Trip advisory for Anhui

Anhui , China
Trip advisory

High Speed Rail
It was an interesting ride as we got to see the countrysides on our way to Anhui. I belived that this is really an important aspect to show that China is growing and becoming more globalized. The high speed rail is very convenient and can make rural areas more accessible. We believe this really boosts the economic growth of China as it brings in more business. Many locals are commuters on the train and it shows how this transport is being integrated into the Chinese's daily life.

What to remain/ continue: 
Huangshan is a good place for us to get close to nature. We were given adequate time to relax and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

School Immersion
The students are able to join students in China for lessons. We can experience their class environment ,and hence point out the differences between China's education system and Singapore's. We were able to empathize with the Chinese students as we face just as much pressure in daily lives as well due to the highly competitive society.

SanheGuzhen
The ancient villages are good for the students to learn more of olden Chinese culture . We can see what the past people emphasize in their education , what are their vision and beliefs etc. We also felt the atmosphere there and could imagine the lives of people back then. Also, as time passes by, some things still remained the same while others have completely changed. What was once a prosperous town full of life has now became 'dead'.

Li Hong Zhang residence and Bao Gong Ci park  
Students learn more about historic figures of China. We can study more of their contributions to the olden society and question how it has affected the modern world. We also saw the moral values the historic figures uphold and were passed down till today. We found the museum with wax figurings showing the three famous scenes of Bao Gong in court very interesting. It depicts Bao Gong's acts in a creative way and it was definitely the highlight at Bao Gong Ci Park.

Meiling Company
It shows the significance of local companies, how it adds to China's economy by exporting to foreign countries as well. It proved to be very enriching and made me view China in a different light.


What to add:
School exchange should be extended even longer to more than 2 days. We could follow their china buddy for a whole school day, to learn more about the difference in education of Singapore and China. This would give us more chances to interact with locals and be involved in the Chinese culture .We were not able to fully understand and see for ourselves the lifestyle in Anhui therefore we would like to experience a day in the life of a typical Chinese and make better comparisons.

More time in Shanghai ( View the Shanghai Skyline and Trip to Shanghai bund)
We should include a day trip in Shanghai , so that we can compare a city of second tier , Hefei and a first tier city Shanghai. We would then acknowledged their high standard of living, the abundance in skyscrapers and better infrastructure and realise what makes Shanghai such a successful trading hub. 

iFlytek 
Through the iFlytek experience, we were better able to learn the rapid development of Chinese technology, it really helped us understand the big picture behind what moves China towards modernization. However, the guides could have brought us around even more as we wasted around half an hour in the waiting room.

Meiling Factory
It was a short trip to the inside of the factory, we took a quick look at how the refrigerators were assembled and packaged. However, I felt that the details of the process and what the company values could be further explained.

What to exclude: 
Shexian
Many historical sights there weren't of the our interest , as most of us admit that not much was taken away from there.

Xidi and Hongcun
Most ancient cities are built based on similar infrastructure designs thus what we saw and the content learnt were more or less the same. We were thus unable to gain new cultural insights. Thus we all agreed that much more could be learnt if we had visited somewhere else, perhaps with interesting and different aspects.

Garden with unique plants
It was a garden specially built for the daughter of a merchant and it has many exotic plants in there. However, it was not very relevant to our cultural trip and we spent quite some time there when we could have gone elsewhere.