Trip advisor

School immersion at Shanghai Nanyang High: 4/5
I think the immersion was very interesting as we got to experience a classroom setting in China. The teachers and students were all very nice and welcomed us warmly. When the teachers saw us getting restless during the talk, they gave us biscuits and mineral water. We also learned more about China schools through interactions with our buddies. But during reflection at night, I learnt that they actually rehearsed the lessons beforehand. It was kind of shocking. I thought that the whole lesson was very genuine and that the immediate answers that the students gave when being asked was very impressive. Never did I imagine that it was all practiced. Nevertheless, it was a nice exchange and I hope they will come to Singapore in the future, so we will be able to tell them about Singapore.

Haidilao Hotpot: 3/5
Personally, I think Haidilao is overrated. Firstly, they only explained the origin of their name to one of the tables. Secondly, our seniors told us that they are workers who will stand beside the table and hand you cloths to wipe your spectacles when there is steam on it and they will also pump soap onto your hands and serve you paper towels to wipe your hands dry. I did not see anybody handing out the spectacle cloths and when I went to wash my hands, there was nobody there. However, the food was quite tasty and the seats were very
comfortable. The workers also allowed us to put our bags on a nearby empty table although it could be used to house other customers instead.

Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre: 5/5
The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre is a very interesting place. There are many posters on old and modern Shanghai which are arranged in interesting ways. There is also a very large 3D model of Shanghai. We were even able to see the Shanghai Expo exhibition halls! The whole place was also very clean, which is a plus point.

Qibao Ancient Town 2/5
Qibao Ancient Town in Minhang District is one of Shanghai’s oldest and most famous water towns. It also contains ancient style architecture from the Northern Song Dynasty. This old town is crossed by two water lanes. Around the water lanes, stand a large number of well preserved traditional houses, gardens, temples, shops and restaurants which define the place. The southern part of this old town is filled with traditional restaurants serving various tasty snacks is a paradise for gourmets. Old shops selling art crafts, antiques and calligraphy works occupy the western part. However, there were too many people. The place was very crowded so in order to not get lost, we had to follow the guide tightly behind as we walked through the whole street. As a result, we were not able to shop or look around on our own. Personally, I thought that it was too rush. We should have went on a weekday so there will be less people and we would be able to explore the place.

Tianzifang 5/5.
In tianzifang, the old-style buildings, narrow alleys, and less touristy atmosphere were fascinating. There is more than 200 diverse small businesses such as cafes, bars, restaurants, art galleries, craft stores, design houses and studios, and even French bistros. Most of the shops are still reflective of old Shanghai style while there are also areas with modern facilities, successfully combining both modern and traditional appeal. I feel that the place was very cheery. There was bright colours everywhere and the crafts were handmade so intricately. It was really exciting to look around. However, there is no such places in Singapore. I think Singapore should do more to encourage people to appreciate the arts, like building a place like Tianzifang. I would love to go there.

Bund 4/5
At the Bund,there is a spacious walkway for sightseeing runs atop a long retaining wall on the Bund, paved with colorful tiles and dotted with flower beds and lighting. It is a good place for a leisurely stroll and a view of the Huangpu River. I feel that the Bund fully exhibits the magnificence of the various buildings of different architectural styles. Standing by the railings, we could see the beautiful view of the scenery of Pudong Area and Huangpu River. The trip to the Bund made me realize that it was actually a symbol of both the old and new Shanghai. The unique geography around the Bund and that geography's effect on the economies of Shanghai and China throughout the past one hundred years gives the Bund special cultural significance. There was not much trees so it was very hot but the cool breeze made up for it. The place was windy and it felt very refreshing.

