Reflective Journal 5

Reflective Journal 5: Reflect on SES. You may want to consider the curriculum, the learning process, the assessment, difficulties you faced, how you overcame them, and how might SES be applicable in time to come. 

We have taken SES for one and a half term. During the valuable time, I really had a deeper insight about the society in China and America.

As a PRC scholar, I have learnt more about Chinese society. To be honest, at the beginning of Term 1, I felt quite uncomfortable that we regarded China as a Confucian society. When I was in China, ‘Confucianism’ is seldom mentioned and I felt that everything went on just like what it should be. It was a bit strange for me to link China directly to Confucianism. However, as we did more case studies and reached the core of the issue, it started to make sense to me. Although Chinese do not often say ‘We do it because of Confucianism’ like Americans saying ‘We do it because of our rights and freedom’, the ideology really influences Chinese in all respects of the society, including how Chinese behave and how Chinese companies are run. The reason why I could not feel it is because I am so used to behave according to the rules of Confucianism which are hidden in subconscious, just like a Chinese saying ‘Stand-by see more than gamesters’.

SES let us see more mostly by reading and discussing. Before every lesson, we can get access to adequate and useful readings giving us background information and experts’ ideas. Once there were too many readings and we suffered from the preparation, but the split of the questions is a perfect solution as we can focus on one question, while the interconnection between the questions can help us understand other questions under the same topic without much difficulties. Then we can enjoy the readings as they bring us interesting facts and ideas. Class discussion is when we can exchange thoughts and condense them. There are sometimes debates and they make us scrutinise the problem and have a more comprehensive view. At first, I was a bit worried about taking part in the discussion as I confess that I am sometimes too shy to express my opinion, partly due to Confucian ideology and the rote learning in China. However, as I gradually got adapted to the environment, I became more confident about sharing my ideas. Improvement in this respect will be beneficial, not only for SES, but also for the future. I have not done my presentation yet, but I believe that I will do well after watching others’ presentations and learn from their lessons. Another task of SES is to write reflective journals. It sometimes makes me ponder the viewpoints we have discussed in class, but it is usually a recapitulation of what we have learnt and how we ourselves perceive the issues according to individual experiences, i.e. a process of linking what we learn with the real life. To require comments on each other’s journal is a wise decision as it gives us the chance to learn from each other and help mutually. It is very like the peer review in Google in the purpose of encouraging creativity.

Though what we learnt about China and America seems a little far away from real life application now as we are still students in Singapore, the knowledge prepares us for the coming future. Our school aims to nurture global leaders, so it is important for us to have a high CQ and know about the two big countries’ different societies in order to collaborate with people from China and America. Also, Singapore’s nature determines that its economy can only flourish with foreign investment and interaction with countries all over the world. After so many SES lessons, we have a better idea of what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen in the world. This leads to a clearer worldview which will be helpful after we step into the society.

By the way, I want to give one suggestion about the readings. Can we have more readings written by Chinese? Since we are comparing the society of China and America, it is better to hear voice from both sides. At present, most of our readings are from the Westerner’s angle of view. I agree that their vision is very good, but after all, Chinese and Westerners often see the problems differently because of different ideologies and habits. If we can read about Chinese’s point of view, our perception about the issue may be more holistic. Also, we can do a comparison of the different views and apply what we have learnt. Thus, we can have a better understanding without any bias. Websites like People’s Daily may be a good source of articles.

I hope that our learning journey will continue smoothly and beneficially in the time to come. (786 words)

Reflective Journal 4

Reflective Journal 4

During the last two lessons, we talked about the societal problem faced by China and America. The situations of the two countries are really different due to the diversity in politics, economics and people’s ideologies.

The biggest problem which Chinese may come up with first is corruption in the government. I think this problem is very worrying. One of the reasons why CCP could defeat Kuomintang which was originally stronger in the civil war was that CCP was clean and cared much about common people. Thus, it gained wide support from the masses. However, today, there is often news about corruptive officials and sometimes when people are really feeling that local officials are not doing things which benefit the masses, they become disappointed and even angry. I can understand the common people as the corruptive officials who are fed by the taxes they pay only think about how to get more benefits for themselves instead of common people. In my opinion, the formation of this problem cannot only be attributed to the government itself. It is money worship in the whole society and people’s greed that make this problem worse. Many Chinese still link being an official more closely to earning a lot of money than serving people. Maybe one of the ways they think to realise it quickly is to be corruptive.

