Today we went to Anhui, He Fei through the high-speed rail which is like the MRT in Singapore. It was very comfortable and stable. Trains are present for long time in China and now the maglev,high-speed rail and the MRT are getting popular too. I wonder if this high-speed rail will take over the normal train since they both are for long distances and no one will really want to take the slow speed train if were to choose between the two.
Although I had grown up in China and had also visited some cities and provinces in China, Anhui is a place I am totally unfamiliar with. In my mind the name Anhui had always painted an image of a backward province that is not well developed with dirty roads and old houses. However, riding on the bus and looking out of the window onto the streets of Anhui, I realized that it is not as bad as I thought. There were lots of greeneries and other efforts done by the government to make the place more welcoming. I could see advertisements everywhere designed nicely to encourage everyone to be responsible citizens and uphold moral values. This showed me that the government is doing their parts to improve the society and I think this will really make a great change.
We went for the cultural visit to Sanhe guzhen. It is said to be famous for its rivers and architectures. Unfortunately, we did not have the honor to see the beauty of the rivers because they all dried up. According to the tour guide, it was because the government wants to improve the environment of the rivers so they dried them up to clean the rivers.
Monday 26/5/2014:
Today we paid a visit to Heifei 45 middle school. I was anxious and thrilled before I met my buddy. She is a very nice and friendly person and we get along very well in no time.
I noticed that the school is comparably smaller to our school with only two teaching blocks and an open space divided into four basketball courts. Their classroom is also crowded and their tables were narrow and small with two people sharing, but these did not cause them to complain and they have a very positive learning attitude which really influenced me greatly and engaged me in their lessons.
Together, We had politic, math, physic and champs period .They have 10 minutes' break in between every 40 minutes lesson, which allow them to get refreshed and discuss questions with friends about the previous lesson in time. Every class there is a quote that encourages the students to work hard. The students are very active in class and they showed eagerness to learn as most of them would participate by rising hand and even shout out the answers without the teacher asking. I think this is something that I really have to learn from them. I should not be afraid to answer wrongly as we can always learn better from mistakes.
5 things I love about RV:
1) diligent cleaners keeping RV's environment clean
2) the good planing of classes allowing students to learn easier with more fun
3) advance and new facilities
4) having lessons like FCE and Malay
5) having two canteens with delicious food
Tuesday 27/5/2014:
In the morning, we went to visit Anhui Museum. The museum is mainly about Anhui's cultures and architectures. From the visit, I learnt how the people back then applied their knowledge and wisdom into real life and helped themselves to solve problems. The houses are usually made of wood which would catch fire easily from the one beside it as the houses are connected in a row down the street. Thus, the people built brick walls that were higher up than the roof to prevent fire from spreading. This is called the "马头墙＂as it looks like horse head. I was also surprised to know that it was a well-known general who invented "毛笔＂, a kind of brush used for writing purposes back then, but not some scholars. I also got to know that the four treasures of scholars which are the writing brush, ink stick, ink slab and paper are also products of Anhui people. With so many inventions related to study, no wonder there had been so many Anhui scholars with outstanding results in the ancient imperial examinations.
In the afternoon, we went to Anhui cultural heritage park. Walking in some of its streets designed to show people the past time scenes of Anhui, I felt like I had travelled back to then. However, a circus show was really a heartbreaking thing to watch. Even though I had been living in China for so many years, I had not watched a single circus performance before. This show revealed the undeniable truth of the other side of the society that animals were being treated badly and played around as if their lives are worthless. On the other hand, I understand that some people just have to do this to get money for their own family. There are no real right or wrong but I truly hope that the government can take charge and help both the people and the animals out of their miserable lives.
