Amalyn (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

An introduction of myself.

Hello, I am Amalyn Leong from class 2J, and I am their AV monitor :)

I love sports, all kinds. Basketball, swimming, tennis , badminton, etc.  I was in the school senior tennis team in my primary school and now I am in choir. You may wonder why I chose choir since I am a sports fan. Well, it's because when I was in primary two, I really wanted to sing. When the choir trials were up, I was very excited. However, since I could not play the piano, they said I could not join choir. I was devastated and made sure that I secondary school I would enter choir, therefore I am in choir today. Even though I love sports, I'm not a tomboy. I also love dresses, the more frills the better. I tend to choose more pastel colours as I feel that they are youthful colours. I love knitting, felting and sewing. You might be a bit confused now. How is it possible that my hobbies are so different? Well, that is what makes me unique:)          

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Hello Yun Ting!

This is Wei Xin, your overseas buddy! How are you? I would like to thank you for taking the time off from your Saturday to spend time showing me around Tian Jin. I would also like to thank your friends too, for giving me wonderful lasting memories. You were a wonderful host and I appreciated everything you did for me. As I am not very fluent in Chinese, I would like to thank you for explaining everything slowly to me. Your parents were very kind to introduce us to so many delicacies from your country, which were all hand cooked by your mother. Your father was also very nice to help us with our data recording on the expenses in Tian Jin. Thank you for giving my friends and I an experience of a lifetime. I hope that I will be able to meet you again in the near future!

Regards,

Wei Xin

你好！
我是玮心，你新加坡的buddy！你最近还好吗？我想说一声谢谢，谢谢你花了整个拜六的时间把我和我的同伴带到那么精彩的地方！我也想感谢你的父母，帮我们准备了那么多好吃的美食！那天我真的玩的很开心！如果你那天没有慢慢地解释那些地方，那么我真的什么都会看不懂。希望我们以后再能相见！
祝
学业进步
玮心

Her reply was:

 我还好。谢谢你来我家做顾客，如果我去新加坡的话，我一定会找你的！

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Summarized OELP experience

It was an educational and fun experience for me. I feel matured and more independent as it is the first time I had ever gone overseas without my parents. A few of us fell sick and we learned how to take care of each other. Some of us learned to get along with each other and we even got closer to teachers. I was able to see the behaviors of people in China and even got a nice experience of being in a Chinese school. I think people that I met in China were quite friendly though they do have some bad habits such as spitting on the floor. My friends and I enjoyed the car rides. We listened to music whilst looking at the picturesque scenery. I hope that there will be more OELP experiences. I will certainly look forward to it. 

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Reflection on OELP 25-31 May

Day 7: Back home

Most of this day was spent travelling back to the airport and yet again, I loved the bus ride. I am grateful that I returned back to Singapore safe and sound. I think that I have learnt quite a lot from this trip! I hope to go back to Beijing soon :).

Day 6: Buddy Home Visit

The entire day was spent with our buddies, experiencing how a typical Chinese local lived.  I went with Qing Wen, Junna and our buddies. We boarded a bus and I realised that the locals liked to push people around when it's crowded just to get to the door. They don't even say excuse me.We went to a shopping mall where we had the biggest ice cream we had ever seen. Just the ice cream itself was enough to stuff the 6 of us. We then went to a small street where they sold more souvenirs and our buddies bought some roadside food for us. My buddy did not seem very engaged though. She spent most of her time on her phone and barely talked to me. I was quite disappointed at that. QingWen bought an interesting fossil with a scorpion inside it. We went to play a few games, shooting and ring toss, all of which are designed to never let us win. What a scam. We were going to go onto the train to go to my buddy's house when Junna realised that she left her bag at one of the stalls.This wasted a bit of our time. By the time we reached my buddys house we knew we were going to be late and so we informed the teacher in charge.

When we arrived at the house, there was a huge spread of food. By then we were already very stuffed from the street food, but seeing that my buddy's parents had put in a lot of effort, we felt bad so we gorged them down. They were very nice and gave us pizza, Beijing duck, different types of dumplings, and many more. Before we left, we were given vitamin C water and a big apple.My buddy's mother even gave Qingwen different types of medicine to help cool her fever. They were really lovely and hospitable people. I was unable to eat dinner that night,too full from all the food :).

