My OELP trip

Throughout this 7 day OELP trip, I was able to experience and embrace China's culture. After this trip, my knowledge of China has increased greatly and I am also more aware of the impact China has on Singapore. We visited Shanghai, after which we went to Yangzhou. We visited one of the industrial sites in China, Shanghai Volkswagen, and we were awed by the size and success of China's market and realized how mediocre Singapore's market was compared to China. Besides that, when we went for the exchange programme I realized how hardworking the students were in China as the competition in China is big and the students have to study a lot. This trip made realize the role that I have to play in the future and that if I don't work hard and Singapore does to continue to improve, Singapore's economic rate and status would fall immensely and we might be swallowed up by other countries.

          ^ view of Shanghai Volkswagen factory 

When we were in Yangzhou, we went to RV's sister school 扬大附中东部分校初中学部 for a cultural exchange with the students there. My buddy was called 毛梦君, he taught a lot about Yangzhou's culture and how the schools in Yangzhou were operated. We sat in class with the students there and learnt together with them. The students were very obedient unlike Singapore students. I later found out that it is important for students to respect their teachers in China. We were lucky to be able to learn about Yangzhou's culture during 端午节. I learnt that in Yangzhou, it was a tradition to hang eggs around their neck (佩带香囊) and I learnt how to hang the egg over my neck. I found it interesting as normally in Singapore, we only eat dumplings and row dragon boats whereas in Yangzhou it is tradition to 佩带香囊, 插艾草 and 吃十二红. I think that this trip has made me more aware of the beliefs and values of people from China.

     ^getting to know the other students better :)

        ^ 佩带香囊 that one of the student made (a charm with an egg that you hang around your neck      

           during dragon boat festival)

      ^learning wushu during our pe lesson with the students in Yangzhou

While in Shanghai, we visited the Bund, French Concession, Huang Pu Jiang and I saw that the buildings in Shanghai were heavily influenced by the westerners. This buildings were well preserved however on the inside, there were shops that are very modernized like Starbucks and some other cafés. This not only allows China's heritage to be well preserved but also allows China to make more business by setting up shops in popular tourists attractions. Whereas  in Yangzhou, we visited many traditional places like the 瘦西湖, 个园, 雕版印刷博物馆, etc. Almost every building and shop in Yangzhou had a traditional high roof with carvings on it. Yangzhou is also very popular for its beautiful scenery, as a result many tourists are attracted and this promotes Yangzhou's culture. In Singapore, I  think that the government should put more effort into preserving a Singapore's heritage site and maybe Singaporeans can learn from China to built shops that uses Singapore's culture or our Chinese culture as it's theme to promote our culture. 

      ^ shops and cafés in French Concession, Shanghai, the exterior is well preserved however the 

         Inside of the shops is not preserved and is renovated into a shop

       ^inside of Starbucks Coffee, located at French Concession, Shanghai

      ^some of the traditional looking shops along the streets of Yangzhou 

       ^ one of the preserved rooms in 个园

Despite Singapore's and China's difference in market and heritage, I am proud to be a Singaporean. One of the reasons is that living in Singapore is less stressful as living in China. This because in Singapore we have a smaller population and we do not have to compete as hard as the students in China. Besides that, I am also happy to be a Singaporean as we have better school facilities than in China and the standard of living compared to that of China is way better in Singapore.

The OELP trip has been a fruitful learning journey for me as I was able to experience China's culture and understand the people of China better. Through this trip i was able to change my impressions of them that they were rude and liars that made fake products. While I know that some of the people are like that, but after the trip I realized that many of them were kind, welcoming and friendly people. Through this trip I was also able to spend more time with my teachers and friends and I was able to understand them better, be it their flaws or their strengths. If I were able to go on another overseas trip with my classmates, I would gladly go for it again.

Done by: Clarissa Lee

Photo credits: Siting, Xinxuan and Huang老师