Dong quan men

Rating 4/5

Parallel to the busy Wenchang Road is a quiet ancient back alley that contains a host of sites well worth visiting. This is the Dong quan men alley. The alley's main gate dates all the way back to the Qing Dynasty. Despite many small restaurants and craft shops lining the alley, it still does not have the sense of commercialization. Much of China's old cultures and traditions are preserved in this alley. It is a great place for shopping as the alley is filled with many shops that sell souvenirs or the local Chinese snacks such as the sugar blowing candy.,  I enjoyed Dong Quan Men as a whole as I was able to look at the local traditional products sold in Yang Zhou. There were few shops, mainly along the streets were houses, some which still resides elderly, others, turned into government protected areas to conserve the historical site. The buildings were surrounded by a thick wall made of bricks and moss was growing on it already. The floor was not paved and neat like Singapore's. Instead, there were small bumps on the ground. The most traumatizing part of my experience was at this place. During my visit to Dong Quan men, I actually witnessed a small puppy which only came up to my ankles's length peeing in the middle of the ground in public. It was right in the middle on the main road and moreover, the dog had a dog tag around his neck. The owner of the dog was probably an old man or and old woman as the dog was an untrained one. In the past, animals were able to run freely around the area where they live. To be able to pee anywhere they had wanted. But now it was a different century, animals should be trained to be civilized. Moreover, as it was a tourism district, such acts should be changed to avoid tourists thinking negatively of China.

The gateway in front of dong quan men. it resembles the gate way of dong guan jie, except it does not have plants growing beneath a glass. 

A stall selling the famous 三把刀- 剃头刀、切菜刀和修脚刀.These knife brought fame to the Yangzhou as it takes much effort and time to excel in those skills

The carving on the roof of the houses in Dong Quan men. Those carvings are in the shape of a dragon as dragons are well-liked by the people in the past and until now, dragon represent china.

杨大附中东部初中学部

Rating: 4/5

When we visited this school for 2 of the days in an immersion programme, we were warmly welcomed into the school by the students and teachers there. At the school, we attended some of the lessons with the students there and learnt more about China's history and culture at the same time together with them. The school was huge compared to schools in Singapore, and during the visit to the school, we only saw some parts of the school. The places of the school we saw were the canteen, field, track, and several other facilities. However, one of the things that I did not really like about the school are their toilets. The toilets there gave off a very heavy stench and there was not much privacy when we were doing our businesses but still generally, I still find the environment of the school quite conducive. As for the students there, I find that there are actually quite friendly and we have developed quite a close relationship with them since most of the China students found it hard for us to leave. Even now, I still use a certain social media like QQ to occasionally chat with them and this is one of the things that shows that we Singaporeans can continue having a good and close relationship with our buddies even though we might be very far away from each other. I also thought that we should learn from the China students especially about how participative and disciplined they were when they were having their lessons since disciplined and passionate students like them are quite hard to find in Singapore. Overall, the trip to this school has been a memorable and enriching one, after all we got to learn more about China’s history and culture and yet at the same time bond together with the students there.   

The food we had during lunch time. The food available there is rather different from the food available in Singapore schools as they had vegetables, soup and fruits for every meal which is a more balanced and healthy diet.

The performance by the china students. She was singing a song about the love story of the white snake and a human. The performance put up by the china students were different from us. There performance was mainly on chinese culture, while for us, our performance was on our likes and spirit.

The group photo taken at the last day of the school immersion. We hope that our friendship would remain forever like this. 

