Day 15: WISCO + Water Shortage

Our first Industrial Visit: Wuhan Iron & Steel Corp. (WISCO), founded in 1958 is one of China's first supergiant iron and steel complex! Of course by super-giant, it means that the WISCO complex is really really HUGE.

When we entered the complex, we didn't even know we were in it until we noticed that all the buildings bore the WISCO name and logo, and even then, our bus had to travel quite some distance before we reached our destination, the iron mill.

But before we enter, all helmets on!

Look at the furnace:

When it opened, we all could feel the intense heat even though we were at least 10meters away.

And the iron slab produced was also red hot, so much so that even after passing through many machines to pull and stretch and cool it, we could still feel its heat even though we were standing on a walkway quite high up.

The process of making the iron we use everyday and used into making steel starts from the slab of iron, and is then rolled on a conveyor belt through different machines to pull the slab thinner and thinner and finally roll it into a huge roll.

After the visit, we had a communal lunch. Why communal? Because...LOOK AT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE EATING IN MY ROOM!

its a party, its a restaurant, its my room

The vegetarian restaurant must be very busy nowadays with our large orders for delivered food. I wonder how they will feel when we leave. Haha.

At night, while doing the Gantt Chart for our project, we received breaking news: WATER SHORTAGE!

And the worst news. All 3 of us in my room had yet to bathe and there was no water on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor of the hostel blocks, so we can't bathe, can't wipe, can't clean, and CAN'T FLUSH.

Luckily our resourcefulness kicked in and we asked the student leaders if they had any water, which they didn't, but told us to go and take some water from their block's upper floors because our upper floors are girls' dormitories.

Luckily, by 12midnight, water supply resumed, although water pressure was still quite low and we had to bathe in cold water. But still, water is water, and water is precious!

Reflection:
Before today, I have never had the experience of not having water readily available, and although we have been shown pictures water rationing exercises in Social Studies in Primary School where people bring all sorts of containers to try to bring as much water home as possible. Of course this minor incident is nothing compared to actual historical water rationing exercises because of droughts in Singapore, but it was nice to see everyone coming together to get water for as many rooms as possible even though we had to carry the pails of water in the rain in the middle of the night. Of course eventually we found a shortcut and just asked the girls to help us fill the water from the girls bathroom on the 4th floor. Nevertheless, the message is clear, none of us owe Singapore a living, so we must all find our own means of coping and survival. Just as in the theme/opening song used in the classic Singapore drama 出路, about our forefathers lives when they first arrived:

"飘洋过海，我吃得起苦" - 动力火车, ‘吃得起苦’

Which translates to "Coming across the seas, I am able to take suffering"

All in all, today was a great example of community spirit, with the communal lunch (very wholesome family-like feel) and the water shortage at night. I'm sure this "unique" bonding experience will not be easily forgotten by everyone.

Day 14: Philosophy Morning, Birthday Evening

Chinese Philosophy class in the morning, with Ms Grace Tao, who puts in so much effort to provide us with materials to help us understand the complex ideology behind major Chinese Schools of Thoughts such as Confucianism (儒家),

Daosim/Taoism (道家),

Moism (墨家), Lawism (法家), Buddhism (佛家)

as well as the Main philosophers associated such as Confucius (孔子), Mencius (孟子), Zhuang Zi (庄子), and Lao Tzu (老子).

Although somewhat harder to grasp at the beginning, I really appreciate Ms Tao's efforts to make us easier to understand such as looking and photocopying excerpts from books in English to enable us to read and understand better, and videos such as one on Mencius and another on Lao Tzu, both masters in Taoism.

Lao Tzu in the video, explaining the defining concepts of Taoism

To help us better understand the philosophies, Ms Grace also showed us some of the famous quotes/sayings by these philosophers regarding their philosophy.

My favorite is this saying by Confucius:

Mind-warpingly wise

In the evening, we planned a surprise birthday celebration for our dear friend, Zhen Zhao, at the Greenery Cafe.

We had dinner, cake and presented our present for him. While we were doing so, some of the local students who joined us asked if this is our custom, to present the gift in public. Curious, I asked how did they normally did it. In China, Face-saving is as important as in Singapore, thus when they present gifts, they usually just leave it in the person's room or pass it to them the day after to avoid embarrassment for those that did not get gifts.

Reflection:

Personally, I feel that the way the Chinese students give birthday presents is very considerate, as they consider the feelings of others first and foremost even when celebrating a friend's birthday. In Singapore, when we present gifts, we do it publicly even though we try not to attract too much attention, which I feel would impact the mind of guests who had not brought presents feel very awkward. Even with present sharing, the public presentation of gifts could also make others feel bad when they compare gifts such as the size or cost of the gift which could make the giver feel inferior. A birthday is meant to celebrate a person's anniversary of birth, so I feel that it is quite a good practice to also present gifts in private to consider the feelings of everyone present, which would certainly make the celebration feel even better.

