Day 4: Culture Class

We had our first IS class on Chinese Culture, and today's focus was on understanding more about China and Investing in China. One of the more striking trivia the lecturer covered in the lesson was the difference between the term "Mainland China(大路)" and the "People's Republic of China(PRC)". In Hong Kong drama serials, I frequently hear the actors and actresses refer to the other parts of China as 大路, and wondered what is the distinction. Now, I know that while PRC refers to all the provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and Special Administrative Regions (SAR), but Mainland China is a subset and refers to China minus the coastal cities/areas such as Macao, Hong Kong (both SARs) and Taiwan (which is actually considered a province on its own on the PRC map).After the enjoyable and interesting IS lesson, it was PM lesson with Ms Hock again. For some reason, I really look forward to her class because she teaches in an clear yet engaging, and injects humor to liven up the class. Because of that, I think that's why I was able to focus during most of the lesson and complete the assignment quickly.After PM, I didn't do much but laze around while some others went jogging or played badminton. Its not because I'm lazy, its just so much more comfortable in the room compared to outside and I was preparing my the guys dance items. So there.
After that we had dinner with Mr Chia and Ms Hock at a restaurant on the street just behind the hostel (I heard that the road is literally translated as dilapidated road). The restaurant was called 柠檬乐!, which could mean Happy Lemon or maybe Le Lemon (if you consider the hanyu pinyin). The food was pretty good, so I think we might be coming back to eat again soon. Also, THANK YOU MR CHIA AND MS HOCK!

Reflection: The one thing that struck me the most today is what the lecturer said when she was talking about the 2 upcoming public holidays in China, the Mid-Autmn Festival (中秋节) on Sept 22 and the National Day on Oct 1. She said that in Wuhan and in China, Mid-autumn celebrations tend to focus more on Reunion with family, similar to other traditional Chinese festivals such as the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival , whereas the National Day in China is for the individual to remember the founding of the PRC and of their leaders and sacrifices it took to make it happen. Taking this in mind and comparing it with Singapore, I think we have really lost the point of celebrating a country's independence, because the only thing on everyone's minds during August 9th are the National Day Parade and Fireworks. Of course it is meant to be a joyous occasion, but sometimes we should be more mindful of the sacrifices it took to get us here, and serve as a reminder of the hardships faced by our forebears.