However, to resolve the problem, the main responsibility still falls on the government. Although CCP has made much effort to find out and deal with the corruptive officials such as Chen Liangyu in Shanghai and Wen Qiang in Chongqing, there is still a long way to go. I think the first thing China should do is to perfect the legal system. The corruptive officials must be punished harshly and fairly and the prosecutors must work independently. Then the government should encourage people to report corruptive behaviour and protect the reporters as the government works for people so people should have a voice. On the other hand, it may not be wise to adopt other countries’ system such as Singapore’s meritocracy because the number of officials is much larger and hard to manage.

Another serious societal problem faced by China is polarisation of income. When I was in China, I could see both luxury cars ostentatiously running down the road and the poor beggars begging for money on the pavement. I feel sorry for the poor, but it is not very reasonable to blame the rich as long as they get rich through legal ways and contribute to the development of the society. China is building a free market gradually in which once there are winners, there is likely to be losers as well. The problem cannot be easily avoided. Also, because of the restriction of transport and communication, the rural areas are not able to develop as well as urban areas at all, especially the mountain villages in the West.

Unlike the problem above, this problem cannot be solved solely by the government. According to what I read in newspapers in China, the government has actively decrease the tax for the poor and increase the tax for the rich, but obviously this measure is not able to resolve it all. The government is also improving the health care and housing welfare, but it will take a long time to complete. I think the rich are more responsible to help the poor by donating money and things. More philanthropists should emerge and promote the spirit of giving back to the society so the rich and the poor can share the fruit of development together.

In America, the problem of corruption and polarisation is not that serious but there seem to be other social problems like drug abuse. I have never been to America before, but in the news, I have heard a lot about some superstars who took drugs and finally died at a young age. According to statistics, one-twelfth of people over 12 years old in America use illicit drugs. The number is really terrible and even a bit unimaginable to me. Drug abuse may lead to violence and other crimes as well, which will cause further problems.

I think both the government and the society are responsible for resolving the problem. The government has to do more to prohibit illegal drug trading and transaction. The society can help to rehabilitate the drug addicts and stop young people from touching drugs.

In conclusion, China and America are facing different but serious societal problems and they cannot be resolved in a short time. The government and the society should act together to deal with them.

Reflective Journal 3

The perceptions of self in Chinese and Western culture are different in many ways. Chinese perception pays much attention on Confucian ideology while Western perception focuses on liberty, equality and fraternity. They do have dissimilar impacts on people.

As a Chinese, I am influenced by Chinese perception of self a lot. Since I was young, I have been taught that the standard of a gentleman is to be benevolent, just, polite, wise and honest, which is adopted from Confucianism. As a result, I tried my best to behave like this in order to get praise from teachers and parents. There is an award at the end of each semester for students who score high in all subjects including PE and have good behavior. It is widely acknowledged as a mark of excellent students. For another example, in class, especially before the exams, the teachers are often performing a monologue. Students just listen and take notes all the time but few of them dare to question the teachers in class unless teachers ask ‘Any questions so far?’ The answer is usually silence as well. If we really have questions, we are used to go to the teachers’ offices and ask them individually to show respect. Many passages in Chinese textbooks advocate the values consciously or unconsciously, such as excerpt of Analects about study. I can say that, until now, I still behave according to the habits.

However, American ideology also affects our ways of doing things from time to time. The idea of equality and democracy came into China after the 1911 Revolution and was used to found the Republic of China. Although PRC took place of it, we can still sense the concept in daily life. At school, we build our class committee by democratic election. The final decision is modified a little by the form teacher at most of the times, but every student has the same right to participate, discuss and vote. Sometimes, the candidates give speeches, which are very much like western style. Of course, this practice in common all over the world and cannot be compared with the presidential election in America, but it is a typical model of democracy which is commonly admitted in China indeed.

