<PRETRIP TASK> EDUCATION IN YANGZHOU
Research on the education structure of the city we are visiting
<PRETRIP TASK> COST OF LIVING IN SINGAPORE
Research on the education structure of the city we are visiting
| Jiangsu’s education system is based on the national system for the public education, which includes primary schools, middle schools, and universities. Nine years of education is compulsory for all Jiangsu students. Jiangsu’s higher education system has undergone two major periods of restructuring in its history. In 1950, the central government adopted the educational model from the former Soviet Union reorganizing previously-established comprehensive universities into new institutions. Again in 1999, in accordance with recent policy reforms, Jiangsu’s universities underwent an opposite adjustment, an amalgamation, which results in the reduction of the number of higher education establishments and a wave of institutional name changes. Jiangsu is the province in China that owns the largest number of institutions of higher education with 105 universities and colleges and an annual student enrollment of close to a million in 2007. Jiangsu's international co-operation programs have been well established in the past years. Its universities and colleges have accepted international students from over 100 countries, and have had extensive exchange programs with more than 300 universities internationally. The number of higher education institutions funded by private sectors nationally and internationally are on the rise and they offer youth alternative educational pathways for career attainment. 
Find out about the school we will be visiting
Name of school: Shuren School of Yangzhou Middle School Education (扬州中学教育团体树人学校）  School motto: 办学充分发扬扬中的优良传统，锐意进取，开拓创新，逐步建成具有一流校园，一流设施，一流师资，一流管理和一流质量的新型民办学校。 School Beliefs: 百年扬中，一脉树人。历经十年的建设，年轻的树人已经形成了具有树人特色的办学风格，确定了“树人为本，服务社会”的办学宗旨，学校将坚持“主动、和谐、人文、高效、特色”的发展理念，朝着“扬州著名、江苏一流、全国有影响”的目标迈进。学校一直坚持“科学精神与人文素养”相结合的理念，坚持“全面+特色”的育人模式。  school fees: 学费8350元一学期。广大市民是比较赞同学校政策的。外界说学费有贵族学校之嫌。 History of 树人学校: 从1999年创办以来，学校已逐步实现了外延发展与内涵发展的协调，达到了素质教育与升学教育的统一，取得了社会效益和经济效益的双赢。几年来，学校教育教学质量稳步提高，每年中考总均分、被扬州中学录取的学生比例、达四星级高中录取线的学生比例均居扬州市市直第一。尤其是2009年中考，学校正取扬州中学达162人，占扬州中学正取生总数的56%，89%的学生达四星级高中录取线，市直前50名学校占了47名，各项指标在市直均遥遥领先，成为扬州初中教育“优质轻负”的典范。两届高考分别以70℅、75℅的本二达线率，创造了高中教育“一般生源、一流升学”的辉煌成绩。 Short intro to 树人学校 : Being one of the national “Exemplary Schools” of China and a “Model School” of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou Middle School has long been well-known throughout the world for its long history, brilliant educational conception and approach, highly qualified teaching staff consisting of distinguished senior teachers and well trained younger ones, and tens of thousands of talented graduates it has brought up over the past nearly 100 years since its birth. Among its graduates who have achieved distinction are Jiang Zeming, the former CPC General Secretary and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Zhu Ziqing, famous writer, scholar, and democrat, Hu Qiaomu, former member of the Standing Committee of CPC Consultative Committee, and two former UN vice secretary generals Bi Jilong and Xie Qimei. In addition, 42 fellows of the Chinese Science Academy have received their basic education here. |
<PRETRIP TASK> COST OF LIVING IN SINGAPORE
standard 4/5 room HDB flat in Punggol (around 90-100sq m)
4 room - $260 000-$350 000
5 room - $326 000-$450 000
cost of a brand new Toyota Vios = around $200 000
Prices of item from local supermarket
Cheapest 10kg packet rice
= $13
Cheapest one litre of drinking water
Cheapest one litre of drinking water
= $2.60
Cheapest fresh whole chicken
Cheapest fresh whole chicken
= $16
Cheapest one litre of cooking oil
Cheapest one litre of cooking oil
= $5
Do we provide plastic bags and how they are used
Yes,the plastic bags are very helpful in everyday life and we use them almost everyday. They are mostly used to carry food items but can also be used to carry other items. They are mostly free and convenient, disposable as well, hence they are very useful.
Who are the cashiers (age, nationality) and what kind of service do they provide?
45, singaporean female. the cashiers receive the payment from us and help to separate our food into different plastic bags when possible for our convenience. They also inform us of any possible discounts of the items in the supermarket. (some cashiers)
How much is your school fee? = $28
How much is one litre of petrol? (95 unleaded) = $2.17
How much is one litre of petrol? (95 unleaded) = $2.17
How much is one movie ticket on the weekend? = $13
What is an average salary of a Singaporean? = $5000
Cost of one big Mac meal? = $5.99
Cost of one big Mac meal? = $5.99
MONTAGES OF YOUTH CULTURE IN CHINA AND SINGAPORE(GROUPWORK)
CHINA SINGAPORE
YOUTH CULTURE IN CHINA- GROUPWORK
The youths in China prefer to play mind games such as the well known chinese chess compared to the sport games the youths in Singapore prefer. Singapore youths also like to play more western cultured games like the league of legend.
the youths in singapore like to listen to English pop music while the youths in China would prefer their Chinese pop music.
The education system in Singapore would be very filled and busy with many subjects from Social studies to Math.
YANGZHOU WEATHER AND FASHION
I did a research on the current weather and temperature Yangzhou is experiencing :)
Yangzhou or in Chinese, 扬州 is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu province in the People's Republic of China. It has a subtropical monsoon climate with humid changeable wind with an average temperature of 15 °C annually, where it is the hottest in July of 27.6 °C and the coldest in January of 1.7 °C with a maximum temperature of 39.8 °C and minimum −5 °C.
Its has a colder weather than in Singapore and I feel that the people in Yangzhou would probably wear thicker clothes than what we usually do in Singapore. I went up to the Internet and did a search for what the people at yangzhou usually wear but I realised that the people today in yangzhou does not have a specific fashion in their city. Similarly, they wear clothes like how most Chinese would wear nowadays. However, I do notice that they will wear thicker clothes and jackets due to the weather over there.
This is what youth in China wear nowadays.
We chinese will usually wear a "cheongsam" or in Chinese 旗袍 during festivals and important events. They come in many designs and they are a traditional costume for the chinese.
While looking up on the Internet for their traditional costumes, I realised how much the chinese costumes have developed over the years, from the Qing Dynasty till today. A one piece garment was the formal costume in China from the Qing to the Han dynasty and the costume was modified in the Tang Dynasty and further westernized to flatter body shape till modern era.
All in all, peolple in Yangzhou wears Cheongsam as a traditional costume during formal events and they usually will wear thicker clothes due to the cold weather over there.
Yangzhou or in Chinese, 扬州 is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu province in the People's Republic of China. It has a subtropical monsoon climate with humid changeable wind with an average temperature of 15 °C annually, where it is the hottest in July of 27.6 °C and the coldest in January of 1.7 °C with a maximum temperature of 39.8 °C and minimum −5 °C.
Its has a colder weather than in Singapore and I feel that the people in Yangzhou would probably wear thicker clothes than what we usually do in Singapore. I went up to the Internet and did a search for what the people at yangzhou usually wear but I realised that the people today in yangzhou does not have a specific fashion in their city. Similarly, they wear clothes like how most Chinese would wear nowadays. However, I do notice that they will wear thicker clothes and jackets due to the weather over there.
We chinese will usually wear a "cheongsam" or in Chinese 旗袍 during festivals and important events. They come in many designs and they are a traditional costume for the chinese.
While looking up on the Internet for their traditional costumes, I realised how much the chinese costumes have developed over the years, from the Qing Dynasty till today. A one piece garment was the formal costume in China from the Qing to the Han dynasty and the costume was modified in the Tang Dynasty and further westernized to flatter body shape till modern era.
All in all, peolple in Yangzhou wears Cheongsam as a traditional costume during formal events and they usually will wear thicker clothes due to the cold weather over there.
CULTURE OF YANGZHOU- VALENCIA
| A lake in Yangzhou |
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu province in the People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across the river to the south.
1) Art of storytelling and painting
| The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. |
This flourished in Yangzhou. The innovative painter-calligrapher Shitao lived in Yangzhou during the 1680s and again from 1697 until his death in 1707. In the Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD), the great monk, Jianzhen, sailed from Yangzhou to Japan and devoted himself to the exchange of the Sino-Japanese culture. Many scholars, painters and poets lived or traveled here, including four famous poets of the Tang Dynasty, Libai, Baijuyi, Liuyuxi, and Menghaoran. During the Yuan Dynasty, Marco polo stayed here as the governor for 3 years.
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Yangzhou got a new lease of life as a salt-trading center. The period also saw a group of painters known as the 'Eight Eccentrics' break away from traditional methods, creating a style of natural painting that influenced the course of art in China.