Xie fu chun

Rating 4/5

Xie fu chun is one of the oldest make up brands in china, dating back to the Qing dynasty when the xie fu chun shop was opened. Although not many of us got to see the shop and it's make up for ourselves, I think that for xie fu chun to have been able to come this far since the Qing Dynasty was a hard struggle for the shop and it's owners. We managed to catch a live performance of the china people wearing the xie fu chun's make up and performing for us. Although, it was not obvious for us to see the difference between our current make up powder and xie fu chun's, we were told by our tour guide that xie fu chun strove for the highest quality in their products and that is what I believe which led to their current success. Nowadays, make up brands cut down on the quality of their products or even the quantity in order to earn more profit, but xie fu chun kept up with its standards. The only thing they changed about was the packaging and styles in order to appeal to their customer's tastes. They were able to change with the times and be able to keep up with their traditional ways. This is what I found admirable about xie fu chun.

http://en.yzdongguanjie.com/ShowNews.asp?id=138
It was amazing on how xie fu chun was able to keep up with the trend and compete with other modern cosmetics products despite the fact that they kept the traditional way and maintained the high quality of their product.

The beauty performance that we watched. it showcased the beauties in yangzhou with the xie fu chun cosmetics products on.to show the effect of their cosmetics products.

Hai Di Lao

rating: 5/5

This has to be one of the best service you will ever experience in a trip to China. The staff will treat us like VIPs. They will spare no effort to improve the dining atmosphere and service in a bid to offer the best experience.  When we sat down, they put any mobile phones we placed on the table into plastic bags. Those of us wearing eyeglasses were given glass wipes. We were also offered aprons lest our clothes gets dirty. There is even a CCTV to allow parents to monitor their children while their children are at the playground. The staff will also be present in the playground to look after the children and occasionally playing with them. However, the staff are unable to converse in English, so you might want to learn how to speak in Chinese before visiting this restaurant. Their impressive customer service and hospitality go far and above customer expectations. Complimentary special services are on offer to customers while they wait to be seated at the phenomenally busy restaurants, including soybean milk, fruit, chess, and even manicures and shoe polishing. This has to be one of the best meals you will ever have. The food there is also very delicious. There would be a live noodle performance right in front of you when you order noodles. There is also a wide range of  and great selection of sauces and condiments that you can get yourself and make your own concoctions. They can split the Hot Pot soup into two different kinds if the people in your group have different tastes. The staff would  serve their customers with sincere smiles and hospitalities, which came from the bottom of their hearts. This place is a must go and once-in-a-lifetime experience!

A man performing on how to make noodles. I feel that it requires alot of experiences and skills to be able to do it as the noodles will break easily or touch the floor, so in order to ensure hygiene, the noodles must not be  in contact with the floor.

A play room for younger children where adults can entrust their children to without any worry as there are cctvs in the playroom and the videos are played on the second level where the adults have their meal so the parents can ensure their child's safety while eating peacefully.

There are pedicure services for the customers while waiting for seats so that their customers would not  be standing there waiting meaninglessly.

Shanghai Rayfront Xuhui Hotel

rating: 5/5

This is the first hotel we checked in after arriving in China. Previously, we have heard of some of the horror stories about hotel rooms, especially corner rooms, and we were quite superstitious, so, we were quite scared when we first entered the rooms. About 5 in the next morning, the sky was already very bright as if it was already 8 or 9 o'clock. Since we didn't close the curtains the previous night, we were awoken by the morning light and woke up pretty early. The next thing was to go for breakfast. I realized that it was actually buffet style and the food were quite heavy and oily such as fried noodles, rice, buns. In Singapore, we only eat bread and dink milk in the morning, only when it is lunch or dinner time will we eat such food seen in the hotel. In the far end of the dining hall, there is another stall preparing hot noodles, soup and fried eggs. The chef there is very friendly as he shared his experience in the hotel as we waited for our food. In conclusion, we have learnt that even though there is no jet lag between China and Sinagpore, the day in Shanghai is longer than nights.