When I first arrived in Singapore, I felt uncomfortable for some of the habits here. For example, there is no problem to walk with bare foot or sit down anywhere on the floor. Due to an open and free environment here, they are commonly acceptable. But in traditional Chinese values, the bahaviour is impolite and will make others unpleased. I think it can be called a culture shock, or a perception shock. To my surprise, this shock did not last long and now I no longer feel troubled, but have been adapt to it. This can also explain the situation in China. Reform and Opening-up enables American perception to come into China further. At the same time, the traditional Chinese as well as the young Chinese generation are absorbing it critically rather than deny it all. The reason why it can only have a limited influence is that the perception of self is like a person’s root. When you have grown up and had a full idea of what it is, you are nearly impossible to change to another. You are used to think by the rules and judge things by your belief.

My opinion is that Chinese and American perceptions of self should complement each other. Although many differences exist, they are not against each other. It is only because they emphasis on different things. Confucianism encourages people to obey the rules of manners, but his ideology also encourages people to pursue freedom. He himself travelled between 7 countries and spread his doctrines freely. Americans like liberty and equality, but if people are lack of honesty and justice, a free and equal society cannot be achieved at all. As people often say, rights and duties are consistent. You should fulfill obligations at the same time when you enjoy your rights. Chinese perceptions of self is more like what one ought to do and American’s is more like what one ought to seek and have. The ideal world is free and equal with people who have the good qualities. Thus, it can be fair, harmonious and happy.

(718 words)

Reflective Journal 2

Reflective Journal 2

The different styles of management reveal the different cultures and societies in the East and in the West.

Google’s way of management impressed me a lot. It is so open and gives its employees so much freedom. The site of the company looks like a tiny integrated city. At first, I wondered whether it is worth building luxurious facilities for employees and why. Now after analysing, I understand that Google provides its staff with a comfortable atmosphere and it is very wise. People can relax comfortably and then go to work with full passion. So it is a way to improve the company’s efficiency and these welfares build up the extrinsic motivation of employees. They are attractive to everybody including me because the comfort and richness of life is being pursued forever.

Besides this, I also appreciate its encouragement to innovation. The ‘20%’ rule as well as peer review gives employees a chance to explore the area beyond their assigned work and achieve something with potential abilities. I think it helps to foster good employees and make them faithful to the company. This reminds me of a company called foxconn from Taiwan. It is famous for manufacturing for Apple. However, it came to public sight because more than ten employees jumped off the building continuously in about half a year’s time because of great pressure and the boredom of repeating the same work thousands of times a day. On the other hand, the company only receives a very small amount of money for each product which is sold at a high price to consumers. There is a stark contrast between the two companies. Freedom and innovation makes business successful while restriction and copying only bring sweat and toil. In China, there is also a phenomenon called ‘shanzhai’, which means fake products. A lot of small companies imitate the make, the name, even the design of appearance of famous companies, but their products’ quality is very poor. Numerous of them appear and disappear all in a very short time. I feel really sorry for them. If they can put effort into creating their own design instead of thinking how to copy, maybe they will have a bright future. The culture of innovation and open mind decides the fate of a company in the fierce competition. There is a saying, ’Chinese are best at copying’. In the current situation, I have to accept this fact but I hope we Chinese can learn how to not only innovate based on what we have copied, but also create something for others to copy. It will make a great change.

Another company we talked about is Lenovo. I think there are two ways for it to survive and thrive: one way is to keep its Chinese style and the other is change itself to be real international. It should be easier to manage in Chinese style but more attractive to employees in Western style. It is reasonable for Lenovo to fail in the second style: it is based on China. Chinese have been used to being conservative and listening to superiors after thousands of years of feudalism. You may say feudalism suppresses people’s talent and freedom but the fact is that China kept a leading position in the world all the way before 19^th century. Similarly, Lenovo returned to be profitable after returning to the first style. Initially I wondered why it works, but after finding out so many new and popular products including the ThinkPad Edge I am using, I get some ideas. The Chinese style is a bit like meritocracy. My opinion is that the key is only talented people will be promoted to a higher position. This ensures that every employee can do the best of his or her ability at the current position. Different from the other style, ideas are often submitted to superiors and been discussed. In some ways, it is even more efficient because it avoids wasting time. This kind of management is almost the same as the Chinese society. The talented people who are selected rule and decide what to do for the whole country. I think the school system I have experienced for many years is like this, too. Students have to follow the form teacher or the monitor they have elected. Otherwise, they may be considered undisciplined. A resourceful and able monitor can usually organise the class well. Of course, it has a big defect that if superiors make a mistake, the consequence will be serious. For example, the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, which was started by a mistake of the leaders, caused great damage to Chinese society. But I think this style’s advantage of concentration overweighs its disadvantage because the probability to make the right decision should always be greater.

