WEEK TWO TO WEEK FIVE

WEEK TWO

Day 6, 14 Oct, Monday:

I went for World trade and Organization class with Yuhui cos the rest are not interested to attend. The class was okay I guess since the content is new to me, but we have catching up to do as they already finished chapter 4 and having a presentation next wk. didn’t go for finance class in the afternoon as nobody go with me. We celebrated Yu Hui’s birthday at night at the conference room.

Day 7, 15 Oct, Tuesday:

Had learning Chinese through movies in the morning, was quite boring at first and I didn’t really pay attention to the movie as I didn’t quite understand the accent. But after a while from the second mini clip onwards was sort of fun as it trains my observation, understanding and interpretation skills.

After lunch I attended elementary reading and writing with the Malays as we have no other classes. They all find it difficult to write and I dun blame them for complaining. But really have to catch up because the foreigners quite pro, 6 weeks only and their Chinese really not bad.

Day 8, 16 Oct, Wednesday:

Reading and writing in the morning, I find the passage was still okay. At least I could read all the words except for 1 but I could understand the meaning of the passage. Writing was a little more difficult as it has been a while since I last wrote. My compo always sucked in sec school.  I tend to score better in paper 2 than in paper 1. Well we have to write an essay on 北京印象 so I crap and wrote bigger and bigger to fill up the paper. After that we went for Chinese culture class where we learn about auspicious patterns and their meaning. There was also a discussion for a proposed cultural field trip to the Forbidden City.

After lunch we sat in for Asian economics where the foreigners were having a presentation. 1 group presented on Korea and the other on Japan. I feel they presented really well because the class was engaging and they tried to involve the audience by encouraging them to ask questions. As there are no correct answers in economics and mostly open for discussion, I enjoyed the class as I get to learn from different viewpoints and how they applied the theory learnt.

Day 9, 17 Oct, Thursday:

Attended Marketing in China in the morning, they had a test for marketing strategy so we left for early brunch. Senior Chinese listening and speaking was interesting as we get to practise public speaking skills. We also learnt many words to describe an event and emphasize on our own opinion.

Day 10, 18 Oct, Friday:

Reading and Writing:

We learnt a little about the Chinese history such as the different dynasties and a little on fengshui like the 5 elements (金，木，水，火, 土) and the different position of room for each of the family members. Had dinner at school canteen where we ate 手抓券.

Day 11, 19 Oct, Saturday:

We went to 三里屯 and happen to see some exhibition. We also saw the flagship apple store and brands that can be found in sg such as Uniqlo, Hollister, starbucks. We had lunch at biteapitta which was very expensive.

Day 12, 20 Oct, Sunday

Deyi, Jiawen, YuHui, Alvin and I went to 天意批发市场 to buy some stationary, find my figurines and gloves and to explore the area. After that we went to 南锣鼓巷 which is one of the historical sites being preserved. I was planning to visit Toys ‘R’ Us but I found a store that sells many anime figurines over there. That was the least expected place where I found my Gundam figurines being sold. There were many food stores and we saw some exotic food such as scorpions and other insects.

WEEK THREE

Day 13, 21 Oct, Monday

WTO:

We had a discussion on gains and challenges that China faces after joining WTO.

4 main gains were:

a.       Rapid development of foreign trade

b.      Improvement of GDP and GDP per capita

c.       A favourable international economic environment

d.      New concepts being adopted such as creating an open and fair competition environment, ‘win-win’ situation by having a bilateral agreement with USA.

China also faced challenges such as competition under economic globalisation in areas such as arable land, renewable freshwater resources, and the research & development sector to aid in technology advancement. By joining WTO, China helped to contribute the world’s GDP growth. The power structure also changed as in the past, WTO is managed by developed countries such as USA, European Union, Japan and Canada.

Finance:

Financial System in China: Legal framework (laws to protect financial system)

1.      Bank Law: only permit to participate in credit market, restricted to only making loans and take deposits. China adopts separated market model for financial safety as banks have no access to stock market.

2.      Securities Law on insurance and trading.

Insurance: stable and transparent.

Trading: Insider trading, self-dealing is prohibited.

3.      Corporate Law

Incorporating: converting private firm to a corporate allows access to finances from general public and also limited liability for shareholders.

4.      Central Bank Law

Independence of Central Bank affects the monetary policy. Peoples’ Bank of China has stable monetary policy and also supports economic growth. High reserve requirement of cash (20%) in China sacrifice the profitability of banks.

5.      Trust Law

Trust firm is the most flexible financial institution in China.

‘Ninja’: no income, no job, no asset

Day 14, 22 Oct, Tuesday

Learning Chinese through Movies:

We continued watching the rest of the three mini stories in the movie 爱情麻辣烫. We had a mini role-play to one of the scenes in the show and were tasked to write an essay on our thoughts on one of the mini stories. We went to ­­­­somewhere below Merrymart (I forgot the name of the place) for lunch which was buffet style. After lunch we came back to the hostel to discuss and update our blog. Everyone was tired especially on days where we have 8am classes so it was basically free and easy after lunch.

