oelp reflection - winnie

Yes, the trip has increased my knowledge of China and how it has an impact on Singapore. Firstly, China is fast catching up on its economy as seen in their rising GDP(Gross Domestic Product)The Gross Domestic Product is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a year, or over a given period of time.GDP per capital is often used as an indicator of a country's material standard of living. China's GDP is 8.227 trillion USD while Singapore's GDP is 274.7 billion. It is possible that one day China would catch up and overwrite Singapore. With China's Economy prospering, Singapore may be on stake. Singapore may be in prosperity now but for how long? We have no natural resources and much land. We are just a tiny red dot in the world's map and have nothing to rely on but on the talent of our people.

Singapore is a highly developed trade-orientated market economy .However, Singapore's position as a maritime hub is being questioned when the new route-the Northern Sea Route(NSR)-eventually becomes commercially viable. Ships may bypass Singapore, which is at present a key shipping node on the route via the Suez Canal, a 193km passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, using of the new route would allow the ships to reach their destination earlier, using lesser fuel. Although analysts do not expect the threat posed by the NSR to business via the Suez Canal and Singapore to be immediate. Singapore has began to feel the stress and thus is preparing for competition, not just from the NSR but the rest of the shipping world. It is building a new mega-port in Tuas and the first phase of development is expected to be ready in 10 years' time. By then, this mega-port will handle an even greater volume of shipping - up to 65 million standard-sized containers a year, slightly more than double the figure reached by the existing port facilities last year. Although this shows that Singapore will continue to progress and catch up with the competition, this may only be for now because we lack land and natural resources. On the other hand, China has a large piece of land and is able to further make use of it for buildings and architectures. China is not that less-developed as one would think China would be. China is fast progressing and is soon going to overtake America to be the world's economy leader. We should not underestimate China's power and their progress. Singapore should find other ways to improve ourselves by developing new technologies and making sure we will always progress.

Yes I am more aware of the values and beliefs of people from China. I could tell that the Chinese places great emphasize on the education of the Chinese. I heard from the tour guide that parents would "buy" the place to top-notch universities, for their children if their scores are not enough. The students are very proactive in class and would raise their hands to answer the questions posted by the teachers. They would not slouch during lessons and would keep their backs straight with their arms folded, giving 100% attention to the teacher. This shows that they wanted to learn everything that the teacher had said so that they can score well in the tests .However, in Singapore we would slouch and play with our stationeries, sometimes talking about ourselves. The students in Yangzhou are also optimistic and do not complain and whine about having to be in school by 6.50am.and having their lessons to end at 6pm.However,we,the students in Singapore would be complaining about how stressful and tiring we are when we goes to school at 7am and end classes at about 2.30pm and on CCA days, at 6pm.The students in Yangzhou are also very optimistic because they would always wear a smile on their faces although something had went wrong. For example. Once, while my buddy and I were having a Chinese painting lesson, I went to draw a fish that was very complicated. I did not know how to control the fish and thus the whole fish became black and does not even look like one. I was very anxious and unhappy, wanting to draw one again. However, my buddy was smiling and was calm, saying that it was alright. She also gave me a new paper. She would always reassure me saying that all was well when I made a slightest mistake .Also, the Chinese are also very conservative and appreciates past history. For example, when we danced the Korean dance as part of the cultural-exchange performances, the students from Yangzhou, although they like these dances as much as us, they do not show it. This is because the dance is considered quite sexy and they do not often do or see such dance danced in public. The Chinese also appreciates what they have experienced in the past and their culture. Yangzhou have preserve their historical sites and culture very well. For example, in the Geyuan which is a private residential garden with the longest history, is owned by Huang Zhi Yun, a salt merchant in the Qing dynasty. The government did not tear down the place but instead preserved the place and made little changes to this place. Huang Zhi Yun loved bamboo, which he saw as an expression of uprightness, braveness, and loyalty (one must remember that in spite of its delicate appearance, the bamboo lives on steep mountain slopes that are subject to inexorable and often extreme winds, yet the bamboo stands tall and proud), so he planted them everywhere in the garden. A cluster of three bamboo leaves resemble the Chinese character 个 and hence the name of the garden .This was also noted by Yuan Mei, a writer during the Qing Dynasty "the moonlight made the bamboo shadows hundreds of the character ge". The owner chose the name ”Ge Yuan” for his garden to correspond to his name, Zhi Yun (至筠, which also means "bamboo").The bamboo shoots are called filial bamboo shoots because the older ones are in the middle while the younger ones are outside. This shows that the elders are the priority in the past. Yangzhou was famous for its monopoly of the salt trade in the past. This would show that the Chinese would preserve anything that is related to their history and is able to show it well. This place shows that the salt merchants then were very rich and that people in the past deeply believes in Confucianism. This is because bamboo leaves represents piety in Confucianism. Yangzhou people had also kept their tradition of eating a heavy breakfast that consists of many different types of buns and dumplings. The ancient Chinese describe the laid-back lifestyle in Yangzhou by referring to both the morning ritual of eating breakfast and the evening ritual of public bathing. They spoke of "the (dim sum) skin surrounding water (soup) in the morning and (bath) water surrounding skin in the evening." They still say that today, and it still holds true.