Day 11, 12, 13: Gorgeous 3 Gorges

Finally back after 3 days spent on a cruise to see the 3 Gorges.

The cool weather, beautiful scenery and good food provided on board certainly gave us a good chance to rest ourselves.

my room, room 4115

The cool weather certainly made it even better for us Singaporeans, used to daily hot and humid weather. But the most unique part must have been the experience of the ship locks, which my classmates and I have learned as part of our Maritime Management module, so we had to take on the role of tour guides and explain to others who had not learned it yet.the lowest level of the ship lock at the 3 Gorges Dam going up from downstream, total duration for all 5 levels is 4 hours +

We also visited many scenic spots along the Yangtze river, such as the Shen Nong Stream which is the home of the hanging coffins and the ethnic Tujia people.
beautiful mountain range with mist and low clouds because it was raining
We also visited the 3 Gorges Dam proper this morning to take a look at the various memorials and scenic spots to take pictures and see the Dam with.

the 3 gorges dam - view from upstream at the 185 platform in the Three Gorges Dam Scenic Area

Reflection:
It cannot be denied that the 3 Gorges dam is a sight to behold, and the increased water level caused by the flooding of the river behind the dam has made it easier to tour and see the mountain ranges and made river transport and trade easier with the ship locks, there is a huge price to pay.
1.3 billion people and villages had to relocate because they were going to be flooded, and some old people, according to our tour guide, refused to relocate from their village and took suicide. The completion of the dam and flooding of the area has also seen an increased rate of landslides in the area, and many cultural and historical landmarks are likely to be forever lost. Furthermore, the increased water level, from about 70meters to around 170 meters has made the mountain tops become nearer, and original natural landmarks such as the vertical limestone gorges of Shen Nong Stream will almost be totally submerged.
Even in Singapore, we must also always consider the ecological, environmental, societal and other costs development projects require, in order to achieve sustainable development. Without it, the future generations will not have confidence in Singapore's ability to progress further, as we are already resource-scarce. Thus, it is very important to consider the many aspects and hidden costs of development projects, because even the Three Gorges Dam Project took more than 50% of their budget to pay for relocation and resettlement of people and villages affected by the flooding and building of the dam.

Day 11: Just before 3 Gorges

Another rest day, no lessons just to give us time to pack for the 3-day trip to the 3 Gorges Dam. Looking forward to the ship, the sights, the cold air, the seating toilet, etc. Okay, time to go wake everyone else up.

Day 10: Groupwork, Fireworks

Another beautiful day today, cool and partly cloudy. Woke up late at 9.15 am because WE HAD NO CLASSES!!! This is because at 3pm, we had to show Mr Chia our Statement of Work and Work Breakdown Structure, so my group met and completed our work right outside the hostel on the benches at the badminton courts.

the dog that won't eat cake - our new mascot?

It was very interesting to just sit there on the benches in the cool morning and look at the people coming in, some eating breakfast, some here to play sports, and other in business wear although its still a public holiday.
There were also some mothers who brought their child in to sit and eat breakfast. Watching the child play with himself made me both happy and sad, happy to see such simple happiness which seems all too rare in Singapore nowadays, and sad that unlike my childhood, the boy will only have himself to play with because of the one-child policy.
Anyway, fast forward to evening, where my roommates went to Walmart on our own. Having gone before, we knew which bus to take, but didn't know where to stop at. Regardless, we boarded the bus and listened patiently for the bus system to announce the name of the bus stop.
As the bus was very crowded, the bus driver seemed to be really in a rush, and telling people to hurry up and board, or just tap their cards and board from the exit door at the back of the bus. Then we went to eat with the other people who were there, zhenzhao, joanna, yixian and some local students. The food in the restaurant was really nice, although it was also oily and spicy, with lots of chilli and pepper, just like how the locals like it, apparently.
At night, when we returned, those who bought the Wishing Lantern (许愿灯) brought them out and went to the badminton court to set them off. After writing all our wishes down onto the 3 lanterns, we proceeded to light the wax block attached to the bottom of the lantern, and let the fire heat the air up and watch them float up into the sky, to deliver our wishes to heaven.
Curious to know what I wrote? "全家幸福，身体健康" (whole family be happy and healthy), because although I'm not with them, my thought are always with them no matter where I go, for they are where my heart is, as is Singapore which is where my home is.