Day 5: School Exchange

Alycia and I woke up late on this day. We panicked but luckily we were able to get changed and eat on time. It was a rainy day and we were caught in a traffic jam. We arrived in the school half an hour late. The principal warmly greeted us and gave us a brief introduction of the school before we were separated into different classrooms. This was when I first met my buddy, Yun Ting. She was rather quiet and spent most of her time looking at her notes or her cellphone and spoke little to me. When I entered the room, I realised that it was the opposite of what I expected it to be. To think that my class was noisy! The students screamed, laughed, banged tables, made a mess, it was chaotic.

My general observations were that the paper quality was poor and they used a chalkboard. There was even a boy who slept throughout all the lessons.

The first period was physics, which I mistook for maths as the content the teacher wrote on the board looked like what I would do in math. The class did not seem very interested. My buddy explained that the teacher was not popular amongst the students and many felt she was not bringing any value to the lesson. The boys enjoyed 'bullying' her by being disruptive. The teacher responded by confiscating some of the student's Chinese lesson worksheets as they were not supposed to be doing in class. What shocked me was that it was an act of defiance and the whole row was doing it. There was also one boy who kept saying he was not doing anything but when the teacher turned around he held up his chinese paper and waved it around. The whole class laughed, including my buddy.

Next was maths, I was allowed to try a maths question. It was on geometry and I finished it in no time. I wondered why my buddy took so long and then I realised that she had written a lot of words. She explained that she needed to write out the reasons for each of the step taken. It showed me how the teaching methods in Singapore were different from China.

During history class there was a pop quiz. I declined to take the test as it was carried out in Chinese. During the test, the students were talking to each other and the teacher seemed slightly annoyed. My buddy managed to copy her friend's answers and her excuse to me was that she did not revise for it. Despite the somewhat chaotic classroom atmosphere,the students would have their books ready on the table before the teacher steps in.

My favourite subject was next, English! I thought to myself "Finally! A subject I can understand!" But I was wrong again. Their accents were so thick and their pronunciation so off that I had to strain my ears to understand what they were saying. Other than that it was fairly easy and I aced their spelling test (so did my other friends).

We had lunch at the teacher's cafeteria. To our surprise the condition of it was appalling. It smelt of stale food, it was dimly lit, it was stuffy, almost looked like a bomb shelter and the metal plates were dented. If the teachers' cafeteria was already in such a condition, what about the students? I could not bear to think. The toilet condition in the school was something else. The one I entered had one stall with a door and the rest were out in the open. It smelt like pee and there were pads stuck to the walls. I saw one of the students enter and right in front of me, dropped her pants and proceeded to do her business. She did not seem to care if we looked at her. If I were in the school, I think I would rather pee in my pants than use the toilet.

After that we had calligraphy, taiji and music. Calligraphy was slightly boring as they taught us fundamental strokes that all of us knew how to do. The principal was very generous and provided us with special paper that could be reused and we were allowed to bring it back to practise at home. Taiji was my favourite as we used fans as weapons. It was very calming. The fan was ours to keep. Music was wonderful. The teacher played the guzheng and showed us the different styles of music that the guzheng can play. We even got a hands on experience with it.

Day 4: Going to TianJin , Ancient Culture Street , New year Painting, Local Supermarket

The road trip to TianJin was very enjoyable, especially when you have an awesome friend. We admired the scenery as we listened to the best type of music ever, acapella! We sang, harmonised, had fun, it was amazing! I observed the change of scenery from a bustling city as it morphed into a countryside and I managed to spot a few farms and I saw ducks, sheep, cattle, etc. Have I mentioned how much I love roadtrips?:)

We arrived at the Ancient Culture Street and we wandered for a while. We had some fun and I bought a few items. Most shops sold the same souvenirs. However the shops that were further from the entrance had cheaper prices.