CSI:
color---golden black
symbol---
image---
Wednesday 28/5/2014:
This was the long-awaited day as our class climbed up Huangshan, one of the famous mountains in China. To speak the truth, I do not really like to climb mountains as I did not exercise a lot during my free time. I also had a bad experience of having muscle ache after climbing Huashan,another famous mountain in China. I was dreading the climb but in the same time, wanting to prove my ability to climb with my classmates and to appreciate the beautiful sceneries from the top of Huangshan. During the climb, I saw many workers hurrying off the steep steps with heavy luggages on their shoulders. From the tour guide, I got to know that they were the workers who earn money using their strength, carrying luggages up and down the mountain on bare foot for tourists. They all looked thin and skinny, not strong and tall like what I had expected. This kind of jobs I had also seen before such as carrying tourists that could not climb up the mountain. Those men were mostly farmers who did not have much educations thus they could only do these jobs requiring strength to earn more money for family. I felt sorry for them and I think that in future, government should try to give them more financial supports and provide more education chances for their children so that they can have a better future. The climb was a tough one but with the encouragements and supports from friends, I eventually managed to reach the top. I could not help but think of this sentence" Life is a climb, but the view is great." and I truly agree with it as we will have to face difficulties before we taste the joy of succeed.
Thursday 29/5/2014:
In the early morning, I gave up on the idea of getting out of my warm bed to watch sunrise immediately when I sensed the coldness outside. When my friend came back and showed me the picture, I did not feel too regretful as it was not really too breathing taking a view for me to sacrifice my sleep. In the morning, we climbed another route to see a different view from the previous one. This time, all classmates were taking lots of photos as we would be leaving in the afternoon. We also ran into an ex-RVian and we were so happy that we sang our school song together on top of Huangshan.
In the afternoon, we reached Hongcun Ancient Village for a visit. The village is built by the Wang family specially for their family only. It is not like any random village that anyone can live in as they please. The Wang family occupied the place all for themselves and they built school for the children and memorial temples for their ancestors. The houses in the village are all in white for walls while the roofs are all made of bricks but the insides are all made of woods. There were also many art students there practicing sketching and painting. The pictures were very well drawn as if they were images captured using camera.
Friday 30/5/2014:
Today we went to Xidi village, which is quite the same as the Hongcun village as they both have the same architecture style. From the visit of the two place, I summarized some common ancient cultures of Anhui. In the past, there would be a narrow table directly opposite the main door behind where the master and his wife sat to meet guests. On the table, there would be a mirror on the left , a clock in the middle and a vase on the right. This means peace and protect the family from any misfortune falling upon the family. There were also always a table separated into halves one each leaning against a wall at the two sides of the hall. This was to tell visitors when they saw that the table was in halves, the master of the house was not at home and they should come next time as the women were not allowed to see guests alone. The table would be put together when the master was at home symbolizing union. Many different types of carvings were also seen inside and outside houses depending on the believes of the family.
Afterwards, we went for a visit to Huishang Big House. The house was indeed very big. All the furnitures and carvings show the wealth and the high position in the society of the owner.
In the evening, we had a talk from a professor of Hui culture. He knows a lot about Hui culture and its history and I was surprised that they were so fascinating. I learnt about the people migrating to Anhui in the past and how they started to make Anhui their home and started on their businesses. I must say Anhui is really a place rich in culture and history and what I have learnt and understood were truly only a small bit of it.
Saturday 31/5/2014:
Last day of our OELP trip, we went to Tunxi old street which is only a few minutes bus ride from our hotel. The street was indeed quite old but with some shops that were more modern such as the coffee shop. We did not have a lot of time to shop but I made good use of the only 100 yuan that I had and gotten myself as much things as possible which I liked very much.
After this, we took a long ride to Hangzhou for the cruise on the famous West Lake. However, the view was not as great as what I had expected. The views on land such as the pagoda is not clear and they were not so picturesque. The visit to the Yue Fei Mausoleum was the one that I liked very much. I truly respect the hero and I was so upset to learn that the four people who caused Yue Fei's death were not punished when they were alive.
The OELP trip have come to an end but my interests in Anhui's history and culture have not stopped. I look forward to more immersion trips and to learn more about other cultures.