Reflection:
As today there weren't many goings-on, I reflect on how I feel I have performed as a group leader, and I am actually somewhat disappointed in myself. Because when I compare to the progress of my group to others, I feel that we are quite slow. Another thing is that I feel I'm not doing enough as a leader, to initiate group conversations and brainstorming for ideas etc.
Regardless, now that I have identified areas where I feel I'm weaker in, I'm sure I can do even better in the future.

Day 9: Mid-Autumn Nightmare

Such a drastic change in weather. It has been raining the whole day and its wet and cold outside. While everyone was huddled in sweaters and jackets, I was running around in a T-shirt and Jeans celebrating the rain! HAHA

Lessons today were all Project Management, Practical first then Lecture after lunch.

After practical, I went back to my room, and wanted to unlock my luggage, which I had somewhat stupidly locked it with my number-padlock in the morning on impulse...

AND I CAN'T UNLOCK IT!!!! Apparently the last digit of the padlock has malfunctioned, so although the number is correct, the gear just won't click and unlock it. NOOOOO!!!

After lunch at the vegetarian restaurant, because we didn't want to boss to deliver food in the rain, I asked the restaurant staff for directions to any hardware shop nearby with the intention of buying a metal cutter or something. In the end, I bought this:

and proceeded to break the lock, with help from my roomies. End result:

Cat and Mouse; Hammer and Padlock

Great success at lock-breaking, and now its time for lecture. After lecture, everyone had group meetings to decide and start work on the Statement of Work (SOW) and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the OIE Video which is now used for PM Project too. After thinking and thinking, we got hungry and distracted, so out we went to a nearby Muslim restaurant. Looking at the caps the restaurant staff were wearing, I would think that they are from the minority Uighur group or something.

Anyway, it was still raining, but we had time to burn before our mid-autumn celebrations, we went for a walk around the campus, partly because I was attracted by the orange sky. It turns out that the sky was orange around the main block because the main block was lit up like so:

However the night wind was really strong and the raindrops were so fat and heavy we all wanted to go back. But not before some group photos taken behind the main block!

At night, we had our own mini-celebrations for Mid-Autumn Festival! This would be the first time I'm celebrating it overseas and away from home, but I guess this makes it even more unique.

Reflection:

Today being mid-autumn, a festival for reunion, I had a lengthy phone call home, to update my parents and to tell them what I have experienced. Over 20 minutes of conversation later, I realized that indeed I missed seeing my parents. However, here I am, in an overseas immersion programme, and I must make full use of the chance to turn the challenge of being away from home into an opportunity to learn more about myself and more about places and life beyond Singapore.

Day 8: Clear skies at last

Woke up today to clear skies, the first time that the tall buildings in the distance aren't shrouded in pollution. Strong winds were blowing, signifying the arrival of Autumn at long last.Just look at the scenery from our classroom block! Huge difference from before!

First lesson of the day was an IS OIE Lesson, on the Geography of China and Wuhan, by another Chinese Lecturer. We were all really tired from the full day of activities before, just look at Han Hui!But I tried my best to pay attention to this new lecturer. Actually, I preferred this lesson than previous lessons because there were activities to keep our attention and the lecturer was very lively and very friendly. We had this activity where we had to randomly choose a set of 5 Chinese Provinces and stick them onto a map of China that is demarcated only with the lines of the province borders. Having read up on China when I was younger, I'm glad to be able to score 3 out of 5 for mine, and help others with theirs.
The lecturer also taught some very interesting stuff, such as the reason why Wuhan experiences such extreme weather changes, which is because of the mountain range to the north which blocks the northerly wind in the Summer which makes it even hotter, and the lack of anything to shield the city from the harsh and cold monsoon winds blowing from the south.
After the lesson, was lunch time, and being really ultra lazy, we called the vegetarian restaurant and had our lunch delivered.

Roomies and the vegetarian food

In Singapore, I rarely eat vegetarian given the wide variety of other food available, but the food cooked by this restaurant really is very nice, to the point that I was considering going Vegetarian for the rest of the trip with the restaurant.
Anyway, as recommended for our safety, we had introduced ourselves with a cover story, claiming that we are from Fujian Province, and to our shock, so was the boss who delivered the food. Luckily, he said that he was from the north of Fujian, so I quickly used my YEP experience to answer that we are from the southern parts of Fujian, and quickly changed the topic to WUST. However, as luck would have it, the Boss is actually an alumni of WUST. What a coincidence, right?

