Day 18 9-30

We had lesson on Friday (30 Sept). During Advanced Chinese lesson we learnt more on Chinese History and it's culture by learning two poems. Here we see Jonavan and Cheng Hao reciting and performing the poem 关雎 for us.

For our E-commerce lessons, we delved into learning on the development from Web 1.0 to 4.0 and also the various social media platforms that were used in the various countries that the international students reside in.

After that we had dinner @ the beef noodle and rice place. 

Beef noodle and Rice

Before heading out to watch a movie together with our student volunteers. It was a famous Chinese novel which was then adapted to be put up on the big screen. The Cinema was huge and spacious, it was three-quarters filled. The movie lasted for 2 hours and had mixed reviews amongst ourselves but i personally enjoyed it.

Beijing Railway Station located beside the Cinema

We head back to the hostel after the movie for a quick nap before heading out early and went for the China National Day Flag Raising Ceremony on the 1st of October. It was very packed by the time we got there but we managed to find decent spots to take videos of this significant ceremony.

After an hour wait, at 6:08am the ceremony begun. It was solemn as everyone stood with phones out to capture this significant ceremony as well. It was really calm and peaceful as the cool wind blew across the flag and the Chinese nationals sang their national anthem deep in their hearts. 

Army personnel stationed to protect and maintain security

The ceremony ended at around 6:15am signified by the releasing of doves into the sky. After that we made our way back from the crowd which was a terrible squeeze but we made it back and caught up on sleep. 

Here's the fast forward version with very bad quality because internet is bad around here.

Day 17 9-29

Today was a free day so we decided to go do some window shopping. The volunteers brought to this place called SanLiTun to shop.

We were all pretty excited as the place we were going was comparable to Somerset in Singapore 

Cheng Hao and I had matching outfits to 2 of the volunteers😆

I really love this place a lot, it had so many stores and they were all well known European brand stores. It was also very huge and the buildings all look so cool with glass designs.

We went to many stores and found out that there was so many clothes and shoes available here that was not sold in Singapore and was only available online. Everyone was so tempted to buy something but we all kept to hands to ourselves because it was just the beginning and we did not want to make any big purchases so early.

We ate at a Korean restaurant opposite the shopping malls and it was so good. I do not have any pictures of it because i was so hungry. But trust me the food was pretty bomb. 

We went around to explore the area before heading back. All in all it was a great day. 

Day 12 9-24

At 10.30am, Cheng hao, Jonavan, Liang Ping and Yu Xuan met at the east campus gate to go to Fragrant hill for hiking.

There was alot of people going to Fragrant hill, mostly locals as it will become a tourist hotspot only in the mid of October. There is also alot of people charging people for car rides to Fragrant hill (not taxi) where there is alternate choice of buses. 

Entrance of Fragrant hill park

Map and history of the hill

This are the attractions in fragrant hill, they show examples of how the trees in autumn will look like and various others places to visit.

Before hiking fragrant hill, we decided to visit the monastery first.

They seem like having fun

We then start to enter the foot of fragrant hill to begin our accent.

Map of the hill, note that there are many routes to take

 Well, we choose to go via the nature trek than stone pavements,

We decided to do some climbing

and it was fun

The view along the way was already nice, can't wait to get to the top

Stairs....

All shagged... ignored the person far right

We reached the peak! Of course posting for pictures

Of course need to take this picture to show we reached the peak

We took cable car down because we are too tired to go down by foot

We will be back during mid of October as a whole group when all the leaf changes colour and it will be a whole different view than what we have seen. Overall the trip was worth it,

That's all for today! Till next time~

Day 9 9-21

In 10am morning we met at our hostel and head to TienAnMen with the subway.

Finally after long ride of subway we finally reached the TienAnMen

When we reached the place the exterior of Tien An Men was crowed just like what online reviews described. We walk along the path way but decided not going in as it is packed with people and we are not in full strengths.

We walked through the tunnel to cross over to the a huge parade opposite the entrance of Tien An Men. We walked slowly and enjoying the slight breeze that the wonderful weather provides.

Interesting fact that i found out in there was the photo taking services they provide. Many people were hired to walk around the area and asking passerby or tourist to take pictures for a price.

After taking photos, we walk around 300m west to China National Museum. As usual there was security checkpoints to check our belongings for safety precautions. The place was so huge and spacious. Here are some of the paintings about China Revolution periods that depict the story of Mao ZeDong.

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This painting caught my attention, as it was a drawing that tells the story of Chairman Mao and his following "Tong Zhi" (followers or believers).

Next we head to upper floor to explore more of China's History.

The following picture is the list of the Past Dynasty power house that controlled China at the point of time.

This are the Jades that were made during Qing Dynasty which surprisingly that the craft was quite exquisite at that point of time. 

These are the calligraphy that was writing in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Before that during our advance Chinese class our teacher mentioned it before that Chinese calligraphy have 5 types, 

篆书 (Seal Script) , 隶书 (Clerical Script), 行书 (Semi-cursive Script),

草书(Cursive Script), and lastly 楷书 (Regular Script)

After seeing these Scripts that is written by these writers i finally understood what she meant by the differences of these types of calligraphy.

These are the photos of the money that were used in previous dynasty. The shell shaped coin were used in Zhou and Shang Dynasty which. and followed by later dynasty they used the 'money' that looked like blade shape kind. Till in later dynasty round shaped coin were used to represent as their currency (Money) .

Unfortunately the Museum is closing and we are not able to explore the whole area. Will come back next time to fully explore and enjoy the whole new experiences.

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