Shanghai Hotel Room
The place Where we had our first night overseas without our parents around to look after us, and we had to be independent enough to take care of ourselves

French concession

Rating 3.5/5

The part of Shanghai we went to was part of the French Concessions in the mid 1800s and mid 1900s. It was an interesting place to visit as the area had a distinct air of a history to it. Despite the fact that we were indeed in Shanghai, China, the architecture within the French concession made it seemed as though we were transported to another European country. The architecture was well-maintained and what I found the most interesting part of it, was the fact that the small dinings and cafés around were mainly English and French. As I walked around the French concession, it was clear to me that the area was truly developed for the French in the past, this explaining its unique buildings, totally different for the olden chinese's ways of building it. In the past, the French concession was an area for French settlement, but now, it has became a retail district and tourism district for the country. Despite it being among buildings and high rises, the French concession felt very soothing to me as I walked down the alleys, probably due to the fact of the earthy brown colour of the buildings and the quiet atmosphere. It allows one in the busy city to settle down and relax without having to go far away. This historical site improves both the tourism of the country and at the same time, it is a symbol of the French concession in China's history.

Fulushou – Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity. These statues were created for Shanghai Xintiandi by the renowned Dutch Chinese sculptor, Wu ching-ju. They are her interpretations of the traditional Chinese folklore figures of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity

The alley of the French concession which reminds me of the Great Britain due to its earthly brown color, bringing us back to past.  walking through this alley calms our mind, putting everything down.

This building brings out the unique features of  a european styled building - red bricks. balcony and others. There are also orange colored leaves outside the building. Together with the the orange leaves and red brick, it make us feel as though it was currently in autumn.

Ge Yuan

Rating: 5/5

Going to Geyuan allowed us to know and see for ourselves how rich the then local salt industry official, Huang Zhiyun was. We also get to appreciate the architecture, the antique furniture and even get see some special and unique features. Bamboos can be seen everywhere in the garden as Huang Zhiyun loved bamboos, seeing them as an expression of uprightness, braveness and loyalty.  As the bamboo leaf resembles the Chinese character "Ge", it is named "Geyuan Garden". Emerging from the bamboo thicket comes towering rock formations, four in all that are said to resemble each season. It is known as the "four-Season Rockery" ,which is very unique and special. Spring is demonstrated with a picture of bamboo and rock while Summer is represented by the steel-grey Taihu stone. Autumn is depicted by Huangshan stone, and winter by Xuan stone. Furthermore, this place also shows that the people in the past strongly believed in Confucianism. For example, the bamboo leaves represent piety in Confucianism and hence is one of the reasons why the official wanted to plant bamboos. This place also shows how clever the people in the past were. For example, the air around the well is damp .The wall beside the well has an arc. This is because even when the bricks are rotten due to the moisture, they can easily change the bricks without demolishing the whole wall. Furthermore, this place is a must-see because Geyuan has the longest history, the most complete preservation and the highest artistic value among the classic gardens in the city.

A carving on a rock that says that Geyuan is a protected area. The government put in effort to not only protect this place, but to make it a tourist attraction.This place serves as their heritage sites and allows both the locals and tourists to be able to see for themselves what it was like to be a wealthy salt merchant at the time.This place allows us to feel like "we have travelled back in time".Furthermore,this place provides a revenue for the government to earn money to boost the economy.

   

The wall that has an arc situated beside the well. Due to the well located there, it is very moist, causing the stone bricks to be often weathered, thus They had to remove them. With the presence of the arc, the stone bricks can be removed without demolishing the whole wall since the arc can support it.

Bamboo shoots are icons to represent Ge Yuan. It also represent fillal and piety as the younger bamboo shoots will grow outside of the older bamboo shoots,  surrounding it. It seemed as though the younger bamboo shoots are trying to protect the older bamboo shoots from the heavy weather.This also shows that Huang Zhiyun strongly believes in Confucianism as bamboos represent piety in Confucianism.

A library in Ge Yuan.This place holds great significance because not all of everyone's house can have a library or even access to books at the time.This further emphasize that the merchant was very wealthy.Furthermore,there is a hidden staircase to the second floor of the library.This may suggest that the books on the second floor were very precious.

A study hall with calligraphy writings that urges the children of Huang Zhi Yun back then to study hard.The calligraphy were written in the way that it means that the children still lack a bit and needed to work hard.The calligraphy was written by Huang Zhi Yun himself as he hopes that hiis children would always study hard.This shows that Huang Zhi Yun places great emphasise in education,just like the people today.

