilions. The owner of this big house was actually a rich businessman, from the size of the house. After that, we went for dinner. Later at night, we were called upon by our teachers to attend a lecture by a professor. During the 2 hour talk, we learnt a lot about Anhui and it's culture. I was fully immersed in the sea of knowledge during the lecture. During the lecture, I was taught about the deep culture and history which was preserved for many years. Anhui culture had a lot of interesting things which interest me, and led me to widen my horizon of knowledge.

Day7

During the last day of our journey, we went to Tunxi Ancient Street, which was just a 10 minute drive from our hotel. When we were in the ancient street, I bought a lot of local delights and a pair of fans for my mom and myself. After that, we travelled off to Hangzhou for a two and a half hour ride. When we arrived in Hangzhou, we set off to a long,relaxing boat ride in West Lake. After the boat ride, we went to Yue Fei Mausoleum. In Yue Fei Mausoleum, we saw the tomb of Yue Fei and his son, and besides that, the tour guide told us the history of Yue Fei, his hard work put in for China, but in the end, got made to be the scapegoat and died. After visiting the Yue Fei Mausoleum, we rushed off to Shanghai Airport. When we reached the airport after a four hour bus ride, we went to have dinner. After filling our stomachs, we checked in and got a fold voucher and were exhilarated. As most of our stomachs had been filled, some of us only brought ice cream and some finger food. After that, we headed off to Singapore.

OELP Daily Reflections - Serena Soo (17)

25/5/14 DAY 1

We transferred from Shanghai to Hefei by high-speed rail today. It was an interesting experience as it was my first time on a high-speed rail. It was basically like the MRT in Singapore, but it has assigned seats for each person and there were different seat classes.

When we reached Hefei, we went to Sanhe Guzhen. We saw many of the old buildings from long time ago. The houses there were alot different from the present houses, the were mostly made of wood, however, the present houses in Singapore are mostly made of cement. They do not have electricity in the homes, so they light up lamps or candles when it gets dark. I observed they made a living by selling dried food and homemade things.

I saw some of the many differences between Singapore and China, and I learnt to be more sensitive towards others' differences and culture. Fr example, I realised that the people in China spoke at a louder voice than Singaporeans, and at first, it seemed as though they were arguing, I found out later that it was just their normal tone of voice. I learnt we have to observe before we jump to conclusions, and by being more observant, we can learn and find out much more.

In the high-speed rail:

27/5/14 DAY 2

Today, we went to Hefei 45 High for observation of their lessons. Each of us had a buddy to accompany us for school for the day. My buddy is called Cathy. She was very friendly when I just met her, she even locked her arms in mine and brought me up to her class. I met the classmates in the class, they were really very friendly too and they gave us a warm welcome. It was their between-lessons break and they chatted very loudly. This was one of the many differences I had seen in their class. They had 10-minute breaks in between every 40-minute lesson.

I also observed that they were around 60 students in one classroom, of a size not much bigger than ours, but could fit almost twice the number of people. Even though it is a little squeezy, they enjoyed learning still as much. They also had a two-and-a-half-hour lunch break, which they all went home to have lunch before coming back to the school for lessons.

Their school was much different from ours, but what I found the most interesting and what I look up to them for is their proactiveness. Whenever a teacher asks a question, the students all answer in unison, without having the teacher to ask for volunteers.

After the lessons, they had a little performance put up for us, I could see the amount of effort they put in just to do something for their visitors.

From this trip to their school, I learnt from them proactiveness, that we volunteer whenever a question is asked and even when no questions are asked, we proactively ask questions when in doubt.

At the end of the day, Mr Wong wanted us to reflect on 5 things we love about RV. I started to reflect and that was when I learned that we have to be more apreciativeand not always take things for granted. So, the 5 things I love about RV are firstly, conducive learning environment as we had lesser students to one class than in China. Secondly, many sports-related facilities. Thirdly, clean toilets which we have always taken for granted. Fourthly, the canteen where we buy food to eat. And lastly, lockers to put our things so we can keep them safe and we do not have to bring things to and fro.

Their school:

27/5/14 DAY 3

We went to Anhui Museum early in the morning today. At the museum, there were many historical artifacts such as the daily pots they used for storage of water to the brushes they used for writing a long time ago. The brushes were made of horns of animals and the bristles were taken from the feathers of animals.