2) Bathing culture
As weird as it sounds, bathing in Yangzhou has a unique twist to it as part of its culture. Stemming from over 2,200 years ago in Yangzhou, pots were filled with water for bathing. From the Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, the ancient Yangzhou still had showers at home, there were no public bathrooms at that time. According to the three knives Yangzhou written by Mr. Wang Xianxin, public bathhouses appeared in Yangzhou as early as the beginning of the 11th century, the Northern Song Yuanfeng era.
By the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou bath industry had developed greatly. Xu Ning Zhang opened the first public bathhouse in Yangzhou.
During the time of Chinese revolution, Yangzhou had 33 bathhouses. After twists and turns, the number of bathhouses in Yangzhou had risen to more than 260. As of 2002, Yangzhou's bathhouse industry employed over 5,000 people; its annual revenue exceeded 500 million yuan. Just in Yangzhou's main urban area bathhouses served around 30,000 customers every day.
Bathing for people in Yangzhou is not only the need of health, but also a sign of civilization, the quality of life and the spirit of enjoyment. Bath leisure there reflect local culture and social civilization. Bath centers there concentrate in dedicated service. Contemporary bath centers have changed from relaxing places to serve communities. There is spacious bathing space, various kinds of bath and cultural facilities in bath centers in Yangzhou, which allows you to enjoy the physical and mental pleasure. Besides, soft lighting and elegant decoration give people a feeling of being in a dreamlike palace
This is unique to Yangzhou's culture as bathhouses as extremely rare and personally, I have never been to or seen one before.
| Bathhouses can be found along the streets of Yangzhou. |
3) Dialect
The Yangzhou dialect (Chinese: 扬州话; pinyin: Yángzhōu huà) of Chinese is representative of Lower Yangtze Mandarin, and is particularly close to the official language of the Ming and Qing courts, which was based on the Nanjing dialect. However, it does differ considerably from modern Standard Chinese, although they are still moderately mutually intelligible.
Dialect has also been used as a tool for regional identity and politics in the Jiangbei and Jiangnan regions. While the city of Yangzhou was the center of trade, flourishing and prosperous, it was considered part of Jiangnan, which was known to be wealthy, even though Yangzhou was north of the Yangzi river. Once Yangzhou's wealth and prosperity were gone, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei, the "backwater". After Yangzhou was removed from Jiangnan, its residents decided to replace Jianghuai Mandarin, which was the dialect of Yangzhou, with Taihu Wu dialects. In Jiangnan itself, multiple subdialects of Wu fought for the position of prestige dialect.
Dialect plays a important part in Yangzhou until now. Therefore, I feel that dialect is an important aspect of the culture in Yangzhou.
All in all, I feel that there is an extremely rich culture in Yangzhou that is unique and one-of-a-kind. I have learnt more about Yangzhou's dialect and the fact that public bathhouses exist and originate there. Also, I look forward to appreciating Yangzhou's art in museums when I go there for OELP this month!
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| Thank you for reading! |
FOOD OF YANGZHOU- TECKWENG
Yangzhou food belongs to the Huaiyang cusine, one of the best known cuisnes in China, which is popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
It first appeared in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and has a history of 1,200 years.
Besides emphasis on broth, Huaiyang dishes feature high-quality ingredients and meticulous preparation, with care taken to maintain the freshness and authentic flavours of the food. Dishes incorporating freshwater-food and meats cooked in Huaiyang style are eminent. Huaiyang dishes are delicately braised, stewed or soasted and the most famous include stewed pork ball, stewed fish head, shredded pork in chicken soup, steamed hilsa herring, stewed pig's feet, etc.
Huaiyang dishes also have a pleasing appearance. Usually decorated with lifelike carvings of fruits and vegetables, they are neither too salty nor too sweet, suiting most plates. Huaiyang dim sum is also attractive with steamed buns filled with pork and vegetable or crab roe being the most popular.
And of course the famous and must eat Yangzhou fried rice. The recipe was invented by Qing China's Yi Bingshou (1754–1815) and the dish was named Yang Zhou fried rice since Yi was once the regional magistrate of Yangzhou. this dish is so famous that it is even in Chinese restaurants in the Americas, Australia, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
MUST TRYS: YANGZHOU FRIED RICE
STEAMED CHICKEN OVER BAMBOO LEAVES
SHRIMP ROE WANTON AND NOODLES
Yangzhou food belongs to the Huaiyang cusine, one of the best known cuisnes in China, which is popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
It first appeared in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and has a history of 1,200 years.
Besides emphasis on broth, Huaiyang dishes feature high-quality ingredients and meticulous preparation, with care taken to maintain the freshness and authentic flavours of the food. Dishes incorporating freshwater-food and meats cooked in Huaiyang style are eminent. Huaiyang dishes are delicately braised, stewed or soasted and the most famous include stewed pork ball, stewed fish head, shredded pork in chicken soup, steamed hilsa herring, stewed pig's feet, etc.
Huaiyang dishes also have a pleasing appearance. Usually decorated with lifelike carvings of fruits and vegetables, they are neither too salty nor too sweet, suiting most plates. Huaiyang dim sum is also attractive with steamed buns filled with pork and vegetable or crab roe being the most popular.
And of course the famous and must eat Yangzhou fried rice. The recipe was invented by Qing China's Yi Bingshou (1754–1815) and the dish was named Yang Zhou fried rice since Yi was once the regional magistrate of Yangzhou. this dish is so famous that it is even in Chinese restaurants in the Americas, Australia, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
MUST TRYS: YANGZHOU FRIED RICE
STEAMED CHICKEN OVER BAMBOO LEAVES
SHRIMP ROE WANTON AND NOODLES
PERCEPTIONS OF CHINESE IN CHINA- TECKWENG
During today's cid lesson, Miss Huang asked our class about what we would first think of at the mention of culture. Our classmates went up and wrote many different examples. From subjects to food. We learnt that there can be many things related to the term culture.
Miss Huang then showed us a video about a delicacy in China where the egg is soaked in urine before being eaten also known as virgin boy egg. Many people believe that this delicacy has many health benefits but everyone in our class thought it would be pretty disgusting for us to eat it. Hence, Miss Huang taught us how we would reject the chinese in China during our oelp.
There are a few rules which we have to follow. First, we shouldnt lie to them as it would be very rude if they found out that we were lying to them. Second, we should be polite when we reject them.
IS THE MERLION STATUE THE BEST ICON OF SINGAPORE?-ZHIYI
Yes I think the Merlion would make the best national icon for Singapore. The Merlion has a lion head and a fish body resting on a crest of waves, which the lion head symbolizes the legend of rediscovery of Singapura. Singapore was still known as Temasek until Prince Sang Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya empire rediscovered the island. When the prince first landed, he saw a lion that he felt was a mysterious creature and thus decided to name the island to Lion City.
The body of the Merlion symbolizes Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village called Temasek. The head of the Merlion symbolizes the original name of Singapore, Singapura, where 'Singa' means 'Lion' in Malay. I feel that the Merlion can show a lot about Singapore's history and how Singapore progressed untill today. However, I feel that there are many national icons Singapore can have.
Firstly, it would be a greenery icon because Singapore is a clean and green vibrant city where all the countries took role model of and started to plant more trees around their neighborhoods as well. Secondly, I feel that a statue of the late Prime Minister can be Singapore's icon because Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the founder of Singapore and everything we have today in Singapore is all thanks to his great foresight, ambition and his efforts. Last but not least, I feel that our multiracial society is something all Singaporeans should be proud of. We are living together in peace and harmony regardless of race, language or religion and this could be a national icon for Singapore as well.
IS THE MERLION STATUE THE BEST ICON OF SINGAPORE?-TECKWENG
Our group had discussed about the topic 'is the merlion statue the best icon to represent singapore?'
And our answer is NO
there are many icons which can equally represent singapore as well.
there are many factors which can contribute to an icon in Singapore such as
-Age of the icon
-Uniqueness
-tourists attraction
-beauty
and i trust that there are also other icons which can represent singapore equally well
the chili crab is a favourite delicacy in singapore and is defitenitely a must eat among tourists
the vanda miss joaquim is also a icon in singapore and it is a very beautiful sight
and of course the one and only Singapore flag. It is the national flag of our nation.
IS THE MERLION STATUE THE BEST ICON OF SINGAPORE?- VALENCIA
Today, we discussed a very debatable topic: Is the Merlion the best icon to represent Singapore? Every group was given a big sheet of paper to share their opinions.
This is what we wrote:
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| Our group's work |
Our group believed that the Merlion is not what best represents Singapore. We felt that Singapore simply was not a country that could be represented by merely a hybrid of a lion and a fish. Instead, Singapore's unique traits cannot be limited to just a single icon.
| The Merlion |
If somebody were to ask you: which icon represents Singapore the best, would you think of the Merlion instantaneously? I believe that many people will only say the Merlion because it is unique to Singapore, is part of Singapore’s history, and is the first go-to answer. However, I believe that this should not be true.