Overall, if I have a company to run and manage in the future, I will choose combine the two styles together. In 80% of the time, I will use the Chinese style to maintain an ordered and efficient system in the company. In the other 20% of the time, I will leave it to employees, giving them space to innovate and devote their passion to things they love. In this way, I can keep a balance between the interest of my company and the development of my employees.

Reflective Journal 1

After having the first lesson, I have the general idea that SES is a lesson in which we study about society and the economics as well as the relationship between them.

It is known to all that economics is a main concern today throughout the whole world. Because the world is generally in the state of peace and every country wants to be prosperous, people pays much attention to economics, in which way the country can develop better. Also, economics determine the role of a nation that it plays on the global stage. The big powers all have a large GDP. However, there are many things which are unstable nowadays, such as the possibility of another recession. Economics are so complicated things that even the best economist is not able to predict it correctly every time. It keeps changing all the time. Years ago, people perceived Japan to be another super power besides America, but now China has overtaken and replaced it. As a result, it may be necessary for us to do some research on it as we need to know what is happening and to have a clearer vision about it.

Previously, I thought that there is not close relationship between economics and the society. But after the lesson, I have changed my mind. On the one hand, Economics do affect the society in many ways and it cannot be separated from society. If the situation of economics is bad and worrying, the society will not be stable. This could be because of people's desire for a life of quality. Serious debt crisis and inflation have made a lot of people upset in the world now. They lose their jobs and cannot afford the high prices. There have been events which are the chain reactions of bad economics, such as Occupying the Wall Street and protests again the government in many nations. On the other hand, economics are created and run by the society. It is a circulation of money. People rely on it but their actions affect it. For example, if there are not any consumers buying products, economics cannot be sustained at all.

There are other things between the society and economics, such as cultural intelligence, which means the awareness and ability to get adapt to different cultures. It seems that cultural intelligence has nothing to do with economics, but it is also important to everyone. As the process of globalising going on, we have many more chances to meet people from different cultures and we may have to work with them closely in business. We need the cultural intelligence in order to deal with the relationship properly. There are cases that businessmen insult their clients and lose deals because they do not care about the difference between cultures.

As a PRC scholar, maybe I am concerned more about my hometown. It is true that the economics of China are developing rapidly. However, problems also exist. Besides things such as environmental pollution, many social problems are emerging. The first thing came into my mind is that the foreign culture which enters China after 1978 is affecting the young generations. Will Chinese lose our own culture gradually because of this? What should we do?

So that is why we have to learn SES: to understand the society, economics and the world better. When we go to work, we will face the problems of the world instead of problems on the exam papers. SES opens a window for us that we can be exposed to the outside. Some sceneries are beautiful, while others are not. The unknown is waiting for our exploration. Our school's mission is to nurture excellent leaders of Singapore and the world, for whom it is essential to look out to the world and care about the current affairs. Many challenges are ahead on the road of humans’ development and progress, which will certainly involve economics and the society. The solutions can only be carried out when leaders of different parts of the world come and work together.

We are told that the lesson will mainly be in the form of discussion. I think it is a good way of study this subject. Society and economics are aspects where nothing is absolutely right or wrong. The only benchmark is whether it will produce a good result or not. Therefore, there may be many ways to achieve a same goal. We can share everyone’s ideas with each other and this can be much fun, because there may be sparks when minds meet each other. Discussion can also nurture my ability of expressing myself and responding to others, especially in a short time of preparation.

In the end, I want to say that I am looking forward to this lesson. Not only because I am interested in the topic, but also because the things we are going to learn will be of great value to us in the future. Just like what Miss Yeo said, work hard and play hard.