Day 15, 23 Oct, Wednesday

No Chinese culture, cher sick.

Asian econs: presentation on economies of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Day 16, 24 Oct, Thursday

Marketing in China:

China’s competitive advantage is the low cost labour, solid foundation in industry, technological innovations and quality stuff and continual improvement of infrastructure.

Outbound Direct Investment

- market seeking FDI (foreign direct investment)

- natural resource endowment

- asset seeking FDI

- political risk

- cultural proximity

- policy liberalization

- exchange rate

- host inflation rate

- exports and imports

- geographic distance from China

- openness to FDI

Listening and Speaking:

关雎

关关雎鸠，在河之洲。

窈窕淑女，君子好逑。

参差荇菜，左右流之。

窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。

求之不得，寤寐思服。

悠哉悠哉，辗转反侧。

参差荇菜，左右采之。

窈窕淑女，琴瑟友之。

参差荇菜，左右芼之。

窈窕淑女，钟鼓乐之。

Day 17, 25 Oct, Friday

Reading and Writing:

We read an essay on 公民观. The passage was about the history of the formation of citizenship in China and a little bit on the politics and past dynasties.

Day 18, 26 Oct, Saturday

We went to 798 Art District today. Although I’m not really an artsy person and I don’t know how to appreciate art, the place is really cool with many graffiti works and various exhibitions. We had lunch seizerya. I could not stand eating fake sausages (Chinese sausage 腊肠) so the first thing I ordered once I open the menu was Frankfurt sausage.

Day 19, 27 Oct, Sunday

Stay home Sunday again…..

WEEK FOUR

Day 20, 28 Oct, Monday

WTO: Merchandise Trade

Direction of Foreign Trade: 4 Major Trading Partners: European Union, USA, Japan, Hong Kong.

Problems triggered by merchandise trade

1.      Trade Surplus Issue (export more than import)

-          Export growth was faster than import after 2001

-          Sharp rose from year 2005 to 2007

-          Financial crisis in year 2008, growth decline from 2008 to 2011

-          Rebound in year 2012

2.      Foreign Exchange Reserve Issue

China has USD 10 trillion worth of reserve as of 2012. One-third is invested in US treasury bonds. (QE policy caused USD to depreciate)

Balance of Payment

-Current Account: Goods, Service, Income, Current transfers

-Capital and Financial Account: Capital, Finances

-Official Reserves

-Net errors and omissions

3.      Reform of the RMB exchange rate: A managed floating exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of currencies.

Trade in Services

GATS (general agreement on trade in services)

4 modes of supplying services

1.      Cross-border supply: to cover services flow from one territory to another.

2.      Consumption Abroad: refers to situations where a service consumer moves into another member territory to obtain services eg. Banks

3.      Commercial Presence: set up subsidiaries/ branches to provide service. Eg. Hotels

4.      Presence of natural persons: consist of individuals

12 categories of trade in services

-transport	-insurance	-consultation
-travel	-financial	-advertising and public opinion polling
-communication	-computer and information	-audio and visual
-construction	-royalties and licenses fees	-others

Finance:

We learnt about accounting standards which is also known as book-keeping to aid investment.

2 standards: IAS, IFRS

Main differences among the standards

1.      Market Value vs Book Value

2.      Profit vs Cashflow

We had dinner with Summer, My, Joel, Simon, Wayne.

Day 21, 29 Oct, Tuesday

Learning Chinese through Movies: We had a discussion on the movie 一声叹息 which we were supposed to watch as homework. 3 pairs had to act out a particular scene in the movie. I think Zack and Yanting was the best among the 3 as they can capture the timing and emotion better.

After class we had a quick lunch and packed some food for the 长城 field trip organised by the international office. I went there before so though the weather was nice, I didn’t climb as far as I did the last time I went, instead I had a mini picnic at the 4^th tower. The scenery was not as bad if compared to those taken from the 8^th tower but it was pretty cool to have a mini picnic at八达岭长城 to celebrate my birthday.It was Elaine’s birthday too so the international students sang the birthday song for us on our way back to the school.

It was already 7pm by the time we arrived back in the campus, had a quick dinner as I had not completed the reading and writing assignment. Went over to find 善才 (Korean) and discuss about the passage. We both find it difficult to answer the questions as the passage was kind of political. Halfway through, the rest had a surprise celebration for Elaine and I and we had cake at Jooyee’s room. The funny thing is both of us don’t really like to eat cake so I ate 1 mouth to thank them for the effort to celebrate our birthday and went back to rushing the assignment.

Day 22, 30 Oct, Wednesday

Reading and Writing: 李老师 went through the assignment on 公民.

Chinese Culture: We watched a documentary on Forbidden City.

Asian Economics: Last 2 groups presented on Indonesia and India.