There is a quote: ‘It is the people that make the place’. True enough, it is the little things that Singaporeans do that creates Singapore’s identity. It is not just a symbol that represent our history, the icon must have the ability to make a fellow Singaporean to exclaim: ‘Oh yah hor!’ when you reveal it as the most suitable icon.
Singapore is a country of many different identities which cannot stand alone by themselves.
Whether it is a packet of tissue paper that says ‘chope!’ or a sign that says ‘no playing football in the void deck’, there are countless icons that play a part in representing Singapore’s identity.
-It can be the Singapore River which was transformed from pungent, murky waters full of waste and rubbish where faeces and trash can be found, to the sparkling, crystal-clean water tourists admire today:
| before.. |
| and after! |
| we twist a simple word into a word with multiple meanings! |
| National Breakfast Day, when McDonalds gave away free Egg Mcmuffins! |
| National Day, when all races come together to celebrate our country's birthday! |
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| Vanda Miss Joaquim, our national flower |
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| Thanks for reading! |
IS THE MERLION STATUE THE BEST ICON OF SINGAPORE?- YITING
Today in class we discussed about a patriotic topic, IS THE MERLION WHAT BEST REPRESENTS SINGAPORE?
Each group was given a piece of paper each to jot down their ideas and prove their point in a mini argument later carried out with opposing opnions. This is what we came up with.
Our group work
Our group's opinion was the opposite. We do not think that the Merlion is what best represents Singapore. My group feels that Singapore is unique in its own way. Singapore is made up of unique traits that define us as fellow Singaporeans. Singapore definitely is not just merely a Merlion representing the country but more than that. Singapore's unique traits extends to more than just a single icon. We feel that Singapore is a country of many different identities which can not stand alone by itself individually as it is not just merely it by oneself. What a best icon is that represents Sinagpore cannot be decided based on one's judgement. When I ask, what best represents Singapore? Is the Merlion really what pops into your mind the first thing? Or is it something else which you identify Singapore in your own opinion? When you talk about Paris, the first thing that comes into your mind is the Effiel tower while when talking about Rio, the image of the statue Christ the Redeemer pops up first. But when you mention Singapore, I am pretty sure many opnions differ as there are too many traits to be named out individually or chosen as the best. What really comes into your mind? Is it Sentosa our very own reclaimed land? Where all entertainments and casinos are found and where Sunagpore lures foreigners to spend money on?
Or is it the Singapore River which has such rich history? From a fishing village's waters, to the murky, black waters where people dump their leftovers and rubbish into, and finally into the sparkling, gleaming waters where many tourists now ride across.
Or is it our very own Singaporean language, Singlish, where it cannot be found anywhere else?
Or is it our beloved late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, whose contributions exceed far above many and is looked upon on our country? His contributions are indeed well known and many are grateful to him for where Singapore is today.
Or is it our multi-racial society where people form all races and religions are treated with equal respect and care?
In conclusion, we cannot exactly pinpoint what icon really represents Singapore best, as Singapore, after all, is a small island made up of different identities.
SOCIAL, ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT- TECKWENG
During this lesson, we learnt about how to differenciate different situations and how to categorise each situation under the terms 'social, economy and environment'
We then had to dot our the threats in red. this made me realise how Singapore is actually a well to do country compared to some of the other countries which had haze like China and Indonesia. Although Singapore is more fast paced country and everyone is more stressed by our jobs and our studies, we are living in a excellent environment with our fantastic transport system which can bring us all over singapore. we should be grateful for what we have and what our forefathers have done to bring singapore to such a successful city.
SOCIAL, ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT- VALENCIA
Today in class we discussed about China. Everyone in class were supposed to think about what China has produced for us in Singapore. Many people came up with:
-Toys for children:
| A toy-making factory in China |
-Electronic gadgets:
| electronic products made in China |
-Shoes:
| Also made in China. |
We then moved on to talk about the environmental, social, economic state of China. In our groups, we were given the job of categorising the different slips of paper in an envelope. At first, we encountered various difficulties such as not knowing which slip of paper belonged to which category. However, we managed to do it in the end. (as seen in the first picture above)
The threats present are to be dotted in red, such as the disagreement of the western countries ways which they refuse to accept and the quarrels between other countries over a piece of land.
This made me reflect on Singapore's relationships with other countries. Thankfully, our prime ministers and president have made a good impression of Singapore, or else we would not be able to live in peace and harmony with other countries. Both countries will not be able to work well with one another, creating tension and many detrimental effects to both countries. In times of crisis, Singapore would not be able to be backed up or supported by different countries if we did not have good relationships with them. To sustain a good relationship with other countries, we must help each other mutually.
| It goes two ways! |
However by fighting over land like China is doing, this will lead to worse relationships between them and other countries.
There are also good points of China such as pledging to contribute to world peace which our country can learn from. we can learn to forge better relationships by maintaining peace between one another.
All in all, this lesson has benefitted me greatly as I have learnt the different environmental, economic and social states of China and how we can learn from their good points and their mistakes.
SOCIAL, ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT- YITING
Today in class we talked about China. As we all know, China has come about to be the one of the biggest countries for having the most number of exported goods and as many people in Singapore have the mindset that whatever China produces are of no quality, a number of products they actually prospduce such as Apple or Addidas do happen to be a brand which everyone is familiar and trusted by. We then moved on to talk about the environment, social, economic of China. Upon so, we were dispersed to our own groups and tasked to categorize the different slips of paper in an envelope. We were unsure of what category we should group several slips of paper at first. But after getting he hang of it, it got easier and we managed to piece out the final masterpiece as shown in the image above. There are many things in the slips of paper which are considered as threats which are to be dotted in red, such as the quarrels between other countries over a piece of land and disagreement of the western countries ways which they refuse to accept are indeed threats. Comparing to Singapore, if Singapore were to be like this, Sinagpore would suffer bad relations with the opposing country and will not lead to any happy terms. This would cause the country harm in one way or another as Sjnahpore aims to be friendly with all countries to receive their help to offer help when needed. It is a mutual thing.
But by fighting over land, this will not lead to any improvement in the countries relationships but actually worsen them. They are good points of China such as trying to de escalate the nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula and pledging to contribute to world peace is good points where Singapore can learn from. Not only should Singapore not get into trouble with other countries, by often lending a helping hand like what China did with Korea can help to forge better relationships. This lesson is an enriching one and has brought me to realize how much China stands in the world and their contributions to society.
GOLDEN AGE+ REFLECTION OF MR LEE KUAN YEW- VALENCIA
Today during our CID lesson, papers were distributed and different categories, such as arts, religion, literature were allocated to different groups. For my group, the category was while the title was 'Science and Technology'.
We were given 10 minutes as a group for research to find out why these catergories were contributing factors for the Tang Dynasty to be called the Golden Age of China. I learned that under the catergory of Science and Technology, there were many sub groups which included:
-engineering
-medicine
-woodblock printing
-alchemy
-cartography etc.
As we read through different sources, we found out more about the various significant discoveries that People discovered in China during their Golden Age. Then, we presents our findings to the class.
Through these presentations, I not only learnt more about Science and Technology during the Golden Age, but also learned about many other reasons and factors that made China extremely prosperous during that time.
Comparing China's Golden Age to Singapore's progress today, I believe that right now, is indeed Sinagpore's Golden Age. Part of this belief comes from my enlightening of Singapore's history, which was revealed to me when the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away. Since he was a great man in our country and had sacrificed his life to build our nation to what it is today, many montages of singapore's progress were made and shown to us. I could not only see how he contributed to out country, but could also see how much Singapore has grown in a short span of 50 years. Singapore: originally a dirty old swamp but now a first class metropolitan city.
Everything has completely transformed for the better and there is peace. We have an excellent government and world class education, housing and transport. We are provided with good living conditions and every single Singaporean has benefits due to assistance by the government and various subsidies. For us students, we are given huge subsidies for school fees, and we have more-than-satisfactory studying environments. Most, if not all schools, have libraries, science labs, and computer labs. We have edusave, which is money that the government gives us for educational purposes. Such benefits cannot be found anywhere else in the world! For some students, they even have financial support from the government because their families are less well-off.
Therefore, I am certain that this is Singapore's golden age as we are so prosperous and our living environments are first-class. Even at school, at home, and in the public, everything is supported by our government financially and we have a stable economy.
Without the detailed planning and far foresight of Mr Lee, this would not have been possible.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew built up a strong economy which created good jobs, excellent infrastructure, housing and environment and a solid education system. He transformed Singapore from a Third World to First World country in a short span of 50 years.
The way he moulded our society was also significant: he was meticulous, resilient, with tremendous drive and spirit, never quitting. He also saw to the continued success of Singapore beyond him through leadership succession.
I remember one of his previous sayings:" When I decide on doing something, I do it. And I never look back." Indeed, the reason why we are experiencing our Golden age now is because he did not look back and hesitant. Instead, he journeyed on in confidence and assurance, creating the beautiful country we have today.