We settled down at new restaurant (which we ate at for the rest of our stay in TianJin). There is where we were introduced to a type of bun called "狗不理包子”. I was quite embarrassed when one of my classmates remarked"Even the dog does not want to eat the bun, and they give us this to eat." I saw that the tour guide took some offense to it. On my first bite it was delicious and I wished I could have eaten more than just one piece. In the bus the tour guide explained how the name of the bun came about. The nickname of the person who created the bun was 狗, and because he was so busy, he was unable to attend to all his customers, therefore that's how the name came about.

We then went to an art museum. The interior was beautiful and I particularly liked the fish pond. I tried my best to understand the presenter but her accent was too think and she spoke too fast. There was an interesting painting on the wall whereby it is said that no matter where you stood, it seemed like the person in the painting was looking at you. I tried it and true enough, it did look back at me. It was until I tried to look at it from a very sharp corner, which was the only time it did not look back at me. We also tried our hands at "printing" images. Basically you have an image carved on a block, and coat it in ink. Then press a piece of paper on it and the ink will transfer onto your paper. It may sound easy, but it actually requires skill. You must know how much ink to put on the block, and the amount of pressure to apply on the paper must be even.

We went to a supermarket next to compare the prices of the food to that in Singapore. There was an incident that shocked me. One of the supermarket assistant snatched my groupmates' paper and demanded“你在干什么！” After scanning through what was written on it,he handed it back angrily and walked away. We found out later that one of the supermarket rules was that we were not allowed to copy down the prices of the items in the supermarket. Many of my friends bought snacks and I realised that not everything was cheaper than Sinagpore. For example, frozen chicken was slightly more expensive there.

It was Vania's birthday and the tour guide bought her a cake. We all enjoyed it celebrated and shared this special day with her. He was very sweet and thoughtful.

Before we knew it, it was the next day.

Day 3: Great wall of China, Ming tombs and Summer Palace
The Great Wall of China was the highlight of my Beijing trip. It was the most important line of defense in ancient China and it protected the country from everything outside and no one could penetrate it. As I was making my way up, I met a Singaporean Celebrity, Suhaimi Yusof ( aka JoJo Joget). He seemed very cheerful and he told us he wanted to climb The Wall to demonstrate that 'fat people can do it'. I found him quite humorous and easy to strike a conversation with.( In fact, we bumped into him again in the other places we went. ) It was all fine climbing up the steps until I met Huishan, who seemed really afraid and was sitting on the steps. When I asked her what's wrong, she said "Don't look behind." Too late. I was amazed and scared at what I saw. It was a breathtaking view of the Great Wall and its magnificent surroundings. The thing that really scared me was its height. It was so high! I was afraid that if I fell, it would really take my breath away, forever. I turned back , tried to be brave and encouraged Hui Shan as we continued to make our way up. Along the way I noticed a few padlocks on the rails. Apparently married couples put the locks there to symbolize everlasting love. Upon reaching the top, we were all overwhelmed by a sense of accomplishment. Even those who were really afraid of heights gritted their teeth and persisted, with tears streaming down their cheeks. What made them persevere ? The cheers from fellow friends and encouraging words. We all took a class photo at the top of the Great Wall. Some of the more athletic students decided to climb further , whilst the rest made their way back down. There was something in me that made me go on and I climbed to the next tower with Sin Yee. Exhausted, we made our way back down after a few photos. We heard some of our classmates shout "爱我立化！”at the first tower as they thought the echoes sounded very cool. As I made my way down, I noticed a very touching scene. And old couple, probably in their 70's, making their way down. The old man was holding the woman's hand , as they slowly made their way down.
For lunch we went to a place where pottery is made. The tour guide gave us time to shop and there were a few shops outside the pottery place. I saw a nice painting and I thought I would try my hand at bargaining. Never done it before but no harm trying, I told myself. I managed to drive down the price from 85¥ to 55¥ , not a bad job for a first timer :). It was an exciting experience. 

After lunch we went to visit the Ming Tombs. This I have to say was one of the places where the locals angered me the most. There were so many freeloaders who listened to the tour guide. As if that was not bad enough, they tried to squeeze in front of us. It distracted me and I was unable to listen attentively. The most I could get out of it was that most of the Emperors' tombs were located here with the exception of one which was located somewhere else.

