We arrived at 南京游府西街小学 around 8 a.m. in the morning. The moment we alighted from the coach, we were received with great fanfare by the school band at the grand entrance.

We felt very nervous yet felt like a special VIP. We were immediately led to the front and some students came forward to tie red scarves around our necks. Later, we were told that this was only done as a form of the highest honour.

Our group joined Class 4/4 for a lesson on Chinese poetry, followed by a music lesson. They spoke fast because of their strong accent as they are speaking standard Mandarin.

We were asked many questions by the curious students and teachers. The teacher asked about the length of one teaching period, the kind of subjects we study and how much homework was given each day.

The students asked about the kind of food we eat in Singapore, how students are being disciplined in the classroom and the time we wake up each day. 

Lunch was great! We were served a sumptious lunch at the school cafetaria. You won't believe that it resembles one of our local foodcourts!

The school's buildings look very modern and the facilities are very impressive. They include a lecture theatre, a recording studio, students' hostel, a running track, two rooftop gardens, a black box theatre and several computer labs with the latest desktops.

We are not in favour of having such a lunch programme in BTPS. This would mean that we would have to stay in school for a longer time.

We also noticed some international students including an Indian girl among the student population. It looks like the school is becoming very popular not only among the locals but also the expatriates.

Visit to Gong Yuan - The only central examination hall in the whole of China.

- We found the education system in ancient China to be very stressful for students. The people worked very hard to sit for the examination. Candidates had to take the examination in a cramped examination hall. They followed a system of 3 days of exam for each subject wtih 3 days of rest, followed by another 3 days of exam and so on.

Scholars are called Mandarins, and they bring honour to their family name. Many people put in years of hard work just to sit for the exam.

Done by: Alicia Chua, Tanya Chee, Nicole Rusli, Nicole Lim, Michelle Choy, Jan Ong