Reflection:
The OIE Lesson was peppered with small facts and trivia about China, Wuhan and Hubei Province, which I found thoroughly interesting, such as Wuhan's nickname as the City of a Thousand Lakes (千湖之省). We were also taught that Wuhan people were nicknamed Nine-Headed Birds (九头鸟), which is to say that they are very cunning but smart, from the Chinese saying "天上有九头鸟、地上有武汉佬" which means to say that in the sky there are Nine-Headed Bitds, but on Earth you have the Wuhan People.
Thinking about it, I reflect that we too, as Singaporeans, are given nicknames such as "Kiasu Singaporeans", but we should follow the Wuhan people, and be proud of the label and look at it in a positive light. Wuhan people glorify their Nine-Headed Bird label, to the extent that the architecture of a new Train Station is modeled after the Nine-Headed Bird. Thus, as Singaporeans, we should defend our national pride, even if in the smallest of ways. Next time, if anyone calls me Kiasu, I will say that it is better to "err on the side of caution".

Day 7 (Part 2): Dyana's Birthday Surprise!

At 9.20pm, 20th September 2010, all 17 of us gathered together to prepare for Dyana's surprise birthday celebration.

The plan was already set up, such that Dyana's roomates Jiali and Sheila would be with her inside the room, and when Eliza knocks on their door, they would make Dyana open the door. Once she opens the door, we would all sing Happy Birthday.

go, go, GO!

So, with the plan given another run-through, we proceeded upstairs to their room, and Eliza knocked on her door while we lit the candles. Luckily, everything went as planned, and Dyana was really surprised (no one wished her Happy Birthday before this), and we proceeded to blow the candles, cut the cake, eat the cake etc. And she fed my face some cream. THANKS DYANA!

apparently the green things weren't kiwis but cucumber?

Once the cake was eaten, there was an awkward silence before someone egged us guys to perform the arrogant dance from the Brown Eyed Girls' song Abracadabra, which was actually part of our performance. However, WE HAVE NOT EVEN REHEARSED IT TOGETHER ONCE! After much delays, we managed to cobble together a haphazard dance, so I called for a meeting in my room later that night to start rehearsing for our dance performance.

At 12.30am, the guys finally gathered and half an hour later, I'm glad to say that we've got 1/3 of the total dance down. But we'd all better go off to sleep because we've got OIE lessons the next day.

Day 7: Politics & Surprises (Part 1)

What an strong title slide. I seem to be running more when I'm overseas, could be the humidity levels are not as high as Singapore, or just plain enthusiasm. Despite sleeping late and waking up really early for the lesson at 8.30am, I'm still able to run to the classroom block and pay attention for the lesson on Chinese Politics. Perhaps this can be attributed to my interest in Politics, and especially that of China's.

After lessons was lunch, where I went to the Canteen at 12pm, peak hour for the canteen. Once we stepped in, I wanted to leave immediately. The queues were so long that they really stretched from the stalls to the other end of the room. No wonder there were so many students walking out with canteen food packed to go, because I suspect there were insufficient seats too.

After lunch, I ran to the classroom block again, because I had only 8minutes to get there where we were supposed to meet to board the bus. Once again, I made it in time and we boarded the bus somewhat delayed by others and went to the new WUST campus very south of Wuhan, next to a lake called the 黄家湖(Huang/Yellow Family Lake), thus the new campus is called the WUST 黄家湖 Campus.

It was very big. Huge, so huge that we toured the campus on the bus. Which was a good thing, because we would all have died before we even walked half the campus. Which is also quite worrying considering how long and far students would have to walk from the main entrance to their school clusters.

While the campus is very much bigger, 3 times perhaps, the size of the QingShan campus where we are staying, and newer, with better facilities and modern buildings and hostels (think HDB/Condo-like buildings), I prefer this old campus because it is much more convenient and the trees are older s they provide more shade from the harsh, harsh sun.

The first place we visited was the Medical Sciences block, and we were given a tour of their specimens room, filled with preserved human body parts. Having learnt biology in Secondary school, the specimens made it extremely interesting to me, as I have not seen actual samples before. I also asked some of the LSCT students if we have these in Ngee Ann, and it turns out that it is illegal (so I was told) to do so in Singapore. Regardless, I am thankful for the unique opportunity to see these specimens.

Then we were brought to another block for a short presentation on WUST, Wuhan and China by some students in English. Like they candidly admitted, English is their "first foreign language", and they rarely speak it on a day-to-day basis. Thus even though it was quite hard to understand the words they were saying, I really appreciate their determination to do their best. They also presented us with mooncakes for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and had some short performances, which totally caught off-guard. Luckily Hanhui suggested we sing a song with them, and it was quite enjoyable overall. Pity we couldn't reciprocate the gifts.