Singapore is booming and progressing faster than any other country in the world! Therefore, I think that it is indeed SG's golden age now because our country has maintained prosperity and harmony.
| Before... |
| Now! |
Everything has completely transformed for the better and there is peace. We have an excellent government and world class education, housing and transport. We are provided with good living conditions and every single Singaporean has benefits due to assistance by the government and various subsidies. For us students, we are given huge subsidies for school fees, and we have more-than-satisfactory studying environments. Most, if not all schools, have libraries, science labs, and computer labs. We have edusave, which is money that the government gives us for educational purposes. Such benefits cannot be found anywhere else in the world! For some students, they even have financial support from the government because their families are less well-off.
Therefore, I am certain that this is Singapore's golden age as we are so prosperous and our living environments are first-class. Even at school, at home, and in the public, everything is supported by our government financially and we have a stable economy.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew built up a strong economy which created good jobs, excellent infrastructure, housing and environment and a solid education system. He transformed Singapore from a Third World to First World country in a short span of 50 years.
The way he moulded our society was also significant: he was meticulous, resilient, with tremendous drive and spirit, never quitting. He also saw to the continued success of Singapore beyond him through leadership succession.
I remember one of his previous sayings:" When I decide on doing something, I do it. And I never look back." Indeed, the reason why we are experiencing our Golden age now is because he did not look back and hesitant. Instead, he journeyed on in confidence and assurance, creating the beautiful country we have today.
Singapore is booming and progressing faster than any other country in the world! Therefore, I think that it is indeed SG's golden age now because our country has maintained prosperity and harmony.
And it couldn't have been accomplished without Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
GOLDEN AGE+ REFLECTION OF MR LEE KUAN YEW- ZHIYI
In today's lesson, we were given 10 minutes to do research on the golden age in Tang Dynasty and the contributing factors to it. I learnt that it was because of the various development in China at that time such as the woodblock printing that has made written words to be more available to more people and books could be more conveniently published, resulting in increasing rate of literacy because even the lower classes can study more cheaply in that way.
Another great invention was the astronomical clock which was water powered throughout the entire country. There was great improvement in mechanical engineering, medical. cartography as well as alchemy developments. These factors contributed to Chinas Golden Age where it grown to become superior.
Recently our late founder Mr Lee Kuan Yew has passed away and I realised that he was the one who helped Singapore to achieve the Golden Age we are enjoying today. Without Mr Lee , Singapore would have to depend on Malaysia for water supply and might even need to continue to merge with Malaysia where people of different races are treated differently. There might still be riots between different clans and our housing development might not be as good as today. Thanks to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, we have a non-corrupted government that we can depend on to set good policies and laws to improve Singapore, even taking consider of those minorities. I feel that we as Singaporeans should not take all of these for granted and we should continue to be good citizens and strive to keep Singapore in the good state Mr Lee had left us.
Thank you Mr Lee. Without your great foresight and determination, Singapore might not reach this far today.
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GOLDEN AGE+ REFLECTION OF MR LEE KUAN YEW- YITING
Today during the first half of the lesson, color papers were given out to us and different categories, such as arts, religion, literature while the title that was given to my group was science and technology. We were given 10 minutes to go online to search for any sources to understand further why these categories, are the contributing factors for the Tang Dynasty to be called the Golden Age of China. Under science and technology, there were many sub groups which included, engineering, ,medicine, woodblock printing, alchemy, cartography. Under each sub group, three were many ingenious inventions done by the historical people in China back then.
Wooden statues of tomb guardians; mechanical-driven wooden statues served as cup-bearers, wine-pourers, dancers, and others in this age.
The Diamond Sutra, printed in 868, is the world's first widely printed book (using woodblock printing)
We were then to go up in front of the class to present our findings. Not only did I gain knowledge on how science and technology played a part in making the Tang Dynasty a Golden Age for China, I also got to know the various reasons why the other reasons were.
Comparing Golden age, Tang Dynasty, to Singapore's I think that right now, is indeed Sinagpore's Golden Age, not very long ago, a very important man who played a huge role in developing Singapore passed away peacefully. The whole nation was greatly saddened by Mr Lee Kuan Yew's passing. Many people, including people from world wide all came together to mourn for this great man. Singapore was originally a dirty old swamp, but now, it is a metropolitan city. Everything has modernized and peace and order is in place. Laws are set and a non-corrupted government rules us.
We are provided with good living conditions and even the minority are taken care of. With the careful
planning and foresight of Mr Lee, he has catered the needs of everyone in Singapore. With what we have now, we should not take for granted as it is the fruits of all the labour Mr Lee and other great men like him have accomplished. To me, Sinagpore is at its Golden Age, where we are a rich country, independent on its own and a strong and influential one. While for China, Tang Dyansty is the golden age for them as many renowned people such as famous poets and inventors invented from them. Tang Dyansty is also had a massive population back then, but there was an efficient central government and peace and order was there, before they got overthrown and a new Dynasty started. Tang Dynasty is also known end as the imperial dynasty for its success and economic wealth during that period of time.
Throughout this tiny research that we have done in class, although it may have only been 5 minutes, I I have learnt a lot about the Tang Dyansty which I have never known before. I used to think China's history as boring and of plain taste but through these little exercises, I began to realize how much I have missed out on China's rich history and culture.
We are provided with good living conditions and even the minority are taken care of. With the careful
planning and foresight of Mr Lee, he has catered the needs of everyone in Singapore. With what we have now, we should not take for granted as it is the fruits of all the labour Mr Lee and other great men like him have accomplished. To me, Sinagpore is at its Golden Age, where we are a rich country, independent on its own and a strong and influential one. While for China, Tang Dyansty is the golden age for them as many renowned people such as famous poets and inventors invented from them. Tang Dyansty is also had a massive population back then, but there was an efficient central government and peace and order was there, before they got overthrown and a new Dynasty started. Tang Dynasty is also known end as the imperial dynasty for its success and economic wealth during that period of time.
Throughout this tiny research that we have done in class, although it may have only been 5 minutes, I I have learnt a lot about the Tang Dyansty which I have never known before. I used to think China's history as boring and of plain taste but through these little exercises, I began to realize how much I have missed out on China's rich history and culture.
GOLDEN AGE+ REFLECTION OF MR LEE KUAN YEW- TECKWENG
During todays CID lesson we had to research as a group to find out why 'Science and Technology' was a contributing factor to the TANG DYNASTY which was called the golden age of China.
during our research, we learnt about many factors under 'science and technology' such as
-engineering
-medicine
-woodblock printing
-alchemy
-cartography etc.
other than learning about our own topic, we learnt about many other factors discussed by other groups which resulted in China's Success.
When we think about China's golden age, it made me think of Singapore's golden age as well. Singapore was once a fishing village but now, it is a first world city and is well known all over the world. we have our fore fathers to thank for this, especially the late lee kuan yew, who had spending his whole life building singapore. Although he has passed away, his legacy still stays on.
Sinapore river in the past!
The famous marina bay sands
Mr Lee had ruled Singapore well and he practised the four main principals, meritocracy, multi racialism, no corruption and self reliance. Mr lee made sure everyone was given an opportunity and all talented people were able to make use of their talent regardless of wealth or stature.
And he made sure every race and religion was treated equally in singapore. He made sure that people dont go around offeinding other religions and races and this in turn, led to the prosperity of Singapore.
And the third he did not practise corruption. He had no tolerance for corruption and would punish anyone who was guilty of corruption. He made sure there was zero corruption in the government and although it cannot be said that there is a 0% corruption rate in the government but it is defitenitely one of the less among the other countries and this is something i am very proud of for Singapore.
Last but not least he practised self reliance. Although Singapore had limited resources, Mr Lee made use of all the resources and used whatever he had to attract tourists from other countries. He thought of ways to solve the problems that Singapore had. He built reservoirs to make sure Singapore could have more water supply. Mr Lee has indeed lead Singapore well.
CHINA'S ECONOMICS- VALENCIA
China's economic growth has been steadily growing and the reasons for these are:
1) China's international trade:
According to the International Monetary Fund, China's international trade has expanded steadily since the opening of the economy in 1979. China has also increased its penetration into advanced country's markets. The amount of imports in the advanced country's markets accounted for by China has risen the last two decades, especially in the 1990s in Japan, United States and the European Union. For example, China now accounts for over 11% of Japan's exports, up from only 2% in the 1990s. In addition, China is now among the most important export destinations for other Asian countries.
Today, China's economy is growing rapidly. Compared to India and its greatest trading partner USA, it is expected to overtake them in 2018. Although India and USA is also growing, the rate of growth is little as compared to China, making China an important country for trade and exports.
| Increasing Trade between China and other countries |
An example is the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, which is an international industrial park which is often cited as a national flagship project between China & Singapore governments. It is the 21st year of establishment in 2015.
| An example of the joint ventures |
3) A lower corporate tax rate In addition to the two reasons above, the corporate tax rate in China is lower than that of other countries, hence increasing the economy share of China. People will be attracted to China and will do business with them, causing higher economic growth.
4) High manpower
China has a large population and thus more manpower. Therefore, more goods can be produced to meet the demands of many countries.
When more trade and goods are made, the profit for China is also directly proportional and hence China would prosper more.
