James Zhang

SELF INTRODUCTION:

Hi.My name is Zhang Zi Qian（张子芊),I am from 2J.While my friends will just call me James. I have been the Maths rep for the class for 1 year,and I am maths rep again this year.My cca is concert band as I have started learning trumpet since p3.我的家乡在中国，我是在小五时来到新加坡读书的，所以对华文有着深厚的感情，经常写下我自己的笔触。While my favorite subjects are mathematics and Chinese.I usually pass my time by playing basketball outdoor with my friends or play video games or read books.As I can relax while doing these activities. I am looking forward to CID2, and being able to learn more about the society which I am living in right now,and also the OELP programme when we would get a chance to go overseas with our class.I am excited to learn new things from CID2.

Reflection on day 6

On the sixth day, we went to the Gongyi Xintiandi to learn to colour the mask for 京剧, it was also a new thing to me as even though i have lived in china for quite a long period of time, i would not really often come in contact with this kind of thing the more foreigners rather than real locals would have more chances in coming contact with. It was a chance for me to learn about this special thing in China which i did not really have much contact with and all of us was able to have fun from this art passed down from our past generations. 
Next we went to the Xintiandi French Concession, which we later learned that is a place where the French rented from Shanghai where as it was not under China government's control but French's despite the fact that the place was in China Shanghai, the rules of the China government could not rule over that area which showed how China was weak and being taken advantage of back in the old days, which gave me a greater insight on the past of China.
Afterwards, we went to the 上海书城 where as we were able to find a whole lot of books of all kind of categories, there are very less book shops that is as big as the one we visited back in SG. Anyone would be able to find the book they want to from the 7 stories building. This showcased the strength in China for having enough space and ability to manage a book store this big which eventually benefited a lot of people.

Reflection on day 4&5

On the fourth day, we went to visit Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. It still left a very great impact on me despite the fact that i have visited it before. Seeing all the things that shows how the people were killed back in 1937, under the dim light of the entire memorial hall, i could not help but feel the heavy and sad atmosphere. As a Chinese, i could not help but feel a sense of anger towards the Japanese soldiers as they killed so many of my kind without a second thought. But as i looked through more of the display, i realized the true purpose of the memorial hall, it was not to really motivate the young ones, to seek for avenge. However, it was just to display a great incident that had happened in the history. There was no motivational speeches, but just s simple show of evidences to what really happened. I really appreciated this place, as this is where i have the chance to look into a part of the history that the Chinese never want to remember, it is not to make the Chinese oppose Japan, but rather to warn the young ones not to let the same thing happen again.

Afterwards we went to visit Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum(中山陵） and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum（明孝陵). I was not really excited at first since i have been to the two places before, how ever, as i walked up the stairs of Dr. Sun's Mausoleum, and all that he have contributed to the revolution of China which freed the people from the corrupted and failing system of dynastic which could have caused great suffering, the sense of respect towards this great man started to fill my mind. Until when i finally reached the building with white walls and blue colored roof where as there's was a gigantic statue of Dr. Sun sitting on a chair and raising up one of his hands. It was then i truly felt that this is the man which had changed the entire country and all i can do, is to respect him with a bow. 

Secondly, we went to the Ming Xiaoling, it was not acually as grand as Dr. Sun's Mausoleum since it was built from a very long time ago, and did not really a great impact on me as there was not much difference in my feelings from my previous visit from years ago.

On day 5, we went from Nanjing to Suzhu to see the Silk Factory. In the factory, i saw how silk was produced and how the the life cycle of the silkworms are like. We got to look at the inside of the silk factory where as we were at the place where the silk were really produced from the 丝 which the worms puke out which we would not have a chance to see if we were not doing this job.

Later that day, we went to the Oriental Pearl Tower, which everyone was excited about due to the glass floor which is several hundred meters up the ground, which would surely grant a great view of the city Shanghai. It was surely a very new and exciting experience to me as it was the first time i have ever went up the tower despite spending 5 years living in the city, i felt the feeling of being home.