There was a section <徽州古建筑>, which means the old buildings in Anhui. In one of the many paintings, there was a painting of 宏村, one of the places we are visiting in the next few days.

After that, we went to the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. In the park, there was a mini circus, and we watched a few performances. Afterwards, we proceeded to a large playground which was long-awaited for. It was much different from Singapore's normal playgrounds as they were made of metal and they used tyres to form part of the structures. Our class had a really fun time climing the bouldering wall which is basically like a rock climbing wall, just that you had to climb sideways. Many classmates tried and even the teachers did it too.

All in all, we had quite a enjoyable day.

Painting of Hongcun:

28/5/14 DAY 4

Today, we are going to Huangshan, one of the places I am really excited to go. We are going to take a bus up to Huangshan, then a cable car up, then climb a little bit more to reach the top.

This is my first time taking a cable car, at first I was quite nervous but I realised the ride up was smooth and there was nothing much to worry about. The cable car that we took were thing huge kind which can accomodate many people than just the usual 4 to 5.

When we got down from the cable car, we climbed awhile more before we reached the hotel which we were staying in. We had a break before going out again to continue to climb Huangshan.

During the mountain climbing, some classmates were very tired and other classmates cheered then on and waited for them if they slowed down. I was very happy to see our class being more bonded and many of us took pictures together at the top of the mountains.

Today was a tiring but fun day, I look forward to waking up early in the morning tomorrow to catch the sunrise!

Cable car:

Huangshan:

29/5/14 DAY 5

We woke up early in the morning at 4am today to catch the sunrise. I was very excited as we all heard that it was very beautiful. We stood at the little peaks of the mountain to get a good view and I could say it was real nice as this is my first experience.

We went to explore the Huangshan Scenic Area afterwards, and we took all the pictures we could of Huangshan before we left.

Thereafter, we went to the Hongcun Ancient Village. I learned that it was built for the Wang (汪) family. Also, in the past, according to superstitions, they normally place a mirror on the left, clock in the middle and a vase on the right. It has a meaning of peace for their house. I found this very interesting as I have also seen in in some movies and also Anhui Museum but I had always though it was just a casual way of them to place their things on such a manner. However, I did not know there could be much more behind it.

Sunrise on Huangshan:

Hongcun:

30/5/14 DAY 6

Today, we went to Xidi Village. The houses there were also like the houses in Hongcun. But there was one thing I found quite interesting on one of the houses. There were two semi-circular tables each at a side of the room. When the tables are separated, it shows that the master is not home yet, but when the master is home, the two tables are combined to form a normal circular table for the master to use.

I heard from the tour guide that their windows were made of stone. Each one carved from a tile into beautiful tiles for the windows of the houses.

Afterwards, we went to the Huishang Big House. As the name suggests, it was relatively big and nice.

After dinner, we had a seminar by Professor 胡善风, who is the vice-principal of 黄山学院. He introduced to us about the cultures on Anhui. I learnt alot from this talk, for example, I learnt that there are three aspects in the food in Anhui, it has to be ，重油，重色， 重火候，which means that their food are mostly brightly coloured, which perfectly fits in what we have seen during mealtimes the past few days.

Xidi:

The stone-windows:

31/5/14 DAY 7

Today is the last day we will be in China before heading back to Singapore, so we went the the Tunxi Ancient Street to get some local goods back to Singapore. The tourguide brought us to a shop that sold tea and other local snacks which we could buy.

After that, we went to Hangzhou to take the West Lake Cruise. We had an enjoyable time on the cruise as it was relaxing and I took many photos.

Thereafter, we went to Yue Fei Mausoleum. It was like a temple which people could go to to pray. There was also a 岳飞纪念馆 which is for people to find out more about Yue Fei.

Finally, we are heading to the airport for dinner before taking the flight back to Singapore, I would really this place and the times we spent together in this trip as a class. I hope to go on a trip like this again so our class can bond together and have fun together.