5) Bulk produce
When more trade and goods are made, the profit for China is also directly proportional and hence China would prosper more.
5) Bulk produce
China is also bigger in economy, and produces its goods in mass production which makes it cheaper. This will attract more people in buying their products. Also, more people from other countries are investing in China and buying their goods due to the abundance of materials which result in even cheaper prices hence attracting more customers from all over the world to ship the goods from China to their respective countries.
This is a beneficial cycle, as only more and more people will start doing business with China.
Eventually, how will this affect Singapore?
With China entering the market as a huge competitor, the competition among countries regarding trade will be fiercer, resulting in greater loss for small but significant countries like Singapore. While more business is beneficial to China, other countries such as Singapore will be affected because lesser people will do business with these countries, and instead China will have an increase of popularity in the market. This results in inflation for the other countries such as Singapore which lose business.
Also when there is great manpower in China. Since there are more people in China as compared to Singapore, there is also more manpower to make and produce goods to export in China as compared to Singapore. Due to Singapore's small size, the amount of goods we can produce is limited. Hence, this will be a disadvantage to us.
CHINAS ECONOMICS- YITING
Today we played a mini game first to test our knowledge on China and its ranking positions int he world in the market trade productions. With the overwhelming population in China, China still takes the place of 2nd in Terms of GDP, Gross Domestic Product. With such a population in China, one must wonder, to attain such a high ranking, the people in the country must be very rich and efficient. But that's only partially true. China faces the problem of the rich being too rich while the poor being too poor. In Singapore, rules and taxes are set by deducting a certain amount of money from a persons salary according to the amount the person earns. Well of course, the more you earn, the more the government taxes you. This is one way the government tries to make the poor better by taxing these rich people and spending these money on focusing on helping the needy instead. While in China, no such rules are implemented and as a result. There are of course, implications. The rich and poor gap widening. With no money and nobody to fend for, the poor has no rights to do whatever they want to nor have a say in things as they do not have any platform to speak up for their own rights they should be entitled to. But the rich has all the status and wealth to get what she/he wants. By simply flourishing in ones job gets this person rich and richer, but the government does nothing about it. Yes, it may be true that China attained 2nd position in the world ranking. But looking again each person's Gdp per capita in China is not higher than Singapore, the income in Sjngapore is still more evenly distributed as the poor and rich are both looked after and accounted for. Whereas China government do not step up to take any measures, leading even widening gap of the rich and poor. This lesson taught me how Sinagpore actually have their good foresight and it warms me how each citizen in our country is taken care of and that they are accounted for. They are not left there to rot or feel sorry for themselves but are given opportunities to speak up on behalf of themselves. It also has shown how China has improved over the years and has been steadily climbing up the its own economic success rate. China has now matured to become a country where many products and merchandises come from.
CHINA'S ECONOMICS- TECKWENG
Today we played a mini game first to test our knowledge on China and its ranking positions int he world in the market trade productions. despite the big and overpopulated China, China still takes the place of 2nd in Terms of GDP, Gross Domestic Product. China has problems such as the rich being too rich and the poor being too far. In Singapore, the more you earn, the more the government taxes you. This is one way the government tries to let the poor do better by taxing the rich and spending these money to help the poor unlike China,resulting in implications. While in China, no such rules are implemented resulting in the rich and poor gap widening. China may have the 2nd position in the world ranking. This lesson taught me how Sinagpore has better foresight and that every citizen is being taken care of.
China's international trade has also blossomed alot. and it has expanded steadily since the opening of the economy in 1979. it has entered the markets of many countries and the amount of imports into many countries are mostly by China. China is now one of the biggest market in the world
the picture shows China's rapid growth compard to other countries which are also doing well
DWINDLING GROWTH OF SINGAPORE- ZHIYI
Predict future scenario of Singapore given the dwlinding growth.
There would be lesser young people in Singapore as many of them have aged over the years, there would be less pregnancy rates and therefore lesser young people to help work for Singapore. Singapore's population will grow smaller and smaller as the number of Singaporeans shrink over the years. There will not be enough manpower and the jobs would be opened up more for foreigners. There may be a situation where number of foreigners overthrow number of Singaporeans in Singapore.
How can Singapore prepare for these situations?
Singapore can prepare for these situations by promoting young couples or parents to give birth to more babies and the government can raise the Baby Bonus so that coupled will feel more supported or encouraged to give birth to another baby. We can also raise this decreasing population growth matter by organising campaigns and attracting the attention of fellow Singaporeans so that they will consider to give birth to more babies to help with this situation in Singapore.
DWINDLING GROWTH OF SINGAPORE- GABRIEL
This is my prediction of the future of Singapore given the dwindling growth and my reflection about possible situations that might happen and how Songapore can possibly prepare for them.
Firstly,when there is low birth rate,then the cons for that is there are more job opportunities.but when couples only have 1 child,when the couple is retired, chio is responsible of taking care of mot only theirselves, their children,but also their parents.This is a very tough job.This will lead to great stress in them.One way to prevent that from happening is for the government to encourage couples to have more kids.
Singaporeans can prepare for this by spending less money and so that when you grow old,you don't have to worry about having financial problems.
DWINDLING GROWTH OF SINGAPORE- VALENCIA
Without doubt, the population of a country will affect its economy. Ms Huang taught us of the different factors regarding population that affects economic growth.
Reasons for overpopulation:
-An increase in birth rate
More children are produced, hence increasing a country's population.
-A decrease in death rate
Lesser deaths result in a bigger population.
-Better healthcare
The infant mortality rate will increase and people will live longer due to better medicine and technology.
Overpopulation will cause:
-lesser resources
There is a higher demand for resources such as food and water. Therefore, resources will deplete and slowly run out if not replenished.
-lesser jobs
More people will be jobless and unable to support their families.
Reasons for under-population:
-low birth rate
The main reason for Singapore's dwindling growth is a low birth rate. Women in Singapore are giving birth to lesser children because they have education and thus are aware of family planning and birth control methods. Therefore, they plan their families beforehand, which often results in having lesser children. In Singapore's context, many working adults do not have the time to raise children. Even if they did have time, most young adults would not exceed having 2 children.
| Year | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Live-Births | 45,934 | 41,217 | 51,142 | 46,997 | 37,967 | 39,654 |
| Resident Live-Births | n.a. | 40,100 | 49,787 | 44,765 | 35,129 | 36,178 |
| Crude Birth Rate (Per 1,000 residents) | 22.1 | 17.6 | 18.2 | 13.7 | 9.3 | 9.5 |
| Total Fertility Rate (Per female) | 3.07 | 1.82 | 1.83 | 1.60 | 1.15 | 1.20 |
| Gross Reproduction Rate (Per female) | 1.49 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.77 | 0.56 | 0.58 |
| Net Reproduction Rate (Per female) | 1.42 | 0.86 | 0.88 | 0.77 | 0.55 | 0.58 |
| Total Deaths | 10,717 | 12,505 | 13,891 | 15,693 | 17,610 | 18,027 |
| Crude Death Rate (Per 1,000 residents) | 5.2 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Infant Mortality Rate (Per 1,000 resident live-births) | 20.5 | 8.0 | 6.6 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Life Expectancy at Birth (Years) | 65.8 | 72.1 | 75.3 | 78.0 | 81.7 | 82.0 |
| Life Expectancy at Birth for Males (Years) | 64.1 | 69.8 | 73.1 | 76.0 | 79.2 | 79.6 |
| Life Expectancy at Birth for Females (Years) | 67.8 | 74.7 | 77.6 | 80.0 | 84.0 | 84.3 |
the fertility rate and live births have been steadily decreasing.
 |
| Singapore's dwindling growth |
-late marriages
People now prefer to marry later, therefore causing lesser childbearing years for the women. When child-bearing years decrease, the birth rate will drop, resulting in dwindling growth.
| A couple in their 30s-40s |
These reasons are why Singapore's population growth is dwindling. In Singapore, parents are giving birth to lesser children because they fear not having the time and money to provide for their children. If Singapore's population continues decreasing at this rate, there will be a shortage of manpower due to a decrease in the working population and more foreigners will have to immigrate to Singapore to take these jobs. Therefore, more foreigners will be employed to do the work for us and Singapore might have to depend on immigrants to sustain the country. There will also be lesser people going into the military force and protecting our country. More old dependents will have to rely on working dependents. The dependency ratio will be higher and will create pressure on the working population because they have to work harder in order to support the other citizens that are not working. this can be seen through a population pyramid:
| In the future, the 'young dependents' at the bottom will be struggling to provide for the large chunk of the present 'working independents' |
Singapore will also face an aging population which means that there will be more elderly workers in the workforce in order to keep the country running. When they retire, there might not be enough young people to replace them. There might also be a need to open more elderly homes and close some childcare centres due to the lack of demand. Schools in Singapore might also close due to lesser children enrolling.
An example in Singapore is the popular news that Qiaonan Primary merged with Griffiths Primary to form Angsana Primary due to the lack of demand. Hence, we can see that the number of schools will consequently decrease if the number of students decrease.