We visited the Summer Palace next, which was reconstructed by the Emperess Dowager CiXi. It was said that the Summer Palace was burned down twice and when CiXi reconstructed it, the buildings were shorter. CiXi also built a very long sheltered walkway which even after 15 minutes of jogging, myself and JiaJing were unable to reach the end. Mr Loi treated the whole class to Ice-cream, which was a refreshing treat. We captured some nice photos with the beautiful scenery. It amazes me how old buildings looked even more beautiful than modern buildings even though we have much more advanced technology.

Day 2: National Museum, Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square 
We dressed, ate breakfast and we were out. First stop, National Museum. The thing that angered me the most was the locals that cut queue in front of me. I'm not the kind that lets people push me around, so I made sure no one cuts in front of me. The tour guide kept telling us "同学们，移过来哦，别让别人插队哦!" And the women next to me retorted “叫我们不要插队哦？我管你们是谁我就想插有问题吗？！” I was deeply enraged at these rude, terrible locals.
The museum itself was a challenge for me. My Chinese is not strong so it was a great handicap. Fortunately there was a small introduction to a certain part in English. The paintings, photographs and artifacts allowed me to appreciate the pain and suffering during the Chinese revolution. The spirit of nationalism and pride and the rise of modern China were there. The next stop was Tian An Men square. Honestly I did not learn much from this visit other than it being big, very hot, and a huge portrait of Mao Ze Dong hung over a building. We snapped some photos and I was relieved to leave the place quickly.

The highlight for lunch was Beijing Duck. The server demonstrated how to eat Beijing duck the correct way. First you get a pancake sheet, which is a wrap-like base, then place the duck meat, add the bean sauce on it and sprinkle vegetables. Finally, fold it into a taco like shape before you savour the wrap. Had I not eaten so much food earlier, I would have helped myself with more servings. 

Then came the part which I was quite excited about. I love Chinese dramas of different dynasties and to actually visit a place where the emperor of China once lived was exciting. I learned that the officials had to walk from the city gates to the emperor's palace everyday and it took several hours to reach on foot. When they arrive they would need to stand, and even kneel for a few more hours before the meeting on the uneven stone floor which could be burning hot in summers and ice cold in winters. They were forbidden to make any noise as it was in the wee hours of the morning and the Emperor needed his 'beauty sleep'. I really pitied the officials to have to go through such a daily torturous routine. After a few steps I noticed that it was very hard to walk on uneven ground and up the uneven steps. Barely walking one-sixth of the city and I was exhausted. When we entered one of the gates, I found it very breezy, possibly because of a wind tunnel. The tour guide showed us some big bowls that used to contain water in case the palace caught fire. He explained that even during winter, there will be people who would light a fire under the bowl so that the water does not freeze. Another interesting thing I learnt is that the Chinese dramas were not filmed in this area but instead in a replica in Shanghai. 

After dinner, we were treated to a stand up comedy at ZhangYiYuan TianQiao Teahouse. The crosstalk was hilarious and I was happy that I could appreciate most of the jokrs.

There was no debrief that night and all I could say was that this was the most exhausting day of the whole trip. We crashed that night. 

Night came, we had dinner, debrief, before we hit the sack.