Luishi Old Mansion

rating: 4/5

Built in 1897 during the Qing Dynasty by a wealthy salt merchant named Lu Shaoxu, the compound was sensitively restored in 1980 by local authorities to reflect the elegance and richness of Yangzhou's 2,500-year-old culture. Five years ago, it started operating as a restaurant and venue for events. We were led to our private dining room on the first floor of one of a series of enclosed courtyards. The waitress served us our food as we settled down. The dishes showcases Huaiyang cuisine featuring lightly flavoured and sweetish dishes containing pork, freshwater fish, chicken, stewed pork ball and other aquatic creatures. Yangchow fried rice, which is thought to have originated from the area, is a popular request. I think that the food there was quite nice but some of the dishes flavor were too strong and that I had to gulp down water.  The waitresses there are unable to understand mandarin well as they were natives of yangzhou so we had quite a hard time trying to ask for plain rice. Despite that, the waitresses introduced us to the dishes and recommend us to eat them as those were yangzhou’s specialties. I feel that they respect and feel proud of their job and being a native of Yangzhou. The best part over here is that it preserves its traditions while including modern elements into it, such as the traditional architecture. The traditional theme of the restaurant allows us to experience and appreciate show traditions while having our dinner. However, due to the complicated interior of the building such as many different alleys and private dining room, I had quite a hard time trying to find the toilet.  

food served at the Lushi Old Mansion displayed huaiyang cuisine such as stewed pork ball, sliced beancurd, yangzhou fried rice and a rare Japanese vegetable. The Japanese vegetable is very rare in Singapore and its minerals are crystalised on the outside of the vegetable. 

The surrounding of the private room which we had our dinner. The surrounding of the private room give out a traditional feel while eating at the Lushi Old Mansion as it preserved traditional features such as wooden wall, a frame with olden form of Chinese words and a couple of traditional Chinese puppets on the dinning table.

The lanterns hung in the Lushi Old Mansion. On the  lantern there are words such as 'lu' and 'yan' to show that there were salt merchants in the past living in this lushi old mansion.  

Paper Cutting Museum

Rating: 4/5

It is quite impressive that they can cut that much detail into a piece of paper. Yangzhou City is one of the earliest regions in China prevalent with the paper-cut art. The Yangzhou paper-cut is comely and fluent in lines, refined and exquisite in composition with exaggerated and compact images, constituting one of the representatives of folk paper-cut art in South China. One of the paper cutting that impressed me was the 100 cutting of Chrysanthemum. It is amazing as one flower could be cut to so many different shapes. The petals are also very refined, looking as though with just one wrong snip, the whole Chrysanthemum cutting would be ruined. All the paper cuttings shown there are very detailed and made me wonder how they managed to do that. From the paper cuttings, I can tell that paper cutting is not that easy as it seems and requires many years of experience for detailed ones as well as great amount of patience. We were given a hands-on experience of cutting one of the twelve zodiac animals. At first we thought that paper cutting was a piece of cake. However, we realized that it was very difficult and many were frustrated, wanting to give up. Many of our animals had different severed parts, severely "abused". However, with just on instructor to a large group of 10-12 students, I doubt all of the students had gotten help and advices from the instructor. This place is for those that loves to appreciate or find out more about Chinese paper cutting.

Entrance to Paper Cutting Museum.

Building of Paper Cutting Musuem.The entrance as well as the building of the Paper Cutting Museum gives us a feeling of the olden past.This is because the building structure is similar to those in the past.There is a pair of lanterns hanging in front of the building and the entrance because in the past their were no light bulbs and thus they light up these lanterns to allow people to see and enter their shop.The ceiling has a arc shape and is pointed upwards at the sides,just like those buildings in the past.