Fudan University 5/5
Fudan University has a very big campus and nearly 44,300 students. Unlike NUS, all the students there have to travel around using bicycles or motorbikes. The senior also told us that the toilets in some buildings are just holes for you to do your business in and that it smells. This made me think why don't they upgrade the toilets? I understand they want to preserve the old school campus which is why they do not renovate the school, but just the toilets? Then, students like my senior will not have to avoid going to the toilet and rush to another building just to go to the toilet. The seniors also told us that it was very stressful as competition was tough. The Chinese students are very hardworking and spend every minute of their time studying. They also hold advantage in Chinese and Math. Our seniors have to work doubly hard to keep up. This made me realise that I have to work hard. When I go into the workplace in the future, I will have to compete with a lot of smart people too. If I do not work hard, I will be on the losing end. This visit to Fudan has motivated me to study hard. It was a worthy trip.

Zhejiang University 4/5
I learnt that Zhejiang University was a combine of 4 different universities, thus the very very big campus. I also find the courses in ZJU quite interesting. As it is a school that focuses on design, the students had to work around the school and find out which places can be improved during orientation. It was a brilliant way for students to familiarize themselves with the school as they walked around and they can also use their designing talent. However, applied students have to go through many tough rounds of selection before they will be accepted in to the school. I learnt a lot but personally, I felt that there was a tad too many schools we visited. As we did not get to interact with any students from ZJU, we did not really understand how the life of the students were like and if it was similar to those in Fudan.


SSAW Hotel Boyang hotel 4.5/5
上海柏阳君亭酒店

Classy exterior
Unique lobby
Bookshelf in lobby
Gym at fifth floor
Very dark staircase ( spooky )
Nice hotel rooms, plush




Hangzhou Vina Hotel 4/5
杭州维纳假日酒店

Unique spread for breakfast
Close to the river
Nice rooms
No wifi
Pornographic cards
Well decorated lobby

上有天堂 下有苏航 西湖

Impression West Lake is indeed the reflection of Heaven on the earth. Using water as its stage, mountains as its background,the west lake is indeed a breathtaking place. Featuring local culture of Hangzhou and unique charm of West Lake, the show enables audience to understand Hangzhou culture and history in a natural and vivid way. 

清河坊

At qinghefang,we shopped for a lot of stuff.Sze Yi bought a fan that costed $90 dollars there.It is really a comfortable place that we really enjoyed ourselves in.The smell of 臭豆腐 is very strong and the queue to buy it was long.The store holders there are usually old people and it was easy for us to bargain.

雷峰塔

 We heard that this 雷峰塔 was rebuilt.There was ally of people queuing up to take the elevator to go to the top.Thats why we chose to climb to the 5-stories 雷峰塔.It wasn't a hard journey but it definitely took us some effort.The scenery viewed from above was really breathing-taking was amazed us.It was really a popular a tourist spot.

岳飞庙

岳飞庙 is really a historical place that made us learn about what happened to yue fei and aroused our interests back to the acienct china.

On the second day of the trip, we went to the shanghai urban planning exhibition hall. Upon reaching the shanghai urban planning exhibition hall, I was truly amazed by the size of the gold monument which welcomed our eyes as we first entered the building. The golden monument showcased the modernized buildings, which towered up to the ceiling high above. We then went to the exhibition, which was a floor above. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a huge scale model of the city of Shanghai, showing all existing and approved buildings. We could view the model from alongside or ascend to a gallery running around it for views from above. The model is intended to represent the entire city, including all planned developments. I feel that this exhibit was quite interesting, and we got to learn a bit about China's history, as well as their development progress. I would rate this a 8/10.

Next we went to the shanghai book city. I was wowed by the 7-storied building which stood before us. You could possibly find every book you wanted, in Chinese of course. I was surprised that there were actually English books on the sixth floor. There were many different types of books, ranging from medical books to law books, to short stories. There were also CDs ranging from Chinese to Kpop, in one of the upper floors. The only drawback is that the building is huge, and that we would have to take time searching for the book we wanted. I would rate this 9/10.

After that we went to nanjing road. It was a street filled with shopping malls and we spotted many well-known brands there. However, the things sold there were not cheap so we could not buy much. I would rate this a 7/10.

Reflections (Ying ChenFei)

Day 1: I chose to go on this trip as I found it a new experience and very enriching. This is the first time I am going overseas by plane with my classmates and 2014 being the last year as a class together, I hope that I will be able to know more of my classmates better through this trip. The trip will also allow me to have better knowledge of China's way of life, its culture and history, even experiencing it myself. I also hope to improve my Chinese speaking.