Singapore might also suffer from weak defence from external threats because since the birth rate is decreasing, lesser men will be joining the military or going for National Service.
In contrary to this, China's government is enforcing a one child policy on all residents. People caught having more than one child will be punished with hefty fines. The positive impacts of this policy is that there will be a decrease in population growth and there is lesser competition for jobs and education. This also reduces the poverty rate, since more children mean spending more money. Having many children might result in parents not having enough money and resources to provide for their children. However, this policy might also result in a higher rate of abortion and adoption. China's population however, is very different as compared to Singapore's.
DWINDLING GROWTH OF SINGAPORE- TECKWENG
PREDICION OF SINGAPORES FUTURE
As Singapore's population decreases, the economics will of course be most affected in Singapore. There will be lesser manpower in Singapore and thus, there will be lesser results. there will also be more foreign talent invading singapore and there will be less opportunities for Sinagaporeans. As this happens, more Singaporeans would leave Singapore and immigrate to other countries for more job opporutunities. This will end up being a cycle and the population of Singapore will get less and less.
PREPERATION FOR DWINDLING GROWTH
There can be more campaigns to raise awareness of the slow growth in Singapore and more singaporeans will try to do their part in Singapores growth. The baby bonus has also be given to let parents of children have more benefits. this will encourage more singaporeans to have more children and thus led to more growth in singapre.
ONE CHILD POLICY- ZHIYI
Today in class, we learnt about one-child policy in China which helps to control the massive birth rate and fertility rate in China and also helps in slowing down China's population growth. When there are fewer people in China, it would leave more resources to the rest of the people and it brings people better resources to enjoy for themselves.
China abolished this policy in year 1978 and there were many advertisements in China to encourage it. The population was too high in China and it was hard to cope with little resources for everyone so the government had to come out with a policy so that fertility rate can be controlled. However, this policy also brought about many consequences. Some consequences I have identified are:
-the next generation of children cannot cope with their parents financially as they were the only child in the family.
-lesser chance for adoption as many parents would rather raise their own kid than adopting one.
-many disowned daughters in China as parents would prefer a son.
-increasing number of couples turning to medical facilities for twins as there was no penalty for twins.
-many couples going overseas to give birth to their second child eg: Hong Kong (birth tourism).
-accusations of human rights violation as the number of abortions and sterilizations increases.
Although there are many negative consequences, there was also benefits that were brought about by the policy.
These resources can be invested in building better homes for the people in China as well as providing better medical facilities, advancement in technology and improvement on education facilities and this causes people to have better lives in China.
When there are fewer children in China, the children in China can get more chances for better education because there are less competency for enrollment and there are fewer children to cope with for each teacher. China also uses the resources to focus on education as they built more schools and facilities for the students, providing a better environment or students and in turn, they will get better educated people to work for the country and its economy will flourish even more.
Therefore I agree on the one-child policy in China as it brings economy growth in return and improvement in people's lives but I feel that family planning should be taught to everyone in China so they can better manage their family in the future.
ONE CHILD POLICY- TECKWENG
WHAT IS THE ONE CHILD POLICY?
The one child policy was introduced to reduce the population in China. Families could have only one child or penalties would be given
WHY WAS THE ONE CHILD POLICY INTRODUCED?
As China was a less developed country at that time and many people were not very educated, it resulted in less or no family planning at all. The costs of living was also not very high which resulted in the great population growth in China. When the population is so big, there will be lesser economic growth in China. More money would have to be spent on the people and lesser money can be used to improved on China's living environment.
MY THOUGHTS
I feel that this is a very effective and smart way of improving the economy of China. China is a very huge country and has huge potential to do well. This method not only allows China to do better as a country, it also lets families in China do better and lets everyone have a better living lifestyle. For example, if a family has lesser children, each child will be able to get more money from the parent and the child will be able to do better individually. there will be less competition for jobs and there wont be a lack of jobs for many people in China.
ONE CHILD POLICY- VALENCIA
Today, we have learnt about the one-child policy in China. The main point of this policy is to control the population growth in China and prevent overpopulation which China is in danger of. The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. This policy is introduced by Mao Zedong in 1978 and enacted in 1980. Despite controversies, it has been reported that 76% of the Chinese population supports the policy in a 2008 survey as the fertility rate began to decline significantly. I think that there are both benefits and disadvantages to this policy.
| Posters in China encouraging only one child |
Benefits
When there is lesser people in the country, there is a smaller demand for resources such as food and water. Due to a smaller population, the government can use the money spent on these children for other uses to boost the economy of China. It can used to:
-improve education:
|
|
| A school in China |
more schools can be built and facilities can be improved for a better education. this will lead to more economic growth as better facilities provide students more knowledge, giving them a better job in China in the future. With better educated students becoming working adults in the future, China's economy will boost even more.
-improve healthcare:
| A hospital in China |
This is beneficial for the aging population. This one-child policy is beneficial for the country's economic growth and also to improve the peoples' living standards and quality of life.
Disadvantages
1. Accusations of human rights violations
The one-child policy has been challenged in principle for violating a human right to determine the size of one's own family. According to a 1968 proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights, "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children."
2. ageing population
A new problem will arise, which is the ageing population. According to the video shown in class, it is estimated that 25% of the population in China will be 65 years old and above in 2015. This means that three working adults will have to support one old dependent, and this does not include supporting the young dependents. Thus, there will be fewer people to earn more money to support the elderly.
3. Increase of adoption or abortion.
Couples who have a second child will most likely put him or her up for abortion in order not to face the huge fines that put this policy in place. This will increase the number of orphans, abandoned children and illegal children in China. Because of the policy, many children will grow up parentless, and this might take a toll on their social lives in the future as well. No child should have their parents taken away.
Also, more abortions will be present as it is well-known that sons are preferred. Therefore, many female babies will be aborted so that the couple can still have another child, preferably a son. I feel that we should not kill an unborn child just because of his or her gender, because whether born or not, the child is still a living being.
I have personally been to one of China’s orphanages. I was 11 years old then, and I went to China with my aunt and uncle to help out in the orphanages there out of goodwill. There, I realised that there were many girls. The proportion was about 3 females (or more!) to 1 male. In addition to that, the males were mostly born with disfunctionalities or illnesses, which is expensive to treat, hence being the reason why they were put up for adoption in the first place. I felt very sad for my female friends then, because I knew that it was not fair for them to grow up without parents.
In conclusion, I do not support this one-child policy although it is beneficial to China’s economy. We should cherish every human being. Although there might be economic growth for the country, too many lives and too much happiness is sacrificed in exchange for the country's prosperity.
ONE CHILD POLICY- YITING
Last week, during CID lesson, I learnt about the one-child policy rule. I do not agree with the Chinese government on this rule. Firstly, this rule should not be applied just to stop the ever growing population in China. This one-child policy rule has many disadvantages to it and it is bound to show in the future.
Firstly, having a one-child policy of only increases the burden of the only child to take care of the aging population which is larger than the current new generations and the taxes and stress of taking care of the whole family under the child's wing is indeed taxing when the child grows up. As most of the Chinese population now is made up to mainly male, there are also lesser eligible brides and lesser birth rates. In this case there would be more bachelors and lesser babies. Not only does these factors show why it is inadvisable rule of the one-child policy to be implied, it is true that with lesser birth rates, there would be faster prosperity in the country, but ultimately the younger generation would have many things to deal with them without any siblings nor little cousins to depend on. In times of family crisis, there will be nobody to turn to and the situation is indeed unpleasant. Therefore, I think that the one-child policy is indeed a bad one and that many people will suffer due to that rule. Sinagpore has also once implemented a not more than two children policy in 1960s where Sinagpore experienced a sudden baby boom and Sungapore back then, a lesser developed country, struggled to cope to feed so many mouths while catering for the country's future. The rule was implemented and the number of babies later given birth to yearly shrinked due to the country's steady growth. As the government taxes the adults, the parents find it hard to cope with so many children at once, and thus limit theirselves to lesser children while trying to conserve lesser money as now a child's education is expensive and time costly. This will lead to Singapore having an aging population overtime where most of the population is in the working class while the number of child births declines. China has a huge population to look after and the government must try hard to keep laws in order while managing its people and it is difficult to make a decision.
Singapore's 2 child policy
A poster on the one-child policy implemented in China
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE- VALENCIA
Although there is no official poverty line, there are 200,000 local families who are living in the bottom fifth of the income scale. Their average monthly income in 2010 was $2,040, but the poorest 10 per cent – about 100,000 households – earned only $1,400 per month.
I feel that although poverty in a country is inevitable, there should be more of a balance between the people of high-income and the people of a lower income. If salary difference has a huge gap, then there would be both extremely rich and extremely poor people in our society, which will result in more poverty. However, if there is little salary gap, the people of lower income will be able to live comfortably enough to lead a simple life.
However, there have been changes in our society to reduce poverty by the government. For example, the Financial Assistance Scheme and community assistance can greatly change the lives the people who are suffering for poverty. I believe that these schemes are extremely helpful and can benefit the people suffering from poverty greatly. I am extremely happy that these can support a child's education and upbringing so as to change their own life paths out of poverty in the future.