Paper Cutting of a Phoenix and a Dragon.You can see that Chinese in the pass strongly believes in myths and legends.The phoenix and dragon were only meant for the royalties back then.The people believes that these animals were mystical and had special powers.The early Chinese believed in four magical, spiritual and benevolent animals; the Dragon, the Phoenix, the Tortoise and the Unicorn. The Dragon was the most revered of all. IThe Feng-huang or Fung; the "vermilion bird," the "substance of the flame." The Feng has the head and comb of a pheasant and the tail of a peacock. It personifies the primordial force of the heavens. When portrayed with the dragon as a symbol of the Emperor, the phoenix becomes entirely feminine as the Empress, and together they represent both aspects of imperial power. It could also be meant for marriage harmony or the complete yin-yang mutual interdependence in the universe in terms of duality. 

Intricate cutting of flowers and animals.It is amazing to see such cuttings because not only is the cutting very small,it is also very intricate,with the finest details of the flowers and animals.It is also dyed which make it even pretty and eye catching.We can tell that these people need patience as with one wrong cut,the whole artwork is ruined.We would normally get very angry and frustrated if such a thing happens.Hence we would most likely give up on cutting the paper.That may be one of the reasons why such jobs are being more rare and not sought after.

Blue Vase cutting on a piece of  shiny blue paper.This cutting should be a recent one.This is because the paper is reflective blue surface.I think that cutting on this type of material is highly likely to cut oneself as the paper is hard and it has an intricate and small fine details.This paper cutting attracted me the most and stands out amongst the other paper cutting.This is because i had never taught that paper cutting would include cutting on such a material.My idea is that paper cutting should be cut on those paper that are flimsy and rough.

9 out of 100 of the paper-cut chrysanthemum

Another 9 out of 100 of the paper-cut chrysanthemum.This is also very special as the paper cutter is very observant and/or creative.He/She is able to come up with 100 designs of the chrysanthemum.To us,chrysanthemum is just chrysanthemum,with yellow or white petals and green leaves.We seldom observe the shape and length of the petals and the leaves.We can see that chrysanthemum actually can exist in many forms.It is just that we do not go and notice them.It may be due to the fact that we are very unobservant or that we are too busy with other things to slowly enjoy nature.

Zhi Chun Chai Sei ( teahouse )

rating: 4/5

When we first stepped into the tea house, we felt that it still remained the old palace feel. It's rooftop didn't change to our modern HDB rooftops but still remained like the olden days. When we went into the dining area, the first thing that caught my eye was the left over food on certain tables. In Singapore restaurants, seldom are there many left overs, however in these tea house, it was as if most of the food served was left over. Another shocking point is that there is no room temperature water served at this tea house. Nowadays, due to the fast paced lifestyle that most of us adopted, we can't afford to slowly drink sips of hot water, so many preferred cold water. However, there is no cold water in this tea house, which once again highlights to us that their lifestyle in Yangzhou is of a slower pace as compared to Singapore's. Overall, the food served at this tea house were very different from Singapore's but very delicious and we enjoyed our them a lot. Their waitresses were also very friendly as they explained thus the name of the dishes and told us the way of eating certain dishes. Therefore, we have learned the types of dishes the people in Yangzhou will consume for their breakfast.

The entrance to the teahouse. The rooftop of the teahouse bring out a royal feeling as It's roof is like those of the traditional palace, showing that this teahouse has a long history, and it is passed down from one generation to another 

The customers in the teahouse mostly gather in quite a large group and the proportions of the amount of food that they eat is alot,  compared to the normal breakfast we had in singapore. 

The dishes served at the teahouse include cow's intestine, mushroom, cold meat, buns, dumplings and other type of dishes. The favour of the dishes were rather strong and oily, especially the buns as the bread is oily and quite tasteless, unlike the buns in Singapore 

A bun which require to use a straw to drink the hot gravy inside the bun before eating it. The gravy in the bun is quite oily but fragant. If you did not drink finish all the gravy before eating the bun, it will burn your tongue.