Day 2: We first went to Chenghuangmiao. It is a temple dedicated to the spirit of Jinshan, and now, together with the surrounding streets, are part of a large pedestrian zone dedicated to restaurants and retail. We found two Starbucks outlet there. It was also there that we realised we can do quite a bit of bargaining in China. Next we went to the Bund and French Concession. The view there was very breathtaking as we could see Shanghai's skyline, including the 'bottle opener' building, which I learnt a lot about. I learnt that the original design was a circular aperture at the top of the building, but was replaced by a trapezium when the initial design began facing protests from some Chinese, who considered it too similar to the rising sun design of the Japanese flag. In the afternoon, we went to the Book City. It was seven stories high and filled with books, mostly Chinese books. Lastly, we went to Nanjing Road. It was a street filled with shopping malls and we spotted many well-known brands there. However, the things sold there were not cheap so we could not buy much.

Day 3: Today, we woke up early in the morning to go Shanghai Nanyang High School. Each group was assigned a buddy and my buddy was 小荷. She is 16 years old and an only child. She shared that she wanted a sibling as it was boring by herself sometimes. She also told me more about her school. In RV, we have to follow strict dress codes or we will get punished. Her school has two sets of uniforms, full uniform and half uniform, but unlike RV, the students there can choose what they want to wear to school each day themselves and they can wear any type of shoes, as long as it is covered. They also have lunch together as a class in the classroom, whereas we have it separately in the canteen. I also enjoyed myself looking at them make 香包s and 粽子s. We then went for lunch at Hai Di Lao. I was anticipating the meal as I have heard that their service was extraordinarily good. However, after experiencing it myself, I feel that Hai Di Lao is overrated. Firstly, they only explained the origin of their name to one of the tables. Secondly, our seniors told us that they are workers who will stand beside the table and hand you cloths to wipe your spectacles when there is steam on it and they will also pump soap onto your hands and serve you paper towels to wipe your hands dry. I did not see anybody handing out the spectacle cloths and when I went to wash my hands, there was nobody there. The food was average. Lastly, we went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. There was a 3D model of most of Shanghai and it was very interesting looking at the miniature buildings.

Day 4: In the morning, we went to Shanghai Nanyang High again. This time, my group attended a Mother Tongue lesson. The lesson was on 鲁迅. I tried to read along during their read-alouds but to no avail, I could not catchup. Even what they were discussing in class that day, I had to process it in my mind first before understanding what they said. I realised that I really have to improve my Chinese. After that, Mr Lu brought us to Oriental Dreamworks. There, I saw how movies were created and how much time and effort had to be put in. It was an eye opener for me as I never thought movies were made like that. Next, we went to Fudan University. A few RV seniors and a Dunman High senior gave us a tour around the campus. They also told us the Chinese students are highly competitive and will cram every minute to study. They are also very smart as they are usually the top few from their provinces. Our seniors have to work very hard to keep up with the Chinese students. Our seniors also mentioned that there are bias ness against international students like them but an advantage of going to a school overseas is that you get to know people from other parts of the world, not just Singapore.

Day 5: We went to Zhejiang University today. The campus was really really big. On the bus tour around campus, we saw two stadiums, two libraries, a three stories high canteen and a hospital. There were also separate dormitories for local and international students. From the teachers' talk, I learned that ZJU is a combination of four universities and that 60% of the campus is still under construction. The school focuses on fostering technical research and scientific design in her undergraduates so that they are empowered to create high tech innovations in the workforce upon graduation, changing 'Made in China' to 'Designed in China'. In the afternoon, we went to Qinghefang Ancient Street. As the name suggests, the buildings there are designed like olden shophouses and the things sold there were very 'traditional', like traditional handmade goodies and traditional handmade craft works.

