Yu Jing

Day 2:

Early in the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and proceed to 南京伯乐中学. It was a 45 minutes bus ride. As that area beside the school is building a primary school, the roads were rocky but it did not affect my curiosity and excitement. We felt the warm welcome in different classes. The very first thing that I noticed was the electronic screen. I was quite surprised as I did not think that China is improving at such a quick pace with advanced technology used in schools and classes. I attended their FTGP lesson and it was pretty interesting and unexpected. Our class did an activity that requires our creativity. 

Day 1:

This is a day of traveling, the day which I anticipated for a long time.From morning till night, we are on different modes of transport. Firstly we traveled on the Singapore airline to Pudong Airport, the service was awesome. I think that this is what makes SIA one of the top airlines in the world. Singapore has no natural resources so we can only depend on our service to get world famous and as an income for the country. After that, we transferred to the high speed bullet train station by bus. We were given free time at the train station before boarding time. The station was huge. I have been to one in Guangzhou but the one in Shanghai was huge and had variety of things for sale, for example food, souvenirs and even branded items. I think this hints that bullet trains are rather popular in China so many shops are there to provide choices of purchase for commuters. A possible reason for its popularity is the distance of cities in China. People travel to bigger cities for job opportunities, thus during festivals like the lunar new year, many people will choose to take the faster mode of transport with a reasonable price. In Singapore, it is almost impossible to have bullet trains, the country is too small. Most of my classmates had not been on a bullet train so they were quite noisy then. Just when I was walking towards the train doors to alight, a stranger asked me where we were from. I was very embarrassed and guilty at the same time. We must had disturbed other commuters. I questioned myself: what could I have done to make the situation better? Shouting to the class to tell them to keep quiet? No way, it was difficult to manage such a big group. It was then I understood how the teachers feel accompanying us. When we reached the hotel at night, my roommate and I pushed our beds together and decorated our room to have the feeling of warmth and home sweet home :) In a nutshell, it was a tiring day so I slept really well that night.

Hand-drawn postcard for my China buddy!

  It is pretty clear that a multiracial Singapore is shown including a significant building/ icon of Singapore, Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
  One of the buddies from China asked if we all speak malay in Singapore. Yes, malay language is the national language of Singapore but not all Singaporeans are Malay. I wish to correct their misconception of Singapore through the postcard😊
  A reason to choose this icon of Singapore is because many celebrities film or shoot on the top of the "boat" in the infinity swimming pool (one of the largest infinity swimming pool in the world). Thus, more people may know about it which made the hotel significant.



To keep or not to keep.        Keep the Sri Mariamman Temple🙏🏾

  The Sri Mariamman Temple is the very first Hindu temple built in Singapore. It is interestingly built in Chinatown instead of Little India. This is probably because Indians were once gathered there before moving to Little India. Whether it is coincidence or not, just less than 100metres away, there are the Masjid Jamae mosque, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Fairfield Methodist Church. Isn't this amazing? Singapore is a multiracial country and this area in Chinatown perfectly showed the harmony created by efforts from everyone from every race. Preserve the unique culture of Singapore, the value that our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew fought to keep. More, many people came to Chinatown for a sight of the temple, it also adds on to the tourism. If it's meaningful and helps on Singapore's tourism, shouldn't it be kept?

Chingay 2016

  妆艺大游行最初举行的目的是为了庆祝华人农历新年。李光耀先生禁止了鞭炮的使用，民众便觉得鞭炮使用的禁止会有损节日气氛。所以为了安抚民众，李光耀先生便举办了第一个妆艺大游行。本来妆艺大游行只有华人参与但是从1977年开始，马来族和印度族的朋友们也参与在其中。我认为这样的改变更能推广种族和谐与互相尊重的精神。其他种族也能了解华族传统和习俗。因为我们之间的不同，“尊重”比什么都重要。接纳和包容也十分重要。