Reflection on day 3

The third day of the trip, is what has left the strongest impact on me and I would remember that day for the rest of my life. On day 2 night, all of us were noticed of the assemble time which is 7.50 AM by Alice and the entire class agreed on the timing. It was the latest time we could manage for us to arrive at Bole Middle School for the following activities planned on time. However, on that morning, despite the fact that there was morning call and the alarm clock set by ourselves, my room mate, Kai, and I failed to wake up on time and assemble at the lobby punctually. In fact, Mr Zhong had to came up to our room and knock on our doors to wake us up. We really burdened the entire group of people as only the two of us were late which caused the entire group having to wait for us on the bus despite of the fact that they could have left long ago since all of them had been able to assemble at the lobby punctually. We were late for 21 minutes which is almost as long as half an hour. I felt very guilty, as the teachers decided to scold us and punish us as a whole class,  even though it was the two of us who had failed to keep up to the promised timing and causing a delay of the entire plan which caused extra troubles for the teachers and the class. On top of that, the IC of the day was given punishment of 400 push-ups. Even though we planned on taking at least 200 of the push ups by ourselves as we were the main cause of the entire incident, the class decided to have each person doing 13 push-ups and thus spreading the punishment. That was when, i truly understood what is the meaning of the class being one group instead of 31 individuals. I realized how we are a whole, thus everyone has to be punished if one of us had done something wrongly. And it was then, i felt myself being overwhelmed by guilt and remorse. What really mattered was not the tears, but the promise that i made to myself. I have to grow up, i need to take up my responsibilities of taking care of my self and never to break another promise and let my self burden the entire class ever again. From this incident, i learnt of what i lack, which is the sense of urgency and the awareness of my responsibility. Due to my failure in being aware of what i need to do such as setting more alarms and keeping the time of assemble in mind which would have prevented the incident, this happened. Also that i need more sense of urgency as i must be fully aware of the situation where i have to rush myself to the max in order to make everything in time such as try to arrive as early as possible and also speed up when i know i am not gonna make it on time if i don't rush. These are the two major problems which i had seen in myself from day 3 which i would like to work on in long term. And also i learnt how, a class is a whole, we are all together whenever we go through anything, and we have to always look after on another, to make everything alright for every single person.

Later that day, we went to Nanjing Museum and Presidential Palace. I have seen a lot of artifacts from China back in the days when I lived there, however it was still very fun for me as i got to learn more about the history of Nanjing, which is a city that i have been to and yet to have fully understood its background and history. Thus I was quite interested in the museum. While it was the same for Presidential Palace. As just like the other students, I was not really clear about the history of China and Chiang Kai Shek , thus i was able to learn more about him such as he would drink pure water during meeting with his subordinates when others drink tea so as to show that he is superior. 

Reflection on day 1&2&3 (Travel + Bole Middle School) 

On the first day of the trip, it was merely travelling from places to places, I did not expect to be able to learn anything from that but rather thinking that it would be very boring when I looked at the itinerary. However, to my surprise, there were actually things that I could observe and reflect on. For example, the air plane that we took belongs to Singapore airline whom has been rated as one of the top air lines worldwide, this is a precious chance for me to observe and think about what actually makes Singapore airline on of the top in the world. How Singapore airline is different from the others that i have taken before. I concluded what I have observed in to two perspectives, the the facilities and the services provided. First of all, the comfortableness of the flight is guaranteed as there is sufficient leg space for all passengers and also the soft cushion seats. Apart from that, there is also personal entertaining device for every passenger unlike some other air lines whereas there is no personal entertaining devices and the leg space is not really sufficient for taller passengers. Secondly, is the attitude of the staff on board. Whenever I see a staff, they would always be smiling and patiently attending to all sorts of passengers requirements, and also that they would always attend to the passengers as soon as possible the moment they ask for them to come over via the calling light. These two things are what i found out that make a difference between Singapore airline and others which made SG airline one of the top in the world.
While on the second day, we visited Nanjing Bole Middle School. It has been a very long time since I have last been in a school in China, thus it felt particularly special to me this is one of the precious chances i get to observe a school in China from the view as a foreign student from SG, One of the things that has surprised me at first sight is that the lesson that we were attending, which is a lesson known as 班会课, where the class chairpersons would be given full responsibility to lead the class and solve the problems that they were facing all by them selves. This is very shocking to me, as in SG, the teachers would not let the student leaders conduct the lessons without them being present in the class as the leaders seldom has the ability to take control of the entire class over a long period of time. This shows a difference in the education system of the two countries, as China is actually providing the student leaders more opportunities in practicing their leadership skills and thus making themselves being able to gain more experience for their future.
 As I observed how the students there have their lessons, i found out a lot of differences between how we are taught in SG and how they were taught in China. First of all, the teachers would always ask a lot of questions during the class to ensure that everyone is following the teacher and he would be expecting the entire class to be following the lesson and participate in answering the questions that he asked. While the students would also eagerly answer the questions unlike us who are afraid to answer questions whenever the teachers addresses a question to the class. Their answer may not be always correct, however, they are not afraid to attempt to the question as they know that they would be able to gain more from attempting. This is what i found out that myself, as a SG student, should improve myself on. Apart form that, I also found out how China's education is also focused more on the practical skills, as they have lessons to all the students on robotics and making things. Unlike in SG whereas it is more like an extra thing which is made in to being a CCA rather than a lesson. This actually showcased a difference between the emphasize between the educatons system where as SG is more focused on the academics and theories and China is more focused on putting knowledge in to practice.