block printing museum

rating:4/5

This building has both the Yangzhou Museum and the China Block Printing Museum under the same roof. We started with the China Woodblock Printing Museum. There were displays of the instruments used for Chinese block printing, the process of it and many others. The displays were well-presented and interesting as I had never seen those display before in Singapore. There is even a hands-on section where you can see demonstrations. I think it was a very good opportunity for us to see the process of Chinese block printing. When I asked them on the reason they are willing to stay in the museum, they said it was their hobby and it was to allow the future generation to know the culture of Chinese. I personally think that the people doing the demonstrations worth our respect as they are willing to take their time and spent it at the museum just to pass on the Chinese culture to the next generation so that they would know their root., instead of joining other more attractive jobs. Without them, the culture of block printing may be vanished forever in the future.
Next we went to the Yangzhou Museum. The Yangzhou museum paled in comparison as the collection on display was rather small. It exhibits Yangzhou's love for the skill of carving various materials into art. Intricately carved jade, bamboo, stone, porcelain and wood objects are on display, spanning around two thousand years. It also features a painting and calligraphy exhibit of the famous Yangzhou “Eight Eccentric” artists, and a huge Tang Dynasty dragon boat. What left me the deepest impression was a Yuan-dynasty glazed vase/bottle which has a blue background and a white dragon.

The exterior look of the block printing museum.

Entering the museum gate, we were welcomed by the Museum's standardFu Xi Nu Wa

A man carving out the words from a wooden block. The carving of the word is very small and he could easily cut wrongly or hurt himself. Not only that, if any character  is carved wrongly, he would have to dispose that whole block and recarve the characters. The man told us that he actually enjoyed carving out the characters even though it is very tiring.

A lady copying words from one paper to another. The handwriting of the words are very need and consistent throughout the whole process. Moreover, she just be very meticulous as there is no such thing as a correction tape to cover the mistake so if there is any mistake, she will have to rewrite the whole thing. 

A man applying ink to print out the words. He used a brush and apply ink on the block quite a few times so that every part of the block will be covered with ink. Moreover when he transfer the ink on the paper, he had to use the same force throughout the printing process so tat there will not be some parts which are darker, while some are lighter. 

Displays in the museum, related to block printing like the instruments used in the past for block printing.

Craig blue glaze vase with white dragon grain in the yangzhou museum. In that exhibit, it showcases pictures of vases in during different dynasties of china. 

Shanghai urban planning

Rating: 3/5

This place was built to show the achievement of the city planning and construction.The main body of the building covers Shanghai's development from the past to the present and future. The theme of this building is 'City, People, Environment and Development'. The exhibition also gives a brief outline of the history of the city.There is also a small theatre room housing a 360° screen,which shows a virtual tour of the city. It displays the plans for the future highlighting key construction projects in and around the city. It gives the impression that the viewer is flying through the Shanghai of the future, viewing notable locations including some of the Shanghai Expo 2010 pavilions.However,some of the viewers watching the video felt very giddy as the visuals on the screen kept turning and rotating.There is also a city model made to a huge scale model of the central parts of Shanghai which shows all existing and planned buildings.It is of a massive 600 metres square and is of a 1:500 scale model to Shanghai,complete with every tiny little detail such as the colour.It is a vast,scale model of urban Shanghai as it will look in 2020, a big city planning full of endless skyscrapers punctuated occasionally by patches of green.Walkways have built around the model which allows visitors to get a good overview of the model.I was amazed at how well planned out this massive city was.We can then infer that the government is efficient when it comes to developing there city and making it better.However,there were no labels in the scale model as to what you were looking at. It is rather pointless as we do not know which building is which.The picture comparisons from former times with recent pictures are incredible and give you a feeling about the massive growth of Shanghai. It would appear from the photos that most  buildings of the city were demolished to be replaced by modern developments.However,there is no explanations given as to why or how the city is developing so rapidly.This place is highly suitable for those that are interested to know about Shanghai's progress from the past to the present,as well as to those of Shanghai's future.

Building of Shanghai Urban Planning.We can see that the building is pretty special and is 4 stories high.The exterior design is very creative to show the parellel that their urban planning is also very creative.