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE- ZHIYI
I believe that all of us have seen street beggars in Singapore even though it is illegal. In shopping malls, coffee shops, outside MRT etc: They are mostly disabled people who tries to sell tissue on the streets to feed themselves. I feel that in Singapore, it is seldom to see people who look healthy to be begging. Most of them look disabled or old and they have to turn to begging in the end. Currently, there are 200,000 local familes who are living at the bottom of the income scale. The poorest 100,000 households only earned $1400 per month which is barely able to feed a family of 4.
I feel that there will be poverty in every country but it is more of how the government tries to resolve these problems even if it only consists of the minorities. I am proud of Singapore's governance because I have seen the ideas they have come out to help our country in this situation. Two examples are the Silver Support Scheme and the Central Provident Fund that I have read on the Straits Times. The Silver Support Scheme helps to give payouts to families each month to help them in their monthly income. The CPF is also another great idea that helps the working adults save for their future, when they grow old and retire. However, it is a problem because of Singpore's dwindling which has already caused burden to the economy. On top of inflation, the Silver Support Scheme must definitely give more and more payouts to the families which even more pressurizes our economy burden.
All in all, I have learnt a lot from this lesson and I have also found out additional information from other sources :)
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE-YITING
As everyone knows that Singapore is a prosperous country, probably one of the richest countries in the world. But behind the scenes, the prosperity does not apply for each and every citizen. In Singapore, the poverty rate is still as Hugh as ever, and these poor people whom have little resources are indeed the minority ones. Many of their living needs have not been met and many of them still suffer badly. Even though Singapore is a rich country it is shown in Picture 1 that the statistics of the poverty rate in Singapore is so much higher than other well income countries.
 |
| Figure 1 (Statistics of richer countries' poverty rate, 2010) |
It is indeed unfortunate for these minority to suffer and not be able to live well below their means.Singapore has set up campaigned to raise funds and help those people and many people have joined in the action of this fund-raising activity. Many news reports have been released over the years on ways to address poverty problems in Singapore and improve the livelihood if the citizens. It is indeed a big concern and it should be dealt with as soon as possible. Here are some pictures of poverty in SG.
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE- TECKWENG
Singapore is known as the world-class country with an excellent economy. The city with financially stable citizens. As a singapore citizen, i know that singapore is not as perfect as everyone thinks it is. We see old aunties selling tissue packets at the entrance of MRT stations and uncles playing the keyboard to earn a few dollars as donations. They do this just so they can keep up with the fast pace of life in singapore.
I feel that although it is impossible to completely eliminate poverty, there should be a balance between the people of high-income and the people of a lower income. the salary difference should not have a large gap, so that there will not be such a wide gap between the rich and poor in our society, which will result in more poverty.
However, our society has implemented many things to help to ease the problem. For example, there is the financial assistance scheme in school which will help to ease the financial problems of many families and give students more chance to study and do well in school.
This is evidence that although many believe that there isnt poverty in singapore and that everyone is doing relatively well. Poverty still exists in singapore.
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE-GABRIEL
These are the statistics of the populations beggars in Singapore:
From 2002 (the earliest that comparable data can be found). In 2002, the median income is S$2,083, which means that the poverty line was $1,000 in 2002.In 2002, there was 16% of Singaporeans who earned below $1,000. As such, you can see that the poverty has grown from 16% in 2002 to 26% in 2011
This picture is taken from a website
Singapore's government makes begging illegal too.
(obviously copied from Yi Ting and Valencia)
A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS- VALENCIA
Today, Ms Huang showed us a picture of an African child curled up weakly with a vulture behind it. Ms Huang asked us: what name would we give the photo? Many different titles were suggested. "Abandoned baby", "hungry" and "left out" were the popular names. Most of us did not notice the vulture at all. When Ms Huang revealed the vulture at the back, it didn't make any sense. Why would the photographer want to take a picture of a child and a vulture together? And then Ms Huang asked us to research for the photo and its background, and I was horrified. It was an award-winning photograph. the photographer, Mr Carter, was stationed at that plot of land to take a picture that depicted extreme famine. He then took this picture. I was shocked to finally realised that the vulture was not just standing there with a purpose. It was actually waiting for the child to die before eating it! The child was crawling towards the feeding camp, but Mr Carter appeared not to care about the welfare of the baby and only wanted to take his photo graph, making netizens furious. They started to hurl insults at Carter saying he was heartless to not save the baby or give him or her food and shelter. I had also felt indignant at the man's actions. How could he be so inhumane as to leave the child there to starve? But Ms Huang explained that Carter was firmly told not to touch anyone there in fear of contracting any diseases. However, netizens continued bombarding Carter with insults, plaguing him with guilt, causing him to commit suicide in the end.
Next, Ms Huang showed us a picture of a woman carrying a baby begging for money from another passer-by.
| I tried to find the most similar photo, but this is what I got. Sorry! |
She also showed us another photo, of a man begging for change just to call home.
| This is not the exact photo, because the words on the board were different, but the photo did look something like this. |
Many people in our class immediately chose to give it to the woman, because they thought she needed it more to raise her child, whereas the man could work and get the money. My classmates pitied that she had to carry the child around and beg for money at the same time. On the other hand, they thought that the man was able to earn money by working as he looked healthy and able to labour. I, contrary of what most of my classmates believed, felt that I would give the money to the man. This is because I was convinced that the woman was a syndicate, as I had learnt before when I did research on them for a speech previously.
True enough, Ms Huang then revealed the backgrounds of the two individuals. It turned out, that the man was a homeless orphan who lost his cart and needed a few dollars to get back up, whereas the woman was working for a syndicate and was carrying the child to gain compassion. The reason why such beggars work under syndicates is because the syndicates would sometimes give them drugs that they desired but could not get their hands on. I pitied the woman as she had to beg for money and yet would not get all of it, since she is working for someone else who had a hold on her. However now, I was certain that I would not give the dollar to the syndicate.
Ms Huang then elaborated on how these syndicates were willing to feed the children alcohol to stop them from crying all the time, and sometimes even carried dead babies just so that they could get the money. Everyone was stunned by the revelation, and moved over to the right side of the room immediately. This made me reflect upon my choices.
How did I decide who to give the money to?
I suddenly realised that there are two sides to every story, and we have to carefully think out the possibilities in every scenario, and from there, make a wise decision.
From this week's lesson, I learnt that we should be more cautious and careful of our surroundings, and we must '三思而行'. We cannot make split-second decisions, and instead should think it through using the 'See, Think, Wonder' method to make correct judgements. This lesson has taught me about beggars I may face in China, where my class will be going for OELP this year.
For the next half of the story, Ms Huang introduced a story to us:
"一艘游轮遭遇海难，船上有对夫妻好不容易来到救生艇前，艇上只剩一个位子，这时，男人把女人推向身后，自己跳上了救生艇。女人站在渐沉的大船上，向男人喊出了一句话……"
At this moment, Ms Huang asked the class：“你猜，女人会喊出什么话？”
Everyone in the class immediately started thinking of the different insults the woman would have said. "I hate you!" "Go to hell!" Different insults were hurled. We were all angry at the selfish man who didn't care about the life of his wife.
Teacher then revealed the answer. The sentence the woman shouted was "照顾好我们的孩子！”
She continued by showing us the other half of the story.
"轮船沉没了，男人回到家乡，独自带大女儿。多年后，男人病故，女儿整理遗物时，发现了父亲的日记。原来，父亲和母亲乘坐游轮时，母亲已患了绝症。关键时刻，父亲冲向了那唯一的生机，他在日记中写道：“我多想和你一起沉入海底，可我不能。为了女儿，我只能让你一个人长眠在深深的海底……”"
We were shocked at this revelation and felt extremely guilty for blaming the man earlier. He wasn't selfless or heartless as we thought he was: he was doing what was right, which was to survive and take care of their daughter. The man must have been between a rock and a hard place. Choosing between seeing his wife die before his eyes just so that he survived to take care of their daughter or die with the wife he loved so much... it must have been a tough decision. Although this may not be a real story, but the man should not have suffered so much criticism for surviving and letting his wife die instead. He did the right thing.
From this, I learnt that we should always ask ourselves the question: 'Why would this happen?' instead of jumping to conclusions and making false accusations. No all that we see is what we think it is. Always think carefully before reacting: sometimes the unexpected can happen.
On 23 of January, during CID lesson,we had a really interesting activity.In one of the slides that our teacher prepared,one of them showed a picture of a man begging for money,holding a cardboard stating that he needed some money because his belongings were stolen. Beside that picture,there was a lady carrying a baby and asking for money.
So,our teacher asked us,"If you only had a dollar,who would you want to give the money to,the man or the woman carrying the baby? i supported the woman. Majority of use decided to give it to the woman as they felt that the woman not only had to take care of herself,but also her baby.whereas for those who wanted to give he money to the man,they felt that the man was capable of doing more things than the woman.