Tunxi Ancient Street:

Westlake cruise:

Yue Fei Mausoleum:

-Serena Soo (17)

Reflections- How to start a movement

 During the talk, Derek Sivers told us that leadership happens in our daily life. He shows the audience a footage of a shirtless man dancing madly on the grassfield, one man starts to follow the man to dance and following on, a third man joins in and soon after that, a swarm of people join in. From here, he told us that if we want to to start a movement, there would be a need to have a leader, who has the guts to stand out and he added a movement doesn't really revolves around the leader but also the leaders and its followers. Lastly, Derek Sivers added that we need to follow and teach others to follow in order to start a movement. All in all, the talk was enriching and it had taught us how to start a movement.

Zhiyang(33) 2E

Reflections : How to start a movement

After watching Derek Sivers's TED talk on 'How to start a movement', I understood much more about leadership. Leadership happens in everyday life. From the example that Derek Sivers gave, which was a short video footage featuring a man in an outdoor music festival. The man started to dance in the middle of the crowd, which everyone thought was hilarious and weird. After a short while, another man followed, after time, many people stepped out of their comfort zone to follow the social trend, which was to dance in the middle of the field. As more and more people come together to dance, the people who are sitting and not dancing become not in the trend. The man who started the trend and the first man who followed has become 'leaders'. They led the people at the music festival to come together to dance.

I learnt that, if we want to start a movement or make a change, we can start by doing our part, no matter how small, and when more and more people come together to support, there will be more manpower to be able to make change happen.

-Serena Soo

Westlake cruise in China

Westlake is located in the western area, which is the historic center of Hangzhou City. It is surrounded by hills on three sides and covers 6.5 square kilometers. West Lake is the symbol of hangzhou, and is considered one of the most beautiful sights in China. The image of Santangyingyue (Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon), one of the classic views of West Lake, has been printed on the back of 1-Yuan Chinese banknotes. The cruise is available in the day and night, and many kinds of boats are available.

-Serena Soo

How economic growth affect the society( Zhi Yang-33 )

  Due to an miraculous economic growth over the years almost every product we find at home were made in China, as there were a lot of factories set up in China and there were cheap labour, so the rate of finishing a product was much faster. Even though, product can be made in a much shorter time, but there is a price to pay, which can be inferred by looking at the environment in China. Due to a large output of gases given out from the chimneys of the factories, there were a large factor that contributed to a large rise in the pollution standard index( PSI ). This had made China a dangerous place to stay as the pollution is just terrible, worsening day by day and there were no significant measures taken to counter this pollution. All in all, even thought the economic growth in China is significant but they are just sacrificing their environment, but is it worth it??

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Teens in Singapore

Serena: Teens in Singapore use Instagram to post pictures of their daily lives. Some people post on the food they eat, while some post selfies.

Zhi yang: Teens in Singapore played LOL( League of legends ) because of the cool heroes, skills and graphics which attracted most teens in Singapore.

Teens in China

Serena: Teens in China use many social networks like: WeChat, QQ, and Weibo.

Zhi Yang: Teens in China liked to patronize the shopping website like 淘宝instead of other shopping websites.

Bird nest stadium

Affectionately known as Bird's Nest, it is situated in Olympic Green Village, Chaoyang District. It was designed as the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Olympic events of track and field, football, gavelock, weight throw and discus were held there. Since October, 2008, after the Olympics ended, it has been opened as a tourist attraction. Now, it's the center of international or domestic sports competition and recreation activities.

The design of this large stadium was accomplished together by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron and Chinese architect Li Xinggang and the others. The designers didn't do any redundant disposals to the look of the stadium. They just exposed the steel structures entirely and let them become the most natural appearance. The form of the stadium looks like a big nest which embraces and nurses human beings. Also it looks rather like a cradle bearing human beings'  hope of the future.

The construction of it started on December 24, 2003. On July, 2004, the project was stopped temporarily due to the amendment of the design. On December 27 of the same year, the construction was resumed and finished in March, 2008. The gross cost of the whole project is 2,267 million Chinese yuan (about 33 million dollars).

The Bird's nest was constructed for the host of Beijing Olympics 2008 and it's exquisite architecture fully resembles to that of a bird nest.

- Zhi Yang(33)

China: Tiananmen Square

    Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City.It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

    Outside China, the square is best known in recent memory as the focal point of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a pro-democracy movement which ended on 4 June 1989 with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government and the death of several hundred or possibly thousands of civilians.