  今年的妆艺大游行在滨海湾F1举行，主题定为“智慧灯海，璀璨新加坡”，以纪念建国总理李光耀先生和其他建国元勋建立的价值观，包括社会和谐、互相关爱、拼搏及坚韧精神，寓意全民迈向未来更璀璨的新加坡。最令我印象深刻的节目是由新加坡宗教联谊会的组织代表以不同语言献唱改编过的《一人一半》，传达“融合的可贵”。组织包括道教总会、新造教会、阿姆里达斯瓦里协会和回教组织。配合他们演出的有250名表演者展现不同文化特色的武术，比如：马来的希拉和华人的太极。新加坡是一个多元种族和宗教的国家，我们更应该珍惜不同种族和宗教之间的友谊，和谐与美好的关系不是每个国家都有的。这是我们的国父们用了一生去建立与推广的价值观和精神。
  为了配合今年的主题，表演者们手持灯泡形状的道具，打造“智慧灯海”。特点是，这些“天灯”上都画着诠释价值观和个人反思的图画，民众的参与感十足 。
  最让我感到意外的是今年新添的高空表演。表演者会在空中舞台唱歌，呈现呼啦圈舞蹈和一些特技表演。我惊讶的是我的小学同学竟然是其中一位歌手，而且还很勇敢的站在了50米高的空中舞台歌唱，真令我佩服。空中表演体现出新加坡一路走来所需的勇气。尽管刚独立时被别的国家看不起，但靠着我们团结一心，我们才有勇气往前走。
  此外，主办方也邀请了国外的表演团体参与演出。这体现出新加坡和其他国家的亲密关系，“人缘”也很广。我们不但能了解新加坡其他宗族的文化，也能学习到其他国家和地区的传统文化，比如日本的舞蹈和马来西亚的甘榜风味十足的舞蹈。让许多新加坡人回想起曾经体验过的甘榜生活。
  所谓“台上十分钟，台下十年功”。虽然为了妆艺大游行所做的准备不达十年，但是所有表演者和台下幕后的工作人员都花了很多心思在里面。谢谢你们！
   人协青年运动是今年的主办机构之一。因为受到了妆艺大游行的启发，我之后也报名了参加这个非常有意义的机构，希望能参加多一点像妆艺大游行的活动，一起推广国家的核心价值观。

  妆艺大游行呼吁新加坡人民展现我国的核心价值观，并勇敢追逐各自生命里的彩虹。

  

(3, 2, 1 reflection on Eco-system tension)
3 things I found out from the lesson:
  Countries implement policies to control birth rates, e.g. The one child policy implemented in China.
Secondly, the rising of the country's growth has impacts on different categories like education and economics. Thirdly, the growth of country has trade-offs and consequences.
2 perceptions:
  中国有一个传统观念—男的能传宗接代。因此，导致重男轻女的现象出现。Families will keep trying to give birth to a boy and thus causes overpopulation. With the one child policy, birth rates are controlled. However, a heartbreaking phenomenon occurs. Families who give birth to baby girls would abandon or sell their baby in order to give birth to another child. This is bad for mothers' health and also a large sum of money is spent on medical treatment.
  It also cause the population to age and thus less popular schools may not ave students for new intake. Aging populations affects the economics of the country and citizens have to retire at an older age which can affect health too. The categories are linked to anyone another. A rapid economic progression results in a bigger and richer upper class. Rich people gets richer and the poor gets poorer, thus the rich poor divide increases and widens. Countries then have to   implement other policies to balance the rich and poor.
Question(s):
  For the one-child policy, giving birth to a second child has to pay fines. Does this mean that the rich families can give birth to many children as long as they can pay the fines? Then wouldn't this policy will be useless to the rich families?

