Day 35 (12/10/11)

Today would be our departure from Chengdu. It was really sad. We bid farewell to a lots of people we see everyday on the business street. One of them would be the waiter who tried to cater to our needs in almost every meal we eat. I had many hard feelings as throughout these 35 day, many people around the campus have done a lot of us.

Secondly, it would be the kids around the business street. They did not want us to leave after seeing us with all our luggage. One of the younger ones, even run after us, asking us not to leave. Sadly, we had to leave her behind. After reaching the airport, We bid farewell to all the student helpers that had offered their help to us throughout these days. I would really like to shout out to them a word of thanks.

We touched down on Singapore around 30mins past 10. We then said goodbye to all our friends we've know in this oversea immersion programe. All of us from the same division, came together as one and conquered these days in Chengdu.

I would definitely miss all these students that walked with me throughout these days and not forgetting the friends I made in Chengdu. Although we're counties apart, we could always keep in touch.

Day 24. (1/10/11)

Today will be China's national day and we did not have classes today. I went down to town with a few if the other students. The crowd was huge. Due to the fact that it is national day, we had to squeeze around with a lot of people.

The way they celebrate national day is very different from us. Singaporeans stay at home to watch the parade in the evening. While in China, most of them are going out to shop as there are sales every where.

To add on, when we were on the bus back ot the campus, there were fireworks everwhere. As China was a large country with many states, I believe there are also parades and firewirks in all the different states

Spending one of China's largest holiday outside was definitely worth it. I have enjoyed it a lot.

Day 21 (28/9/11)

Today, we started off with cultural lessons in the morning. The lecturer today taught us about traditional chinese culture. One category of it, which many of us know, is confuciousim, started by kong zi. After that followed by dao jia, represented by lao ya. Then fa jia, which is a historical figure of zong zi. Lastly, there is mo jia, represented by mo zi. Mojia’s core idea is to love everyone, including strangers.

Besides the 4 schools mentioned earlier, there are also a few figures that made differences to Chinese culture. One of these figures will be qing shi wang. He is the person that standardized the language and size to the country. A common language is important for communication purposes. A standard size will help clarify doubts and questions when people are buying things. Hence, leading to less conflicts around the country. He also appointed a leader to every state to make sure the place is safe. He also put every different religions into different states to avoid conflicts and fights.

Day 20 (27/9//11)

Today, after the cultural lessons in the morning, we went for industrial visit. We went to a factory called maipu. At this factory, we saw many machines that were used to produce the circuit boards. One of the machines was to mount bigger items onto the board and another was to mount the smaller items. There was even a long and large machine that was used to solder the mounted products together. Compared to the previous industry we visited, maipu uses more technology and less manual work. In the previous industry, there were rows and rows of people producing the circuit board manually. Maipu creates more stock than the previous industry, hence it’s sales market is considered big. We also watched a video of the growth of the factory. Maipu have went through a lot of changes through the years. Now, they’ve businesses from all over world. Presidents from many different countries have visited their company here in Chengdu, it includes our prime minister from Singapore. I am really honored to visit such a country and I learnt a handful from them. I hope to visit more of this kind of company as I would like to take Singapore to greater heights in the electrical field.

Day 19 (26/9/11)

This morning, there was a local lecture on china culture. Firstly. He explained to us the meaning of a few chinese characters. I learnt that Buddha is not a god, he is a person who is wise and well-respected. After class, we went on to have our lunch. After lunch, we went back to the same classroom to have EG2 test and then cultural lessons on traditional festivals in China.

The most important festival will be the spring festival, lunar new year. During the spring festival, they visit our relatives and friends, let off fireworks, and the children collect red packets from the adults. For decoration wise, the word “fu” would be put upside down on the wall. In chinese, it means bliss coming into the house. They also have traditional food like back in Singapore. In comparison, the way they celebrate lunar new year is like how we do in Singapore. Besides, letting of fireworks is legal here in China. It’ll be fun if we get to try it.

The next festival would be lantern festival, yuan xiao jie. People in China eat yuan xiao, a round, sticky and sweet food to celebrate the first full moon of the month. We also celebrate it by lighting lanterns and putting riddles on them.

Next is the qing ming festival when we visit our ancestors and late loved ones, to burn incense and sweep the tomb. In China, there is even spring outings and flying of kites.

After that it will be the dragonboat festival, duan wu jie. People celebrate the dragonboat races, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. (history about qu yuan)

In September, there is the mid-autumn festival. The people here eat mooncake, watch the moon and sit together to tell the story of changer’

I learnt that all these festivals that we celebrate is not just came out by humans ourselves. Instead, there're many history, legends and myths behind them. It is good to learn why are we celebrating the festivals. After I know the meaning behind each and every festival, I will think back and remember the history behind each and every festival I celebrate.

Day 18 (25/9/11)

Today we went up to er mei mountain. Took a short bus ride to the foot of the mountain, and changed into a smaller bus to ride up the halfway up. The small bus ride was super tough and many people were motion sick.

After reaching the halfway mark, we started to climb up the mountain. There was flights and flights of stairs. Upon climbing, I was feeling very dizzy and tired. Hence, I took the cable car up with mdm tan, 3 other students, and one of the guide. The queue of the cable car ride was very long. After all the queuing, we got into the cable car. We had squeeze with 100 over people inside. Upon reaching the top, there were still quite a few flights of stairs to climb before reaching the peak. Hence, we started to climb. After waiting for the others to come up, we went in the temple to pray for our family and friends. Lastly, all of us took the cable car down. On the way down, we saw a lot of monkeys on the hand rails. Some of them even gave the monkey some food. They were so smart that they could open the packet themselves.

We then took another dizzy ride down the mountain to have lunch. After lunch, we took our own bus back to UESTC.

(more history)

day 17 (24/9/11)

Today will the day that we leave our hostel for a 2day 1night trip to le shan and ermei shan. We took the bus to le shan first. It was a very long ride. After we reached the place, the first thing we did was to have lunch. We had a lot of dishes and were very full. We then went on to le shan.

The guide told us we could choose 2 routes, by foot or by ship. Many of us chose to climb by foot as we not much cash left. Hence, we’ve around 333 steps to climb. Firstly, we saw a few sculptures that was partly eroded naturally. Then we moved on to see a dragon. The guide told us not to take pictures with it as it is not auspicious. After that, we were given some time to take photos of the large Buddha by the professional photographer there. Next was a long journey to the foot of the Buddha. We had to wait around 2 hours to reach the foot, as it was very tall and there were a lot of people. The handle of the staircase were all eroded and it was very thin. It was not very safe holding onto it. After looking at the Buddha, we then climb back up, it was a really tiring journey as the steps were really steep.

Finally, we moved on and took the bus to our hotel for the night. It was in way better condition than our hostel. Many of us were quite happy. Upon reaching the hotel, we had our dinner. As we were in the middle of the mountains, the food wasn’t very nice. After dinner, some of us wanted to get some food for tomorrow’s trip to er mei shan. Unfortunately, the girls were not allowed to go out as it was very dangerous. Hence, we stayed in our rooms and played card games to pass time.

The trip to le shan was very worth as we get to see many of the different things of the tang dynasty.