  The Tiananmen Gate to the Forbidden City was built in 1415 during the Ming Dynasty. Towards the demise of the Ming Dynasty, heavy fighting between Li Zicheng and the early Qing emperors damaged (or perhaps destroyed) the gate. The Tiananmen square was designed and built in 1651, and has since enlarged four times its original size in the 1950s.

  The most notable events are 

-protests during the May Fourth Movement in 1919, 

-the proclamation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949,

-the Tiananmen Square protests in 1976 after the death of Premier Zhou Enlai, 

-theTiananmen Square protests of 1989, which resulted in military suppression and the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of civilian protestors.

   One of the most famous images that appears during these protests was when a man stands in front of a moving tank and refuses to move. This became a revolutionary icon in fighting against the government at the time.

-Jiani (22)

China: One party rule

Advantages: 

There will be no conflicts in China. 

Decisions can be carry out immediately. 

China can be more unify.

Disadvantages: 

Decisions will be one-sided since there is no other objections.

-Zhan Ting (32)

China: One party rule

Advantages:

- China will not be so divided into supporting different parties and people can be united as one.

- Policy can be out efficiently with an agreement within the party only.

- Policies are linked to strengthen the previous one but not to change completely into another one.

Disadvantages:

- There are no other parties that can supervise their work and policy. To make them be careful and concerned at all times.

- People do not have choice to change a party to rule even if the party has not been doing well.

-Jiani (22)

Great Wall of China

221 B.C.-210 B.C - Reign of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Great Wall is built under General Meng Tien's command.

121-101 B.C - Han Emperor Wu Di extends the Great Wall into western desert to protect trade along the Silk Road and to subdue the Xiongnu.

A.D. 1200s - Mongol leader Genghis Khan breaks through neglected Great Wall; conquers China in 1215.

1368-1655 - Rule of the Ming dynasty, when the Great Wall is rebuilt.

1572-1620 - Rule of Ming emperor Wanli, the period when the Great Wall took its present form.

1960s - During the Cultural Revolution, artifacts are destroyed, including parts of the Great Wall.

1982 - Deng Xiaoping orders restoration of the Great Wall.

-Serena Soo (17)

China: One party Rule

Advantages: 

China can be more unified.

They will be less arguments between different parties.

One-party system allows them to have long-term strategies.

Disadvantages:

There will always be one party and people of China do not have other choices.

The rulers of the China will only see one side of the problem if there is only one party.

-Serena Soo (17)

China: One party rule

It is where the domination if one party is assured and would not be taken over by others. It also ensure one will and opinion so that the party would have full authority and that there would be no conflicts over power. The Chinese communist party is one example of one party rule in China, and that the one party rule political system had make it a communist state.

-Zhi Yang (33)

Chingay presentation

https://www.slideshare.net/tohzhiyang/presentation-chingay

Chinese New Year

I choose this scarlet red as it is more serious than a bright red and it is more meaningful.

I choose this symbol of lantern and fire crackers as they are the highlights of Chinese New Year.

I choose this dumplings as every Chinese New Year I would eat this with my family and this reminds me of my family.

-Jiani (22)

Chinese New Year

I chose red because it represents good luck, wealth and prosperity because I would like to have a good start for the new year ahead.

I chose this symbol, which is alpha, because I would like to set higher expectations for myself to achieve as I didn't really perform during Year 1 and I would like to perform my best for the new year ahead.

I chose this image of a red horse because the zodiac for this year is horse and I would like to be as fast as a horse, so that I could get a silver for Napfa and to strive hard for my studies and excel.

Thoughts and experience: During the upcoming Chinese New Year, I thought a lot about what to do during the Chinese New Year in Malaysia, like what should I eat, how could I spend my time wisely. During the upcoming Chinese New Year, my mother had been playing Chinese New Year's songs daily and had been spring cleaning daily as to welcome the new year ahead.

-Zhi Yang (33)

Chinese New Year

I chose violet because it represent my feelings of looking forward to Chinese New Year.

 This symbol represent the 12 Chinese zodiac and it's red in colour which also represents wealth, prosperity and I would want to have a good start in the upcoming 2014

This image represent prosperity for the upcoming Chinese New Year

-Zhan Ting (32)