I chose to go on this trip to know more about China’s culture and also to know more about the history of China. I also hope to know more about how the history and culture of China can be related to our daily lives and to Singapore. 
At China, I hope to learn more about the aforementioned inquiries of my own and through the interaction with my Shouchun Middle School buddies, improve on my fluency in conversing in the Chinese language. I would also like to, through conversing with my buddies and their parents, learn more about their daily lives and how they spend their time in school. Also, I would like to see how they carry out lessons and co-curriculum activities and the differences from their school and our school. I am also interested in how China manages their economy. Other than wanting to learn about these, I would also like to know more about the history of China and the culture of China. Admittedly, after looking at the itinerary, I was quite excited to visit Wahaha Factory to learn more about how they made their own bottles and bottlecaps, and learn more about why Wahaha is the top beverage producer in China and their history. 
  Also, I want to have fun with my classmates in China as this may be the only trip that we go on that will possibly have full attendance, and can have fun together. 
  During the trip, I had learnt more about the culture and history of China as I had wanted to. I had learnt about their lives during the trip to the Xidi and Hongcun Ancient Villages, where I learnt about how their lives were back then in the past and how and why did they build/structure their houses in such a manner (the positioning of clocks and other pieces on their mantle). I also had learnt more about how Meiling company managed to profit more from their strategies to do so eg. making their products such as fridges and washing machines then sending to other respective more popular companies like Panasonic and Electrolux to put their branding on it, then allowing Meiling to sell them. This would increase their profits because Meiling was not a very popular fridge and washing machine company in China, despite its efforts to encourage Chinese citizens to buy Meiling products. Thus they had to employ this strategy which would increase its profits. There were also sights that I could not see in Singapore, such as the schools having special toilets. I could not get used to the toilets in China and was relieved when I reached Singapore and used the toilets in Changi Airport, which reminded me of how fortunate I am to be born in Singapore. 
  Although on this trip, the main purpose was to learn and to gain more insight about China’s heritage, our class also had a lot a lot of fun together and we created a lot of memories that we would not forget. But what I think we could improve on is our discipline and punctuality as some of us, including me, were late for morning assembly at the lobby of our hotel. 

  One situation that I strongly feel about is when I went for the Hai Di Lao steamboat on the last day of the trip. Before the trip to Hai Di Lao steamboat restaurant, I read up on it online and their motto for their workers was “Use your hands to make a difference and treat your employees like your family”. When I got there, I was already impressed with their bright smiles and warm welcomes. When we were seated in the restaurant, it was evident that their service was much better than that of the average F&B restaurants in Singapore. While the restaurant service in Singapore was mediocre, the restaurant service in Hai Di Lao was very good, as they refilled our cups of drinks regularly and automatically. They also had the initiative to offer recommendations and help us make dips out of the available sauces for us. Their warm service touched me a lot as as Singaporeans, we never got to experience this kind of service, where waiters would pull long faces if we made a request too many.

  One person that taught me more than what I could learn in class is my buddy. On the way to my buddy’s house, he pointed out to me a lot of buildings in China and patiently explained to me about them, and in his house, he introduced to me a lot of China’s history and about his family. He also taught me a lot indirectly about how manners were important, as there was one of my classmates who did not have table manners, and my buddy was not very happy about it, but did not say anything. Thus my buddy taught me more than what I could learn.

  One fact that I had learnt during this trip that had impacted me the most is that we had to get accustomed to the cultural differences when travelling to other countries. There were a lot of cultural differences that was present between Singapore and China some of which I could not get accustomed to, such as the fact that when you go to a public toilet in Singapore, most chances are that the toilets we find are clean, but what I learnt the hard way in China was that it was the opposite case. When you step into a public toilet in China, do not expect it to be as clean as of those in Singapore. This was just one of the cultural differences of that in China. More include the fact that the Chinese tend to smoke inside restaurants and in hotels, but Singaporeans only smoke in designated smoking areas due to Singaporean laws, so in some of the restaurants and hotels that we went to, had a slight smell of cigarette smoke. Many of my classmates could not stand the cigarette smoke but I learnt to get accustomed to it over the eight days of our trip. Thus I also learnt that we have to appreciate and get accustomed to cultural differences.
  After going on this trip, I have learnt a lot about the culture and history of China, and more importantly, gained a lot more knowledge about China, and improved in conversing with Chinese. Also, I have learnt that I should appreciate the fact that I am fortunate to be in Singapore, which is much cleaner than China due to laws and us doing our part to keep Singapore clean. Before going to China, I admittedly had a lot of bad impressions of China, such as them talking very loudly, being rowdy and uncourteous. But after I had gone to China and came back, I realized that my thinking was not correct and that I should not accuse everyone in China of behaving the same was as I had thought out to be. They were not as bad as I had thought out to be. Some were even nice towards us, including our buddies from Shouchun Middle School. When we entered their classrooms to join their lessons, their lessons were in Chinese which we were not accustomed to, as most of our lessons were in English. As our Chinese was not very good, we did not really understand the lessons that were being taught. Despite that fact, our buddies patiently explained the lessons and explained to us what was being taught to them by their teachers. Other than that, during every lesson, the teachers and students treated us very kindly and made sure that we did not get left out, and some of our buddies even scolded those who mocked at us for not being able to understand much Chinese. Also, after these few days of being in China and conversing with our buddies in Chinese, I think that my conversations in Chinese has improved slightly. I also hope that by constantly talking to my buddies on QQ in Chinese, and by reading more Chinese books, I can improve my Chinese even more in the long run. 
  During a museum visit in China, we saw a sign on top of a doorway that had the Chinese word, 孝, on it. 孝 is part of the Chinese term 孝顺, which means “filial”. If one is said to be 孝顺，it means that he/she is filial and respectful towards his/her parents. In the word 孝，there is also another hidden meaning in it, which is the left side of the sign. The left side of the sign portrays a monkey kicking and punching. In Chinese, this is taken to be being unfilial and rude towards parents. After looking at this sign, I reflected back on my behavior towards my parents, and realized that I had not always been filial towards them, sometimes even talking back or making them worry. After thinking about this issue, I felt guilty, and this has taught me to be filial towards parents and not to be rude to them. Although I may not be able to change to be more filial overnight, but I am very sure that if I try hard enough, I will be able to be more filial towards my parents.