Huge board that shows information on some of the tourist attractions.I feel that this is very cool and creative.Singapore's urban redevelopment planning should also include this.This is because many tourists would visit the urban planning to know how the country or place have progressed through the years.Tourist can have a rough idea of how much it would be to visit the attraction and the location.They would also have some information of the place and plan according to their interest and convenience.

Model of some buildings found in Shanghai.These buildings are from the bund.They are very special as they are in gold,perhaps having a significant meaning to the country.The reason why I recognised it was because of the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower.The design of the building is very similar to the towers in Kuwait, it is not a surprise if they might have copied the idea. It is said to be based on a verse of the Tang Dynasty poem Pipa Song by Bai Juyi about the wonderful sprinkling sound of a pipa instrument, like pearls, big and small falling on a jade plate. However, the designer Jiang Huancheng says that he did not have the poem in mind when designing the tower. I The bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in this area.

At the ceiling above these models,there is a slogan"Better City,Better Life".This tells us that Shanghai is always improving the lifes of the people and their country.Hence,Singapore should continue to upgrade ourselves.If not,many countries would be catching up ahead of us and we may not enjoy prosperity anymore.

A bridge and a train model.This is very special as this should be a model of a place in a past,most probably a train moving on the bridge as shown in the model.I doubt that there are anymore trains like these present in Shanghai.

A part of the city model.This model is very spectacular as there are many buildings in the model.every single buildings present in Shanghai can be found there.The buildings also have the distinctive features of the actual building.It is of a massive 600 metres square and is of a 1:500 scale model to Shanghai.Singapore also have a similar one in urban redevelopment authority.

A design at the wall of some buildings.I feel that this is very creative and shows the air being non-polluted and blue.This parallels their slogan of "Better City,Better Life".This is very pretty and a good spot to take pictures as the background is so nice and shiny.

Model of the Astronomical Observatory on the Bund(1907).Shanghai was the site of China's first modern astronomical observatory and its first signal and time station - the former being built by Jesuit missionaries in 1872 in Xujiahui and the latter in 1884 on the Bund.In the 1870s, Shanghai had already opened itself to the outside world and new technologies including astronomy had been introduced. Many of the Catholic missionaries were also astronomers and they thought that Shanghai, as a world metropolis, was entitled to have an observatory. So the Xujiahui Observatory was built.As for the signal tower set up on the Bund, the location was chosen because it was the best vantage point from which to communicate with all the shipping coming in and out of the port.The staff manning the station used to put out different flags on one of the two masts to indicate wind strengths and sea and river conditions. This was done five times a day according to the weather forecasts received from the Xujiahui Observatory. The signals were an essential measure to ensure safe navigation for vessels bound for the high seas.

Shanghai Volkswagen

rating: 4/5

A Sino-German Joint venture, Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co .Ltd produces the largest numbers of cars and commercial vehicles in China at 450,000 units per year. We went to the Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co, Ltd. We were welcomed by the staffs of the company with a smile and they greeted us in English. It was quite surprising as their English was rather fluent compared to the natives there. They also showed us the video on Volkswagen, the progression of it and others. The video was rather interesting to us as it was the first time that we ever seen a video on the close details of Volkswagen progressing to be the best car brand. Moreover, in Singapore, Volkswagen was not as popular as other car brands and this video broaden our knowledge on cars. We were also brought to a tour inside the the factory. photo taking was strictly prohibited but the photos may be found online. There were battery cars to bring us into the factory so that there will not be any conflicts between the daily production and the tour. We were also given walkie talkie with earpiece so that we could hear clearly to the explanation of the tour guide. During the tour, we get to witness the process of production of a car in real life, experiencing advanced  technology and modern management. I was amazed by the machines in the factory as it seemed that they were human who are producing the cars. I feel that it is hard to make sure that every part of the car is error free as there were Many segments in the production of cars.

Class picture at Volkswagen. 

At where we took this photo, we were briefly introduced to the map of the whole Shanghai Volkswagen and we could also see some of the best Volkswagen cars at the side of this place. One of those cars even had signatures of famous people and important members of the company.