Then we were brought to a really really huge building, their library, to visit their museum on the history of WUST, which surprised me, as I did not know that WUST's earliest incarnation was actually set up in the Qing Dynasty in 1893, and is actually considered to be quite prestigious, especially in the specialist field of metallurgy.

Reflection:

The one thing that surprised me the most, was the military training all the freshmen had to undergo. When we first drove through the main entrance, we were surprised to see so many red banners put up with encouraging slogans, which turns out to be intended for the freshmen. Then, we saw groups and groups of boys and girls dressed in military garb, a camouflage shirt, olive green pants, and olive green shoes, all standing at attention or sitting down trying to hide from the unforgiving sun. We were all very shocked, as the students looked so young (they were actually around my age!) and small-sized but they were all blackened from standing in the sun all day.

When we departed and reached the hostel, I asked one of the student leaders about this practice of 军训 (military training), and he said that it is a compulsory activity enforced by the government to instill discipline and morals to the university freshmen. I personally feel that this is quite a good practice given that these University students come from all over the country and are staying away from their parents and homes, so it is important to make sure they are disciplined to study hard and take care of themselves and not indulge in bad behavior. However, I also think that this practice will never take off in Singapore, since my generation is very sheltered and pampered, so parents will never consent to see their children sent off for 10 weekends to learn how to fall in and do goose-step marching. Furthermore, Singapore does not have a culture of student hostels since we do not need it given the relative proximity of schools and institutions to students' homes. Thus it would make the practice somewhat redundant.

Day 6: City Tour

Temperature of the day: >36 deg celsius

Weather: Hot and Sunny

Agenda: City Tour

Everyone, exhausted from yesterday's long day, had to wake up early to assemble before 8.30am, which isn't easy considering the fact that many of them usually wake up at 8am. Even I, who usually wakes up earlier than the rest, was too exhausted and slowly crawl out of bed.

The first destination was the East Lake (东湖) to the east of the WUST campus. On a bright and early morning...

old men fishing

I was attracted up the pavilion by the sound of his flute

After that we went to a museum nearby, the Hubei Provincial Museum. The first thing that struck me was the architecture, with large sloping roof surfaces similar to pyramids, it looked exactly like the Palace complex of an ancient dynasty.

We were also lead on a guided tour of the artifacts found in the Tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng, which was actually discovered in a neighboring county also in Hubei Province. Among the exhibits were many actual bronze and lacquer wares, as well as a great collection of musical instruments, and other reproductions of original artifacts.

a reproduction of a soldier's armor recovered from the tomb, as the original armor, made of animal hide and other materials were rotted

ancient technology to make long weapons that are light, strong and flexible

ancient weapons, they have to be long to attack from a chariot or against enemies in a chariot

not fishes, but the actual arrow tips that are still sharp today

There were so many interesting exhibits, however the tour guide was unable to go through every single one, perhaps due to time constraints and the arrival of subsequent tour groups. Then we went up on our own to visit the other collections.

The Exhibition Hall of Prince Liangzhuang's Tomb, most of which were artifacts of high value, made of gold, jade and inlaid with other precious stones

a gold bullion

the crown

gold belt inlaid with gemstones

a jade court official's belt decorated with dragon and cloud patterns

Then at another exhibition on writings, I saw how actual bamboo strips were used as books. It turns out those movies and shows were all wrong, as the bamboo strips were really narrow, so the words were so very tiny. How tiny?

There were also other exhibits of ancient writing tools from other cultures too, such as this book made from Pattra leaves from India

After the museum, was lunch! We had several local must-trys, such as the famous Wuchang fish, which the tour guide said Chairman Mao was a great fan of. To cut a long story short, here is the aftermath of lunch.

Yeap, I ate most of the fish, especially the stomach which was very nice and oily

Houngsheng, Liangxun and I "performed" so well at our table that we were invited over to other tables to help clear the Wuchang Fish too

After lunch, we went to the Yellow Crane Tour, which was originally built as a military watchtower because of the good vantage point at the top of the tower (9 levels) would enable defending troops to spot incoming enemies from a mile away (or more). Apparently, the Yellow Crane Tower has been rebuilt many times due to war, fire and other reasons, luckily they stuck to the same grand design.
The climb up was quite tiring, but made even more so due to the debilitating heat. However, this is not the end. We had to visit the 步行街 at 江汉路 again, so Sheila, Jiali, Dyana, Houng Sheng and I decided to just spend the 1 hour at Starbucks to stave off the heat.

And finally, at 6pm, when it got cooler, we went back to the hostel.

Reflection:

Although Singapore doesn't have a long and rich history as China (but of course), we should always stay proud of our history, and always take an interest because the past is the best mirror to look back at the present and into the future.