Day 6: We went to many places today. Firstly, we went to the Yuefei Mausolemn. It is commonly know in Chinese as Yuewang Temple. It is a temple built in honor of Yuefei. Inside, kneeling in front of Yuefei and his son's tomb, are four statues. They are Qin Hui, his wife Wang Shi, Moqi Xie and Zhang Jun. They are the ones who trapped and killed Yuefei and his son, Yueyun. These statues are hated by many Chinese, even up till now. We noticed a sign above the statues saying '文明游览，请勿吐痰'. This show that people still hate them to the point that they still spit on them. When we were there, we saw a man who "spat" on the statues too. He did not really spit and but he did the action, showing his disgust. Yuefei's loyal sidekicks were also mentioned in the temple. Next, we went for a cruise around West Lake. We took an 30 minute boat ride and the guide pointed out to us the Broken Bridge and the Leifeng pagoda. I learnt that the Broken Bridge was not broken, but because '断家' lived at the ends of the bridge, the bridge got its name, '断桥'. We then got the chance to climb up to the top of Leifeng Pagoda. The climb was tiring but it was worth it. From the top, we had the full view of West Lake and we could even see the tiny artificial islands in the centre.  I learnt that the pagoda we know now is not the the original one. The original pagoda collapsed in 1924 due to disrepair and was rebuilt in 2002. The pagoda is known worldwide for the Legend of the White Snake, and it was said to be the final abode that the Madame White Snake lived in. In the late afternoon, we went back to Qinghefang as many of us did not have enough time to look through everything the previous day.

Day 7: On our way back to Shanghai, we stopped at Qibao Ancient Town. It was a very crowded place filled with mostly local people. As there were too many people and we had to keep up in order to not get lost, we are not able to look through the shops, but a quick glance shows 'traditional' items were sold. I saw shops selling handmade bags and shoes and popular local food like '臭豆腐'. After lunch, we went to Tianzifang Cultural & Arts Zone. There were small craft stores, coffee shops, and art studios. The things sold there were not cheap at all. However, I like the street as it feels very peaceful, with handcrafted souvenirs and the aroma of coffee everywhere.

China's dilemma(Yuyang )

China's economics have improved a lot during the past few years.They are in fact one of the top in producing the most amount of products in the world.The logo,'made in china' can be seen really often in our everyday lives.However,as the economics soar,their pollution is also getting worse and worse.Beijing is suffering from severe haze recently and the county has to decide whether to go for the profits or their citizens health.

What's hot in Singapore and china

Blogwork (Ying Chen Fei)

The Great Wall was a means of reconciling China's nomadic and farming economies. Clashes between the Han and nomadic communities occurred throughout Chinese history.
The conflict caused many farmers to migrate southward, leaving large areas of farmland in the north to waste. Construction of the Great Wall, therefore, was with the aim of restoring order to the farming economy, and the function of troops stationed on it was to maintain peace on the border. By the 18th century, the Great Wall had become the ultimate symbol of both China and the Chinese civilization
For me, I think that the Great Wall is amazing. It was built in ancient China with not much technology and yet it is one of the most spectacular wonders of the human world. China must have really wanted the Great Wall and spent a lot of money and manpower on it. They proved that, if there's a will, there's a way.

Blogwork Ong Sze Yi

It means the Great Wall of china to me and to china it means a wall that protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. It shows Taoism and Confucianism. We can learn that even though some things takes a long time to complete, the results will be worth the wait.

天安门事件(Sun Yuyang)

四五运动，即“四五天安门事件”，是指于文化大革命后期的1976年4月5日发生的以天安门事件为中心的反对“四人帮”、否定文革的全国性的群众抗议运动。是“文化大革命”后期的正义的政治运动。该事件在当时被错误的定为反革命性质，两年后被平反，四五运动成为了具有历史里程碑的重要意义和象征的事件。

四五运动源于全国人民对周总理的悼念。1976年1月8日，周恩来逝世，全国各族人民无限悲痛。但是，“四人帮”压制广大人民群众悼念周恩来，诬陷邓小平，加紧篡党夺权的阴谋活动，激起人民群众的强烈

内容均摘自百度百科