新中教育交流项目 SINO–SIN Student Exchange Programme, Hainan (Sanya and Haikou), 14 to 22 Nov 2019

SINO-SIN Exchange Programme to Hainan, China

The overall programme consists of 3 parts – School Immersion Programme, Cultural Experience and an Industrial Visit.

1. School Immersion Programme includes the following :

Classroom experience with buddies (跟班听课)
Chinese cultural lessons (such as Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese martial arts, pottery, Chinese painting, bamboo pole dance) (书法、中国武术、陶艺课、中国画、竹竿舞)
Professional Sharing amongst Teachers (教研交流会)

2. Cultural Experience includes the following :

Nanshan Cultural Zone (南山佛教文化旅游区)
Binglanggu·Hainan Li & Miao Cultural Heritage Park (槟榔谷)
Leiqiong Crater Geological Park (海口火山地质文化公园)
Film Commune of Feng Xiao Gang (冯小刚电影公社)
Five Officials Temple (五公祠)
Haikou Arcade Old Streets (海口骑楼老街)

SINO-SIN Exchange Programme to Hainan, China</center></b>

A group of 49 students from Hougang and Queenstown Secondary Schools embarked on a learning journey to Hainan (Sanya and Haikou) from 14 to 22 November 2019. Through this trip, we gained deeper insights into China’s educational system and cultural heritage. It has allowed us to interact with the students from various schools in Hainan, and learn more about their daily lives. The overall programme consisted of three parts : school immersion, cultural experience and an industrial visit.

The school immersion segment comprised classroom experience with buddies as well as cultural lessons such as Chinese Calligraphy, Chinese Painting, Chinese Kungfu Tai Chi and Bamboo Pole Dance. The first leg of our trip was in Sanya. We visited Sanya Overseas Chinese School (三亚华侨学校) and were warmly welcomed. We went on a campus tour, and were impressed by their huge and sprawling campus!

We were finally able to reunite with our buddies when we visited Haikou No.1 Middle School (海口市第一中学) during the second leg of the trip. We attended lessons pertaining to Chinese culture such as Han Chinese Clothing Manufacturing, Pottery, and Chinese Modern Dance. From the lessons, we realised that in China, students are taught English much later compared to students in Singapore.

The immersion at Haikou No.1 Middle School ended with a farewell party. The choir students and the Chinese Pipa performers put up an amazing performance for us. In return, we also performed, where one of our students, Choong Yu Tong (3E1), played a piano piece, “Allegro Mozart’s first Movement from Sonata in C, k. 279”. Thereafter, Hougeans came together to perform the Cup Song in acapella style. We also sang “Home” in both English and Mandarin with Queenstown Secondary School students. It was really a touching moment as we bade farewell to each other, albeit reluctantly. Our last school visit was to Hainan Middle School (海南中学). Following the warm welcome, we had a campus tour and learnt about the history of the school - the school had a whole exhibition on their school’s history and the architecture was just mind-blowing. We participated in various workshops during the half-day immersion.

Besides school immersion, we were also exposed to the cultural aspects of Hainan. In Sanya, we visited Nanshan Cultural Zone (南山旅游区) and Binglanggu (槟榔谷) ~ Hainan Li and Miao Cultural Heritage Park. In Haikou, we went to Leiqiong Crater Geological Park (雷琼火山地质文化公园), Film Commune of Feng Xiao Gang (冯小刚电影公社), Five Officials Temple (五公祠) and the Arcade Old Streets (骑楼老街). Nanshan Cultural Zone in Sanya was an eye-opening experience for many of us as we not only learnt about Buddhist culture, we also learned interesting facts about the 3-faced Guanyin statue.

In Haikou, a key highlight was the visit to Leiqiong Crater Geological Park which is a UNESCO global geopark. We saw for ourselves the scenic volcanic landscapes and lava structures, and got to learn about the different kinds of lava flows and tunnels. The park is a natural, open-air exhibition of volcanism where we could climb up to its peak to see the volcano itself!

Last, but not least, we went on an industrial visit to Yeshu Coconut Can Manufacturing. We had a glimpse of the manufacturing process of the company’s products such as mineral water and coconut milk. We even got to try and bring home some of their products! In the Conference Room, we saw pictures of many world leaders, such as the past US presidents, a Prince of Saudi Arabia and even our Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong. It is no wonder as Yeshu’s products are typically served at national events, such as hosting of world leaders.

All in all, we had a memorable trip. Not only did we broaden our horizons, we have also brought back many fond memories of Hainan. We would like to thank Ms Jesmine Chung (Vice-Principal), Mr Quek Yong Cai (Subject Head/Science) and Mdm Jessica Heng for being chaperones and taking care of us during the trip!