Day 23, 31 Oct, Thursday

Marketing in China: Major cities by GDP per capita

1.      Shenzhen (4874 USD)

2.      Guangzhou (4729 USD)

3.      Xiamen (4688 USD)

Challenges of doing business in China

1.      Domestic Trade Barriers: investment between China’s provinces has largely stagnated

2.      Corruption is rampant: CPI of 3.5 (0-corrupt, 10-clean)

3.      Non-performing loans: International norm: 6%

Bank of China: 28%

China Construction Bank: 40-50%

Agricultural Bank of China: 80-90%

4.      Lack of transparency: censorship of media, new restrictions for service providers are to screen private email messages for political content.

Manufacturing Challenges

1.      Reduction in tariff rates: Manufacturing in China is no longer a key advantage.

2.      New competitors emerging

3.      Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises

Manufacturing Opportunities

1.      Tariff reductions: reduction in imported material costs

2.      Heightened Competition: domestic restructuring

3.      New FDI in logistics, distribution and customer financing: provide better support services.

Successful implementation of WTO rules will depend on industry sector, region and ministry. Thus, each company needs to closely monitor changes and developments.

Listening and speaking:

木瓜

投我以木瓜，报之以琼琚。

匪报也，永以为好也。

投我以木桃，报之以琼瑶。

匪报也，永以为好也。

投我以木李，报之以琼玖。

匪报也，永以为好也。

This 诗 is maintaining good relations. 木瓜, 木桃 and 木李 are wild berries while 琼琚, 琼瑶 and 琼玖 are expensive jades.匪报也 means it’s not to repay, 永以为好也 means to maintain good relations.

Day 24, 01 Nov, Friday

NO CLASS TODAY!!! 李老师 brought us on a field trip to 南锣鼓巷 and 后海 in the late afternoon. We walked for hours and experience the night scene of the olden Beijing. There were a lot of bars in that area somewhat similar to Clarke quey in Singapore.

Day 25, 02 Nov, Saturday

We played sports such as captains’ ball, badminton, soccer in the morning. I watched anime with Jing Ying in the afternoon while 1 group went to 天意and the other went to 王府井. The reasons that I stayed in was partly because

1.      I went 天意twice before

2.      I have no interest in shopping at 王府井 as it somewhat like orchard road and there are a lot of pickpockets in that area.

3.      I have a presentation on Monday which I have not started research on.

Street food for dinner has become a norm as most people are budget based.

Day 26, 03 Nov, Sunday

We went to the zoo (again for some). Bought jeans, shoes and socks and I finally had my macs happy meal and got a minion toy.

WEEK FIVE

Day 27, 04 Nov, Monday

WTO: I had a presentation on sustaining China’s merchandise.

Finance: Accounting standards and how to read balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow.

Day 28, 05 Nov, Tuesday

Learning Chinese Through Movies: 刮痧

刮痧 is a traditional Chinese treatment.

We had a debate on ‘whether physical punishment is an appropriate method to discipline a child. The guys represented Americans whom are against physical punishment and the girls represented Chinese whom are in favour. After the debate, we had a role playing session for one of the scenes where it was a law suit against the male lead for child abuse.

Zack, Yu Hui and I went to Hai Xian’s workplace which was the Baidu headquarters. It was so huge and definitely comparable to the Google headquarters in the US. There were a lot of facilities for the staff such as gym, lounge and even sleeping pod. The canteen food was also way better than what we have in the school canteen. After that, we came for dinner at 大鸭梨烤鸭店 where we ate Peking duck.

Day 29, 06 Nov, Wednesday

Reading and writing, Vocab:

从属	尽人皆知	敬业	客体	回避
依附	彰	奉献	窠臼	愚民
宪法	滑坡	实施	谦谦君子	狭隘
大纲	公德	本质	驯服	纳入
方略	勤俭	主体	归属	行使

Foreign Trade:

Property rights

Problems of agriculture in china

Day 30, 07 Nov, Thursday

Marketing in China:

10 golden business rules for China

1.     Assemble the right team, train locals

Listening and speaking:

子衿

青青子衿，悠悠我心。

纵我不往，子宁不嗣音？

青青子佩，悠悠我思。

纵我不往，子宁不来？

挑兮达兮，在城阙兮。

一日不见，如三月兮。

Day 31, 08 Nov, Friday

Reading and Writing: class was cancelled today as 李老师had a meeting to attend. The 12 of us went to 香山 and it was super tiring but fun. We decided to climb up and take the cable car ride down which was 60RMB. The journey up seems so long and it made me wonder when we will ever reach the peak. The 638 steps up near the peak was the toughest part for me and my legs felt that they were going to break soon. The scenery was nice but it was pretty cold while taking the ride down.

Day 32, 09 Nov, Saturday

We went to 天安门广场 (tian an men square) and 故宫(forbidden city). 故宫was huge but we took only 2-3 hours to cover the place. We didn’t hire a guide to explain the history behind the architecture and statues so we merely read the brief description found and took some pictures.

Day 33, 10 Nov, Sunday

Lepak Sunday, forgot what we did

so basically i just copy pasted from my log and realised i didnt update it for 3wks... too much assignments to do till it gets so boring and brain draining everyday.

time for some shows and throw all assignments aside