Trip advisor

1.  What to continue
-We should continue going to the former residence of Li Hong Zhang. Going there has helped us to learn and understand better the events that took place during that time and the contributions Li Hong Zhang gave. In addition, the former residence reflects a lot of Chinese thoughts of the past. Students will be able to understand more of the Chinese culture and thoughts there. Furthermore, the place there is relatively quiet. Hence, it is a good environment for learning.
- Hong Cun must be continued as it is still conserved well. Unlike San he gu Zhen, the things sold signified the place of origin and its significance. The designs of the house olden days were seen clearly. There were many path ways between the houses for easy access.
- It is rather unique to be able to take part in the lessons there in China to experience the culture of learning in a foreign country, and to compare the state of their school facilities to this we have here in Singapore. It also gives us a chance to look at their syllabus, to see what they are learning. For example, during our OELP, we learnt that schools had 10 minute breaks in between lesson, and that the students were rather active in class. They did not require promoting from the teachers to answer questions given.
- The industrial visits gave us a bigger picture of the economy of China, and how well developed China was. The visits to the industrialized part of Hefei also changed our mindset; removing the stereotype that China was an underdeveloped country that only manufactured goods that were of poor quality. Both Meiling and Iflytek showed us how innovative the Chinese were, and how popular they were too. To us, the visit to the factory of Meiling to view how the refrigerators were made was the best part of the visits. It allowed us to see the steps behind manufacturing a refrigerator, but more importantly it gave us a sneak peak of the working conditions of the people. Yet again, this allows us to draw links and compare the working condition in China to that if Singapore.

- Tunxi ancient street is a must go for visitors to Hefei. To have an understanding of cultures, we can't miss out their traditional food and items. Most importantly, the chance to communicate with the local Chinese. In our opinion, this is a good way to know more about their heritage, such as the history of handmade traditional desserts they sold. (This was declared to be passed down from many generations.

2.  What to improve
- We felt the school immersion was too boring. It was a waste of time sitting in the classroom, trying hard to understand what the teacher is saying, but to no avail. We feel that we should have more chances to interact with the students there. For example, give them a chance to teach us something we do not know and vice versa. Doing so also be able to give us more confidence in interacting with strangers who are not proficient in our language.
- Education is vital for every country in order for progression to be made. Having a school exchange with the local students was securely one of the highlights that we were looking forward to. However, it ended seemingly too fast, even before we get to know about their normal daily lifestyle. Perhaps, a house trip to the buddy’s house may make the whole experience more enjoyable and memorable, and let us take back to Singapore a more detailed picture of the culture in China, and ultimately what makes China itself.
- During the tour of the factory grounds, we could have been given more time to stop at each stage of the assembly line to monitor the progress, given the fact that we were not allowed to take photos for reference. In this way, we would be able to observe their working systems.

3.   What to remove
- we went to a garden that showcased China’s special plants that were planted by royals in the past. After learning about the plants, we feel that it was not really beneficial in a way as that knowledge could be easily searched out through the internet. (whereby we do not even need to travel to somewhere so far just to know it) It seemed to us that those were not worthwhile since we could not sieve out any observations that could not be made through an online search. This meant that we would have wasted the trip there. On the other hand, the same amount of time can be spent on something more meaningful, like another place of interest.

4.  What to add
- San he gu Zhen can be taken away from the plan as most of the houses are empty and there was nothing interesting things to see. The things sold there were mostly plastic items that could be found in Chinatown in Singapore.

- Areas around the Huang Shan. (黄山市)We did have some takeaways in most part of the places. However, as ancient villages have similar cultures and infrastructure designs, the content of various explanation became similar and we didn’t not gain more cultural knowledge from similar contents. If there was something different, we believe it will be a more enriching day.

- Although both were meaningful experiences, we thought that the Iflytek visit was not really necessary as it did not provide us with a bigger picture of the industry of China. On the other hand, the Meiling visit let us take a look at the assembly progress of the refrigerators. Also, since the showroom was quite small, we wasted quite some time in another room while waiting for the group in the showroom to finish. It did, however, teach us a bit more about the employees of these companies (e.g. 80% of the employees there are local graduates). However, if we were made to choose between the two, I would like to go Meiling Company.

-We think there should be more time allocated for us to tour Shanghai.  Since we have visited Hefei, a second tier city, we should always make our way to the most developed part of China to make a better comparison of Hefei's environment and development. Maybe, a short stay at shanghai for 1 or 2 days is very beneficial for us.