  

(HPI, poverty)
  Being rich does not mean happy. Let's take the comparison between Singapore and China. Singapore is a developed country whereas China is still a developing country. However, the HP index of China is higher than that of Singapore. It is most probably that the rich ones spent their time on earning money and little time to pursue their own happiness but since money is their source of happiness, why aren't they feeling happy? This is rather ironic. There are always this group of elderly who go around and sell tissues at hawker centre. They retired from work but monthly allowance from the government is not enough for them. This sum of money that government gives should include medical fees, meals everyday,bills or rentals, apparently, it is not enough. Thus, elderly return back to the society to earn more. Now this question comes....is this consider poverty?
  Happiness should never be linked with poverty. As long as my love ones are by my side, this is my happiness regardless of how rich or poor my family is.

(RV60)
  Firstly, I feel honored to be part of RV60 which is RV's 六十大寿. It was not easy to put up such a spectaculars performance especially when there are more than hundreds of students  in it. I really learnt a lot through RV60. The person I admired most was the teacher in charge Mr Xiong( not sure of his name...) but despite his age, he was present every rehearsal and even demonstrated the actions himself. I remember there was a action of kneeling on one knee and getting up again. To make sure that we were clear of what to do, he did the action several times on the stage in hall in front of all the mass display students. It is bad for elderly to kneel down as there will be a great pressure exerted on the kneel cap which can cause agony but he persisted and insisted on repeating a few more times. That was the moment that I felt most touching, he was willing to contribute. On the other hand, many students were making fun of him, the way he counts, how he sings and even comment on his outlook of pulling his pants up to the waist by saying that he looks like a nerd. This is a serious offence and an act of irrespect. This had left me the deepest impression.
  Yes, many complained about running under the hot sun but most put up their best on the big day. It had been a tiring but fun experience. Most of all, I got to make new friends! Everyone had contributed something to celebrate RV's 60th birthday and I believe that this is the RV spirit that we had been talking about. RVians 携手共进!


（平凡中的不平凡）
  This is a photo of my CCA taken on RV60. It is extraordinary as I feel that my most interesting and fun time in RV is to be with my CCA seniors. “那些曾有过的狂欢，那些曾青涩的伤感” They are the first ones I think of when I first heard the lyrics. We go crazy together many times but they are by my side when I come across hard times. Although I have only joined them a year ago, they have truly touched me not only with their actions but with their hearts. Elsie had left me the deepest impression. Her is outstanding , haha yes I am talking about her height, that was my first impression towards her. We were unfamiliar for the first year until she stepped up and approached me recently and well we became closer to each other. This reminds me of the times when we were all unfamiliar with one another and through the process of ice breaking, I can feel that the bond between us had strengthened. Thus there was an obvious change in the performances that we put up, we are stronger now, as one. What makes us different from the other CCAs is our unique spirit, we are daring enough to burst out of laughter all of a sudden after hearing one of them tell dirty jokes, yeah even in front of teachers, that's us, CLDDS Drama. I also wonder if I would miss these days when I have to say goodbye in 5 years time. Would I tear when recalling the days with them? We had crazy times and also times when we listen to "青春彼岸”、“那些年” and cried like siao. Definitely, I would treasure my time with them because it is difficult to meet people who are willing to spend their time going crazy together. Listening to "青春彼岸” as I am writing this blog post, I had a lot of thoughts in my head. Nevertheless, we shall live on and stay on with one another! —我生活中的平凡中的不平凡。

  ( Intro )
  我是一个普通的女孩。我相信在流星划过夜空时  Xu  愿一定会实现。我坚信俗语所说的“  Yu  不琢，不成器” 。我愿意去努力，因为只有这样，人生才会像天上的星星，一闪一闪亮  Jing  晶。I am Xu Yu Jing.
  I am from CLDDS Drama. Basically, we do abstract art and plays instead of those dramas you watch on television so we always have to rack our brains when studying scripts and plays but that's what I love about my CCA. We would switch our modes and turn crazy all of a sudden and starts bursting jokes... dirty ones... HAHAHA!