To our horror,most of us would have regretted for our descision. Our teacher revealed to us that this man was genuinely in need of his money because his things were stolen !but for the woman, she was actually working/begging for a syndicate. From what I know but syndicates is that, they kidnap people and get them to beg. is means that the money that we give her isn't for her but for the syndicate.
Through this activity,I have learnt that we need to understand the entire story before jumping into conclusions. Doing this will help us make better decisions and right choices.
All this things we learn is to prepare is for our overseas trip with the school.i think when I'm in China/ Taiwan, I will do things wisely and not make choices without thinking thoroughly so as to avoid getting scammed or cheated.
When I was having my vacation I'm Korea,I saw a man that was kneeling down and placing his head on the floor to avoid getting recognized.i realised that this beggar was not an old man but was a 30+ year old man. I knew that he was working for a syndicate too.because no young man would want to beg right?
Thanks for reading:)
A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS- YITING
CID lesson last week was definitely something else different. It was enriching and tragic at the same time. We were first shown a picture of a vulture and a baby on a plot of deserted land and were told to each write down a title thought suitable for that picture.
Many different titles came out, such as " abandoned baby in the wild" and " left out". In that short exercise, we were told to research on what was the actual "behind" story of the picture. To my horror, I realised that the oicture was not just any ordinary picture found in the images of Wikipedia, but an award winning photograph. But what really struck me hard was the story of how the picture was taken and its events that lead after it. The man whom took this photo, a Mr Carter was stationed at that plot of land to take a picture depicting extreme famine and he took the picture with a accidental vulture in it as well. It turns out that the starving baby, which looked like merely skin and bones, was crawling towards the feeding camp. After taking the picture and winning the prize, netizens started to hurl insults at Carter, some staying that he was mean and shameless to take such a photo without any sympathy for the baby. But it was said that Crter was firmly told not to touch anyone there in fear of contracting any diseases. This continuos torrents of insults made Carter take his own life in the end. This picture is so much more than mere famine, it's haunting story is what makes it truly special. After this, we were later shown two more pictures. One showed a man holding up a cardboard with some words written on it. The poor man had his belongings taken away and is need of some money to contact someone to go home. Hole the other picture shows a lady carrying a baby on her hip asking a man for money. We were told a scenario where if we had a dollar, who would we donate it to? The class took a vote and the majority chose the lady with the baby, including me. All of ur hearts went out to the starving baby and thought that giving the dollar to the lady would be a wiser choice. Though the other group of classmates stated a dollar would not save a hungry baby but can save a man by spending the dollar to call his closed ones. The discussion soon ceased before Ms Huang showed us the real truth about these 2 beggars. The man was really in need of money and he is very humble. While I was shocked at the truth of the lady with the baby whom I voted for. The lady actually belongs to a bunch of syndicates who make use of babies or pitied audience to gain sympathy and earn money. This deceiving act really caught me off handed. I later then knew that many of these babies were drugged to make them appear to be sleeping while the syndicates carry out their jobs of begging money while having the baby slung over their shoulders. I feel that not only is this very deceitful of the syndicates, I also think that they are very cruel to deny the child's future and childhood because of their need to want to earn easy money by gaining sympathy. I never knew that such things existed and have learnt to open our eyes wider to the truth. We should not accept what our eyes may see and seem to be the truth. What lies underneath the entire thing might be a totally different picture and we must not let our guards to allow ourselves to fall into the traps of deceitful people. "A picture paints a thousand words" I do agree with this statement. This then marked the end of our lesson. It was truly an eye-opener and I hope that more lessons of such can be shared more often during CID lessons.
A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS- XINTONG
The last CID lesson was mainly about different pictures and the hidden stories behind every picture.
{inserts picture}
When my teacher- Ms Huang showed us this picture, none of us knew about the story behind the picture. We came up with various titles to express our thoughts and feelings about the picture and different classmates had different points of view. After knowing the hidden story of the picture, it saddened me as I really pitied the photographer and the child. The photographer felt that he should have helped the child instead of trying to stay away from him to prevent the transmitting of diseases and only focused on taking the photographs. Though he had won awards for the picture he took, he ended his life as he could not take the pressure, which is a tragic incident.
If I were the photographer, I would definitely be heartbroken to see the state of the child and would not bear to leave him there as he may die of hunger or get eaten u by the vulture. Even though, the child may transmit diseases to me, he is also a life form after all. Although there is a chance that both of us may end up dying of diseases, it would be depressing for me to just leave him there alone, with no one to seek help to.
Not only did Ms Huang showed us pictures, she also showed as a short story and asked us to guess what the woman said to her husband. Lots of classmates were shouting out negative words and sentences which they thought might have been said. I did not really participate in guessing as I had come across with the same passage on the internet before. When I read it online in the past, I was surprised to find out what the woman shouted and felt bad for thinking bad about her husband. I learnt that we should not jump to conclusion based on given tests and pictures. We need to find out the story behind the incident to come to a conclusion.
I always jump to conclusion just after listening to one side of the incident and I would only realised that what I thought was not what happened after listening to the whole incident and the real story behind the incident. We should always think twice and not just make quick decisions or conclusions as the world is not as simple as we think it may be.
一艘游轮遭遇海难，船上有对夫妻好不容易来到救生艇前，艇上只剩一个位子，这时，男人把女人推向身后，自己跳上了救生艇。女人站在渐沉的大船上，向男人喊出了一句话……
讲到这里，老师问学生：“你猜，女人会喊出什么话？”
学生们群情激愤，都说“我恨你”、“我瞎了眼”……
这时老师注意到有个学生一直没发言，就向他提问，这个学生说：“老师，我觉得女人会喊——照顾好我们的孩子！”
老师一惊，问：“你听过这个故事？”学生摇头：“没有，但我母亲生病去世前，就是对我父亲这样说的！”老师感慨道：“回答正确。下面，大家听我把这个故事讲完。”
轮船沉没了，男人回到家乡，独自带大女儿。多年后，男人病故，女儿整理遗物时，发现了父亲的日记。原来，父亲和母亲乘坐游轮时，母亲已患了绝症。关键时刻，父亲冲向了那唯一的生机，他在日记中写道：“我多想和你一起沉入海底，可我不能。为了女儿，我只能让你一个人长眠在深深的海底……”
故事讲完，教室里沉默了，老师知道，学生们已经听懂了这个故事：世间的善与恶，有时错综复杂，难以分辨，所以请不要轻易做判断。(adapted from http://www.meiwen66.com/jingdianxiaohua/jdxh_458.html)
Last but not least, Ms Huang also shared 2 pictures with us and we were supposed to pen down thoughts using the " See, think, wonder" thinking routine. One of the picture depicted a homeless and broke man asking for help, using a cardboard. His belongings and money were all stolen and hence, he needs money to make a phone call to get help. The other picture depicted a woman carrying a child and was standing at an awkward distance near a man who was reading. Later on, we found out that both of the homeless man and the woman with the child are both beggars. After we pen down our thoughts about the pictures and shared with the class, Ms Huang asked the class that if we were given a dollar to give to either of the beggars, who would we give the dollar to and why? Most of the students, including me, chose to give the dollar to the woman as we pitied that she had to carry the child around and beg for money at the same time. On the other hand, we also thought that the man was able to earn money by working and should not be just sitting there and waiting for others to donate money to him.
However, Ms Huang then revealed about the stories behind both pictures and the woman carrying a child is actually a syndicate. I was not really surprised as my parents have talked about syndicate before and they told me that I should only donate to the "beggars" in Singapore if they have their license with them. I pitied the woman as she had to beg others for money yet she profited much less from it and she had to suffer. Even though I knew that the woman was a syndicate, I was still indecisive of who I should give the dollar to as things always have pros and cons.
I am fortunate to be in Singapore as not as any people suffer from poverty as those in other countries. Furthermore, beggars are not allowed in Singapore.
After this CID lesson, I learnt that "世间的善与恶，有时错综复杂，难以分辨，所以请不要轻易做判断。" We should be more cautious when it comes to making decisions, be it giving beggars money or helping a lost child on the road.
This lesson also provides advices that we should heed during our OELP to either China or Taiwan. "It is a key to remember that along with what you see, you should also get information on the background, the customs or about the places you go. Often, research before or after can help you form more accurate perceptions, (just like the story behind pictures and incidents)."
A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS-TECKWENG
I learnt about a picture 'speaks a thousand words'. Ms Huang shows us a few pictures on starvation and beggars asking for money. I learnt that through a picture, we can understand many things apt hat are very important in the picture.
But through the lesson, I also learnt to look deeper and not to take things as it is. Pictures can sometimes result In serious misconceptions.
For example one of the pictures had a woman holding a child. She looked like a beggar roaming the streets begging for money. But she is actually in fact from a syndicate of woman who lie to get money.
Here is another award winning picture.
this picture can show the poverty in Africa but it also shows something which might be even more important. although this baby is about to be eaten by the vulcher, the photographer is still busy taking the picture instead of saving the baby. this would be an example of a picture says a thousand words.
we should think out of the box and not be so straightforward in our thinking, this would let us think of many things we have perhaps never thought of before.