Day 1: Wangfujing Street
The first thing I realized in China was the poor air quality. It was hazy, it was hard to see, it was also hard to breathe in. I also realized that it was very dry and my nose started to hurt (my nose gets dry very easily). It was crowded at the airport and we huddled close together. The place was huge and to my surprise, very modern.We were bussed straight to Wangfujing street which was my first encounter with the life of Beijing people. It was more or less like how i expected it to be. Very big street, very old chinese-styled, low rise buildings, small shops. The only thing that was different was that I saw many branded goods stores such as Gucci, Prada, Forever 21 , etc. The tour guide explained that during the Qing dynasty many aristocratic estates belonging to royalties were built here, soon after when a well full of sweet water was discovered, thereby giving the street its name "Wang Fu" (princely residence), "Jing" (well). My friends Dongqi, Alycia and YuYing and I wandered into a Chinese bookshop. Besides books , they also sold itemslike calligraphy brushes, globes, CDs, and Brain puzzles. Dongqi bought a few books and I noticed that the way they packaged the books were different. In Singapore they put them in a plastic bag but in China they used a piece of string to tie the books together. What an Eco-friendly way! We then went to a roadside shop and Dongqi bought a 糖葫芦 (táng hú lu), a traditional hard candied fruit snack that was coated in sugar and resembled the shape of a bottled gourd. I could not eat it because I'm wearing braces but from the smell I could tell it was delicious.
After a while of walking, Alycia began to feel nauseous. She felt it was because of the poor air quality, and I loaned her my mask. After a while, she said she felt much better. We then went into an air-conditioned mall and I was greeted with a big screen. On it, it captured the many faces of the people who were facing the camera. I don't really know why they needed to place such a big screen out there but I could see many customers having some fun and posing with the camera.

After the short trip, we went to have dinner at a restaurant. The restaurant was not very different to that of Singapore and it felt like home. The food was deliciou and we ate to our hearts content.
We checked in to our hotel after dinner and Alycia and I found out that our rooms were very far away from the other girls rooms , which scared us as the hallway was dark and quiet.Luckily for the next few days we were too tired to even be scared of the corridor. We had our first debrief and Mr Loi led us in the discussion. It was a bit chaotic in the hotel room after the debrief as I had never travelled overseas without my parents. We took so long that even after the "lights out" timing we were still not fully settled down. Sleep was no problem, once our heads touched the pillow, we were in dreamland.

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Fashion in Beijing

Although a certain part of the population still thinks the smog is fog, as the authorities told them it is, more and more Chinese consumers are becoming aware of the dangers of pollution. In fact in 2010 there were more than 1 million deaths caused by the air pollution in China. Last year Beijing’s air pollution situation even got nicknamed “airpocalypse” since the presence of particle in the air got higher than the maximum ever measured. According to the U.S. State Department standards, there has been only 25 days of “good” air quality in Beijing between April 2008 and March 2014.Air quality is not improving, and will not be anytime soon given China’s rapid urbanization. This is why the pollution mask has become necessary to Chinese citizens willing to protect their health. However the sad period of the “chirurgical looks” of these kinds of masks are over since the fashion designers decided that function will meet fashion.

Chinese are becoming more well-informed about their country’s air pollution dangerousness for their health. They therefore want effective pollution masks that they can feel comfortable wearing. Pollution masks brands are turning their products masks into trendy accessories because they want their products to be considered a necessity by the fashion-conscious Chinese consumers. And as China is still far from resolving its pollution issues, there will be a growing demand for these new accessories.

Chinese consumers are the biggest buyers of luxury goods and they purchase high-end items as a way to show their economic power. They buy well-known brands such as Dior, Gucci, etc.... However, they prefer to purchase these items on their origin countries because the price is up to 40% cheaper than in China and because they believe that it give them more prestige.They are more interested to buy Western products and brands because they believe the quality is better and the variety of products and collections is biggest compared to China.

They love neutral colours, slightly more muted like jewel tones, which are considered to go into the next year. They also like dressing like a man , wearing fitted jackets, blazers , bow ties.... They also like vintage dressing , fashion from the 1940's made you look more sophisticated. Spots , stripes and checks are also in fashion , however they must not overdo detail, or it may look like a tablecloth instead. They wear sensible shoes, which means that they must be comfortable and low key.

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Reflection on Mr Lee Kuan Yew's passing

Lee Kuan Yew, born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015, informally known by his initials LKY, was the first Prime Minister of Singapore, governing for more than three decades from 1959 to 1990, including through Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965. After Lee chose to step down as Prime Minister in 1990, Lee's successor, Goh Chok Tong, appointed him as Senior Minister, a post he held until 2004, when his elder son, Lee Hsien Loong, became the nation's third prime minister. The elder Lee then assumed the advisory post of Minister Mentor until he left the Cabinet in 2011. In total, Lee held successive ministerial positions for 56 years. He continued to serve his Tanjong Pagar constituency of nearly 60 years as an elected Member of Parliament until his death in 2015.

