Assessment 4: Individual Report - 15%

Q1 Think about your pre-trip learning objectives.
Have you achieved what you set out to learn and discover? If so, to what extent? If not, why?
What factors have helped you achieve your objectives?
What hindrances did you face and how did you overcome them?

Q2 Think of what you have learnt.
Share the lessons you have learnt. Provide concrete details of experiences, dialogues, events.

Q3 Review the inquiry questions you framed.
Have you found the answers? What have you found out?

Q4 Assess yourself on your global skills.
How have you improved? How has your understanding of cross-cultural issues developed?




1. I have achieved what I set on my pre-learning objective to a large extent. As 6 weeks living in China, Wuhan, I had adapted to their living conditions, the food they eat here and their culture. Thus by adapting to their environment here, then could I easily learned more of the things I set in my learning plan. What I set for my learning plan were, what kind of food they eat, their attitude and they way they do things.
Let me begin with the food they eat, I realized that the locals here likes their food to be spicy and oily. They loves to eat deep fried food and with chili powder on it. At one time I observe how they cook their food. Usually in Singapore whenever the fried the vegetable, they will pour some oil onto the pan first then fry some garlic before putting the vegetables in, whereas here, they DEEP FRIED the vegetable for awhile first, then they will pour away the excess oil and fry the vegetable again with spice on it. Well I realized many local always asked for more chili sauce or chili power.
Next was their attitude,the Chinese are among the most hospitable people in the world. However, in smaller cities with less foreign exposure, many will freeze up the first time you try to communicate. No worries: once locals get used to you, you will find them extremely accommodating. Just like in Wuhan, if they does not know you are a foreigner they will not treat you as friendly as you are. During my journey here, before i say anything, while approaching to the shop owner, they will always give me an unfriendly face, but when they know i am from Singapore, their attitude towards us had a 180 degree change. Well maybe they really like to communicate with foreigner.
Lastly is how the way they handle things, i observe that the Chinese are very impatient, as they like to get things done fast, if not they will start to grumble. I still remember when we were at the Yellow Crank Tower queuing to enter, there is a China man behind me queuing with me as well. Then when is my turn to enter the tower, i accidentally dropped my ticket. When i went to pick it up my ticket, the china man behind me just walk passed me and proceed to the tower, i was being pushed by him too. Well can’t he be more patient and polite?
Some obstacle that i face was the food here. Although the food here tastes good and yummy, the amount of oil and salt was really more than what i expected. As the locals here like their food to be spicy, i get to fall sick easily due to the heaty ness in my body. In order to prevent getting fever, sore throats or flu, i force myself to drink lots of water every day.

2. I have learned many things in this trip. The things that i had experience here is totally different from Singapore, the environment, culture, mindset and many more. Through this 6 weeks, i realised that my Chinese has improve, at first i had difficulties in communicating with the locals here, as times goes by, communicating with them is really an easy task now. Learning to socialise in China really was challenge to me, well now that i have already learned, i will strike even further goal, like translate to those who are not Chinese.
I also learned their culture and belief. Wuhan is home to a number of comparatively large places of religious worship serving followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestant Christianity. The Zenism College of Central South China is the sole institute of religious higher education in the Wuhan region.

3. These are the questions I framed-How they react to problems?
How do they communicate with one another?
Are their determination really is that strong?
What type of environment they had.
Should you work in China?

-How does the local react to problems- what i realised was that, whenever they encountered a problem, they always, explained the problem first before taking action, whereas we Singaporean always take action to solve the problem first before explaining what’s going on.

- How do they communicate with one another- I observed that they speak loudly to each other, especially on the phone. Their voice volume is as loud as shouting and they don’t mind others listening to their conversation, whereas in Singapore it is considered very rude.
As for business, they like to pull their customer in and promote loudly. They were like desperate to sell their goods off. Compared to Singapore sale promoter, they will let their customer have a look product first, before promoting their product.

-Are their determination really is that strong- Well I can’t really get any answer in this trip, maybe doesn’t really have any interaction with the locals here, what I did most was just observing them. However, I heard many news of the Chinese determination is stronger than the western; well I didn’t get a chance to witness it in this trip.

-What type of environment they had- In this trip, I realized that their air was quite polluted compare to Singapore. As sewage and rubbish treatment facilities were poorly done. Whenever after they had their meals, they just throw away their used paper bowl and waste on the floor, you hardly see them disposing their waste into a rubbish bin. And their cleanness here was very poor. In Singapore, if you were caught littering, you will be fined. In China, no one will catch you for littering, it is common here. As a result, the air here was not as fresh, as dusts and dirt were emitted from the vehicle’s exhaust and the waste created by the locals.

-Should you work in China?- Well, the expense here was really cheap, especially the food here, filling up your stomach here shouldn’t be a problem here. As we know China markets are growing rapidly and more and more investor are coming in to China to make investment. I believe that China is the 21st century rising star. Thus doing business in China, really is a good opportunity.


4. Just to recap on my global skill, first was communication, second was business in China and last was the trust in the people here. My global skill has really improved through this 6 weeks trip in Wuhan.
For communication in Wuhan, they quite advance compare to other provinces. For the basic communication tools, telephone and handphone, most of the people here does have one. And for internet, they have QQ-online massagers online, which is our so call MSN messagers online.
For business, I learnt lots of things from my IS lecture, business etiquette. This lecture really teaches me lots of business stuff. I had learned the different behaviors of a business man and some psychological skill as well. It was really interesting as it involve lots of social skill. As we know China markets is growing rapidly and more and more investor came to China to invest, thus by having some knowledge of business etiquette here really helps me a lot if I am coming here to work in future.
And for the trust in people, I didn’t gain much in this trip, maybe I need more time for observation. However, what I conclude is that, both parties must have benefits then can you gain the trust of that person.
As a conclusion, I truly understand the cross cultural issues between both country Singapore and China. China has lots of areas that needs to improve such like, their bad habits- not keeping the environment clean and the traffics on the roads. In addition, China also needs to improve in political stuff, there are still quite a number of corruption occurs unlike Singapore. However Singapore can learn some ideals from China so as to have more improvement, such as, using natural resources to generate electricity. And also Singaporean should learn from china’s innovations, as the Chinese creativity is going to surpass the western.
This trip really benefits me a lot as I have learnt how to be independent and also being able to complete 2 modules in 6 weeks can really save my time when the next semester starts. Thus I would be able to spend more time on other modules and score better grades.