Yes, I am proud to be a Singaporean. This is because Singapore is much more developed than China. This can be seen in the buildings and even the toilets. For example, Singapore's toilet has a proper flushing system and a better privacy than those in China. Our toilets are also much cleaner than theirs. Moreover, our buildings and architectures are much more elaborately designed and is well maintained. Singapore is also a safe country to be in. The Singaporean government and its strong arm of the law, the Singapore Police Force, run a tight ship in terms of keeping the city and its residents safe and sound. The results are clearly visible: Crime in Singapore is very low, and the country has a reputation as being one of the safest places around the globe. Also, in Singapore, we have a very low chance of having water or food poisoning, unlike in China. Some vendors in China uses the sewage oil for the food that they cook and even pass rat meat off as pork. We can be very safely assured that such possibilities occurring in Singapore is very slim.
This sums up everything:
1. Clean & green environment 
2. Low crime rates
3. High efficiency workforce
4. Uncorrupted government 
5. Stable but high living standards
6.Delicious food 
7.Multi-racial and multi-religious harmony
8.Disaster-free country 
10. Good welfares for Singaporeans & foreigners 
11.Striving to make things as good as they can be – constant improvement 
12 Law to maintain order and peace 
13.Best airport, best airline, best workforce in the world, best quality of life among Asia countries 
14. Harmonious multi-racial community

The Chinese do not demolish the architecture and building. They try to keep the place as to what it looks like in the past to their very best. However, they also added in some new and modern amenities. For example, in Dong Quan Men, the walls are still made of very rough rocks shaped like bricks. There are also wooden doors and there are people living there. The alley's main entrance dates back to the Qing Dynasty. Small restaurants and craft shop line the alley, yet it thankfully lacks any sense of commercialization. Other small alleys jet off to the sides, and wooden doors representing multiple eras of China's lengthy history. Although these places allow for a unique opportunity to look into China's past and observe what has already been demolished in most other Chinese cities, some of them have modernized. For example, there are pipes that provides water and electricity to the people living there. This shows that although they still preserve the past architecture, they still need to have some modern amenities so as to survive in this world today. The Yangzhou people has also turned the Lushi Old Mansion to a restaurant. There are also modern facilities in the restaurant such as light bulbs and swivel table. They promote their culture when these places attracts tourist to these places. When the tourist enters these places, they get a better understanding of their past and history when they look at the furniture and design of the place. The Yangzhou people are very creative to turn a Mansion into a restaurant as people get to feel what it was like to be eating in such an ancient and old place, getting the feel of what it is like in the past. Furthermore, it is very unique and would then thus attract many customers. These places are also turned into a tourist attraction for others to learn about their past. Singapore, due to constrain of land, has demolished many of such buildings with historical meanings and stories behind them. Singapore can also have restaurants that are build in historical buildings so as to preserve the culture and attract customers at the same time as it is not commonly seen. This would help the country to earn money but at the same time preserving our culture. However, due to the constrain of land, we would also need to demolish some parts of the place. We need to preserve places that would promote our Chinese culture so that the younger generations would be educated on it, not forgetting our past. If a restaurant in a historical building were to be build, just like the LuShi Old Mansion, Singaporeans would be attracted to the shop and enjoy their meals while trying to find out more about the site's history through their decorations and furniture. This would ensure that younger generations would still know about the site's history and would not be forgotten.