After reading the news of his passing, I was deeply saddened. Even though I did not live in the era when he built the nation , I know of the amazing this that he has done and of all the sacrifices he has made for Singapore. When I was in primary school , my teacher used to tell us how amazing he was and how she really looked up to him. My teacher said "Remember this, Mr Lee Kuan Yew is different from other people as he dared to make decisions that other people did not dare to." I was also able to catch a glimpse of his coffin being transported to its final destination. Many people around me were mourning , and they all were shouting " Rest in peace Mr Lee!" From that I could see how Mr Lee had touched the hearts of so many people.

To me Mr Lee was a great man and I think that he is very wise. He had planned ahead of us, so that even when he passed away , Singapore would still be safe. He had taken many safety precautions and because of him, we maintain good ties with the neighboring countries and we are also a first world country.

Mr Lee, rest in peace, we will make sure that your hard work will remain strong.

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Do you think the Merlion would make the best national icon for Singapore?

In my opinion, yes . The Merlion is the symbol of how we got our name "Singapura" which is "Lion City". This name was given to us by a Srivijayan prince from Palembang, Sang Nila Utama. When he landed on the island, he saw a lion and thus our land is called "Singapore". The melion's head represents our country's name whilst the fish tail represents Singapore's history as a fishing village. As for all those who say that the Merlion cannot be the symbol of Singapore as there were actually no tigers, they were partially correct. Apparently Sang Nila Utama mistook a tiger for a lion , however, if that is the case, does that not mean that we have also been named incorrectly? Does that not mean we should be called "tiger city" instead? Then we would not be Singapore and the Merlion would be redundant.

Another reason why the Merlion would make the best national icon for Singapore is because it is special to Singapore.

Marina Bay Sands - every country will have a special building of its own , for example Taipei 101 , the burj , etc.

Gardens by the bay - the basic concept of it is an Eco-garden . There are many Eco-gardens around the world and many more are being built.

The Singapore flower (Orchid) - we cannot possibly make this our icon as every country has its own national flower

The list could go on and on and on.....

If you search "Singapore's National Icon" on the Internet, 75% of the pictures are of the Merlion. Does this not mean something?

The Merlion is like the Statue of Liberty of the USA , the Eiffel Tower of Paris , the Leaning Tower of Pisa of Italy. It is ours, our landmark , and nothing can replace it.

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My speech

We recently did a speech on the picture that we found that most describes Singapore. I felt that I did a good job for my speech , however I could have done better.

I was nervous and in that moment I forgot my script and kept referring to it. I should have maintained my cool. To make sure that I learn from this experience , I will make sure that I train myself to be more confident when speaking in front of a crowd. Our CID teacher made a very good suggestion , which was to recite it in a mirror . I tried it and I have found it to improve my courage by a little bit. I hope that over time I will improve and become more confident.

Other group speech

When they did the introduction they seemed quite unconfident however after a while they got the hang of it and gained confidence. They did do some comical things but I took a while to understand it. When Zixuan acted as if his IPad was spoilt, I mistook it as him trying to find his script. Jayme's and Ziyu's voices were too soft and I could not hear them clearly even though I was seated quite near them. Jayme accidentally said "IPad" instead of "Gpad" during her presentation. Overall I thought it was not too bad of a performance and quite humorous.

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One party dominant system.

The Singapore's political scene since the country carried out its first general election in 1959 to form the first government has always been under the dominance of the political party, the People's Action Party. From 1966 till 1981, Singapore has been ruled by one-party. Under the PAP, Singapore transformed from a undeveloped, poor infrastructure and unskilled workforce economy, to one that is a thriving and bustling metropolis. All this within a generation. This economic and social miracle has been possible because of a single party power stronghold, whose focused vision, strong leadership and unified cabinet members enabled them to implement tough policies and measures particularly during economic crisis. Singapore being a small city nation is much easier to govern. But the problems faced are no less serious than other nations. Jobs and quality of lives are at stakes. A government must have an ethos that is steeped in integrity, built upon Asian Culture and maintain a strong nationalistic sentiment. This is easier when it is only from one party that has only one motto to govern the way they think and do. This is a key driver which the ruling party possess and have ingrained In the various nation building efforts such as national day parade, celebration of key festivals and participation of activities at community sites. Even in the following 20 years from 1981 to present time whereby the PAP autonomy was broken with the entry of opposition parties, the fundamentals of good governance has not changed the fabric of the effort of nation building and the economic progress of Singapore. Roads and transportation systems are constantly upgraded. Public housing are upgraded and subsidized by the government to encourage homeownership, basic education is free for Singapore citizens and even health care is subsidized with quality care dispensed. All this would be not possible if it was not under a one party system dominance because of a single-minded mission to serve the citizens needs.