Chin Gay reflection (modified)
    

      After watching the chingay parade, I was impressed by the fabulous performances by different respective groups .
      I'm my opinion, I think the purpose of the chingay 2016 is to not only celebrate Chinese New Year which was arriving soon , but also promoting the idea of racial harmony in our nation which is a multi-racial society. As well, it is to bring the people in Singapore closer to each other and thus have a sense of belonging to the nation and society which we belong to.
     From the first chingay parade, which , and most performances were based on different cultures of Chinese. But now, it is far more than just a celebration for the Chinese New Year alone. It is more of a show case of Singapore's speciality in being a multi-racial society. And also it showed the direction of Singapore's progress. And also, we learnt about the history of Singapore and how Singapore had developed into a modern city from a small fish village. Thus, with the performances and theme of the chingay parade, the audience found the sense of belonging to our nation.
     The organizer had fulfilled the aim of the chingay parade, with the parade, the performers had left a great impact on all of the audience who watched the parade. They had successfully presented to us the bonding of use all, as Singaporeans, working together and make our nation p ogress towards the SG 100 and also, promoting the multi-racial society of our nation. It had helped me to have a deeper understanding of what it means to have a multi racial society and the history of Singapore.

平凡中的不平凡



这在他人眼中也许仅仅是一副普普通通平平淡淡的照片，一个教室，仅此而已。可在我的眼中，这不是一个平凡的教室，在这教室中涵盖了我们同学们的感情。在教室中，同学们在老师的引导下，会学习知识，这是老师与同学和智慧沟通的殿堂，这是师生之情；在这里，我们共同度过难关，有什么事情都要大家一起同甘共苦，齐心协力才能继续向前进步，这是班级之情；在这里我们和朋友玩耍，一起学习一起欢笑，在他人遇到困难是伸出援手，互相帮助，这是友情。正如有一次，大家都已经去食堂吃饭了，可谓有我还在之上奋笔疾书，而突然，我遇到了一道不会做的题目，便不得已只能停下，可我无论如何也想不出来，就当要放弃时，我的同学走了进来，看了看题目，便慢慢的向我讲解了出来，在那一刻，我感受到了朋友之间的友情与羁绊。就像这样，这教室中充斥着我们整个班级的情感，包含着我们的团结，见证着一个个故事的发生与结束。这就是我心中那平凡中的不平凡。

RV60

Now that RV60 has already ended for week.But what happened when we were preparing for the performance is still appering in my mind.Even though at first,most of us thought that RV 60 is a waste of time.As we did not have much emotions toward the school since we have only entered the school for 1 year.But as time pass by,when I saw how hard everyone was practicing for their respective performances,and how did they not give up although they are very tired,I felt that this is the school spirit,this is the spirit of RV. Thus,I decided to work herder and put in my 100% effort in to practicing. Until the day of preview,when all of us were on the stage,and I heard how the parents clapped for us and cheered for us,I felt that all the efforts by everyone has paid off.while on the actual day,as I looked up at the balloon in the sky,with RV60 written on it,and hearing the excited RV students laughing and smiling after the performance.At that moment,I realized that,this is what RV is made of,we are rvians.

Reflection on poverty and happiness

Poverty, usually leads to unhappiness of people. As it clearly shows, that one without money and cannot afford those things that they want, would turn out to be unhappy. As one does not have money for anything he wants to do, there will be a lack of satisfaction in ones life, while that would greatly affect ones mood and happiness will not be felt by them as their goals and wants cannot be satisfied. While it also may not always be true that all people who are rich is happy and all people who are poor is unhappy. It is mainly about how one look at the questions and problems and also how well do they appreciate what they have. The poor people may have a positive point of view at problems and be easily satisified with things they have. While the rich people may want more than they can really afford, even though they already have plenty of goods, but they were unhappy about just a minor thing that they did not get, oblivious to the goods they already have and not appreciating them, which would still make them unhappy even though they are rich.

Reflection on chingay

On Saturday, I went to the chingay parade together with my classmates as a class. The performance was amazing and fantastic, it was actually beyond my expectations. Even though there were plenty of introduction of chingay made to us before hand, it still was beyond my expectations. It was completely different from what I've expected it to be. I could feel the mood of everyone being joined together, by nothing else, but the fact that we are all Singaporeans and we all love Singapore. What's shown was everyone's goal of being one Singapore, despite the difference in races, we do not judge each other, but we bond together, and move forward together, together as one .

Reflection three two one:

three things found out about :
-singaore's average birth rate is currently 1.2
-in late 1970s, china introduced the one child policy
-China intorduced the one child policy in order to reduce the country's birth rate in order to reduce the growing population
two perceptions gained:
-we must learn to look at things in different perspectives and handle different situtions with different methods(policies)
-there have to be at least two children in one family in order to at least replace the parents
one question i have:
-how does the government have the full control of the working out of the policy