The family planning policy, known as the one-child policy in West China, is a population control policy of the People's Republic of China. The term "one-child" is inexact as the policy allows many exceptions and ethnic minorities are exempt. In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one-child restriction;an additional 53% was allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl.The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. "Population and Family Planning Commissions" exist at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.

The policy was introduced in 1978 and enacted on September 18th, 1980 to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China.Demographers estimate that the policy averted at least 200 million births between 1979 and 2009.A 2008 survey undertaken by the Pew Research Center reported that 76% of the Chinese population supports the policy; however, it is controversial outside China for many reasons, including accusations of human rights abuses in the implementation of the policy, as well as concerns about negative social consequences.

In my opinion, I think that the one-child policy is not very effective. I know of some people from China who come to Singapore just to have children. I think that it will take a long time for China's birth rate to decline. Most Chinese people are not willing to follow the policy and there are no actions taken against them. The first thing that the Chinese government should do is to give sentences to those who go against this policy and they should make sure that none of who don't follow get let off. The government should try and explain to the people the reason why they are having this policy. A bigger problem is that since there is a one-child policy, the parents would want a boy as they can carry down the name. This has lead to an increase of abortions of girls. This will heavily impact China's population in a negative way as there will be less females .However, I feel sorry for the children without brothers or sisters. Being the only child , I understand that sometimes it can be lonely and you might not have anyone to talk to.

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In today's CID lesson we learnt about poverty around the world. The pictures displayed on the board were pictures of starving children and homeless people begging for money . When I saw the picture of the poor baby boy curled up and lying on the floor with a vulture eyeing on him, I felt a surge of guilt go through my body . There they are, suffering from malnutrition and here I am , wasting food . Earlier that day I had complained that the aunty did not cook the vegetables properly and refused to eat it. Now that I think of it , if that same baby were to see the vegetables , he would have gobbled it up in a matter of seconds. When you are hungry , anything tastes nice. Even though I dare not say that I have suffered more than them , I do know the feeling of hunger. The pain is unbearable and your mouth starts salivating when you smell food. That was when I went without food for one day. Imagine that same feeling for many days . I don't think I will be able to survive that. I admire them for being so hardy and so strong willed to live.
When most people read this, many would be touched and think , "Oh , I would really like to help them but how is that possible? They are so far away from me ." That was what I thought until I realized that there are people in Singapore too that are struggling to make the ends meet. I had a primary school friends who used to only carry a pencil to school. She was too poor to even buy a bag to bring to school. The would keep all her homework under her desk and do them before she went home. My heart went out to her, but I did nothing about it as I was young and I did not really understand her situation. Now I have lost contact with her as she does not own a house phone and she never told me where she lived. I have many bags at home, some of which I have never used. If I could turn back time I would certainly give her a bag of mine . Other than this experience , I have encountered many situations since then related to this. There was an auntie who used to come to my block and ask for old newspaper . She did not have a trolley and could only tie the newspapers together and drag the whole stash home . I pitied her and wanted to do something nice. So I rummaged through my storeroom and found a trolley which we don't use anymore. I ask my mom if I could give it to the auntie and she said yes. I cleaned the dust away from it and the next day I handed it to the auntie . The auntie was so happy she was lost for words but kept shaking my hand and nodding . She then staked the newspaper onto the trolley and went back .
I hope that people like me will learn to cherish the things they have and try to be as giving as possible to the needy. "a simple act of kindness can make a tremendous impact on a person's life"~Anonymous