Homework

Breathtaking Captain’s Ball Match unleashes new star players
6 Trustworthiness versus 6 Responsibility

Primary 6 graduates spend their last year to participate in the annual Interclass Games, preparing to engage in various games including Captain’s Ball, Ultimate Frisbee and Too Tuff to Puff Soccer.

On the morning of 24th October 2006, Primary 6 students gather in the hall to watch their classmate sport representatives to participate in the Captain’s Ball matches at 8am. Cheers of joy and excitement echoed in the hall as they waited impatiently for the match to start.

The players from each class were divided into two groups, boys and girls. They all played a total of 6 matches.

The boys were all tough and able-bodied, like the giant Yeo Wo Jie from primary 6 Courteous and the “Lightning McQueen” Chua Wei Jie from Primary 6 Trustworthiness.

The match that brought us most attention is the fight between 6T and 6R. Many “Trustworthinessians” were low in hope of ever defeating the 6R band, which consists of star players including Aloysius Lim and Chee Ming Kang.

However, the players did not let us down. The match started with Aloysius Lim clinching the first goal. Desperate to gain our goal too, Ong Chuan Kai (CK), unleashed a burst of power in which his shots were deadly accurate, sharp and fast. Chua Wei Jie carried a stunt of ranging in which he tried to gain goal by throwing the ball eight meters from the catcher.

Surprised by our sudden boost of speed and accuracy power, the “Responsibilitians” fell beneath the onslaught. After two minutes since Aloysius Lim’s first goal, Chuan Kai threw the ball with a fast shot over the stunned 6Rs, which was caught by our catcher, Cao Yu. The next goal of ours was at the second-half, in which Chuan Kai again threw the ball in a flash of a second in front of 6R’s eyes and it was caught by Cao Yu again. In another matter of minutes, Wei Jie managed to shoot the ball to our catcher ten meters away from him and countered a goal against us, which made the score 3-2.

With only thirty seconds left, the players of 6T let go of another stunt-Waste the opponent’s time. At last, 6 Trustworthiness were victorious for a 3-2 win against 6 Responsibility.

“I can’t believe that they won!” remarked Zhe Yuan, 6T after the 7-minute exciting match.

Homework

My Experience at
2006 St. Petersburg the 2nd “ЛИРА”
International Music & Art Festival

On the 24th of August 2006, the day in which we have been looking forward to have arrived—This is the day of our 2nd “Lila” Piano, Accordion and Bajung Competition. At 7 in the morning, we left our hotel “Aster” and went straight to the St. Petersburg State ANDREEV Music Conservatory.

The conservatory is an old and small mansion, with two chipped and broken doors as the entrance to the conservatory. The guard stand is old and it stands at the small first floor of the building right in front of the stairs. The second storey is the administration office and the piano studios. Last but not least, the third storey has a few piano classrooms and a medium-sized event hall. Though the school may be small in size, its equipments and instruments are much better than the ones in Singapore. Their music classrooms and studios were huge! There was at least one Russian upright piano in every single room. Some rooms even have both a grand piano and an upright piano! The school is also leaded by a faithful old principal, Yakovlevich Likhachyov, who is 75 years old. He had been the chairman of the school for 30 years since he was 45. Together with the professional teachers in his school, they developed the school into a conservatory which is famous throughout the world.

The 2nd “Lila” International Piano, Accordion and Bajung Competition is organised by the St. Petersburg State Music Conservatory and St. Petersburg State ANDREEV Music Conservatory. A total of 35 participants participated in the competition in which 9 from Russia, 2 from Singapore (my younger brother and me), 21 from China and 3 from Belarus. They were all trained under professional teachers to get the best results. The Sichuan Music Conservatory and Shenyang Music Conservatory have even sent their finest musical talents to compete! Upon arriving at the conservatory, we went straight to the event hall to practice the piano which was to be used for the competition. After a couple of minutes, the professors and the Chinese participants arrived in the event hall. Among them are Yakovlevich Likhachyov and Oleg Sharov. We immediately left the piano and went back to our seats to listen to the masterclass conducted by Oleg Sharov and Maria Bluqiefukaya. The first part of the class is conducted by Professor Maria Bluqiefukaya. During her class, she asked three competition participants from China to play her their competing pieces. The players were told to improve their tone quality. In her own words, she said “Playing any musical instrument should not only feel like the instrument the player is playing, but should feel as though you are the conductor of an orchestra. It is up to you (the pianist) to vary the tone colours like the different members of an orchestra by the control of the fingers.”

The next part of the masterclass is conducted by Professor Oleg Sharov. He is an expert in the accordion and Bajung. He requires the participants to sit in a correct posture and play the melody in a shape like the tides so that it can create a soothing feeling.

And then, the competition started. When I entered the hall an hour later after the masterclass to wait for my turn, I saw that there were 6 judges and a lot of audience. The judges were:
Ø Professor Oleg Sharov (well-known accordion master, music educator and performer in the world, “Russia Merits Artist”, Chairman of St. Petersburg State Conservatory of Music.
Ø Professor Yakovlevich Likhachyov: (“Russia Merits Artist”, Chairman of St. Petersburg State ANDEREEV Conservatory of Music)
Ø Professor Maria Bluqiefukaya (Piano Professor in the St. Petersburg State ANDREEV Conservatory of Music)
Ø Mr Aroff (阿尔洛夫) (International Award Winner-Accordion, Accordion Professor in the St. Petersburg Accordion Conservatory)
Ø Ms Bao Tian Tian (International Award Winner-Piano, Piano Judge in the Sichuan Conservatory of Music)
Ø Ms Gan Xun (International Award Winner-Piano, Cristofori Music School Accordion-Club Executive)














The Judges (From Left to Right):
Professor Yakovlevich Likhachyov, Professor Maria, Professor Oleg Sharov, Professor Aroff, Ms Gan Xun and Ms Bao Tian Tian









Youth (A) 2nd Prize Winner Rex Wei Rong Hong (12 yrs old)
2006 St. Petersburg the 2nd “ЛИРА” International Music & Art Festival
When it was my turn, I walked up the stage confidently and bowed to the judges and the audience politely. I sat down then and played my competition pieces-The School of Velocity (Opus. 299), Book 3 No. 23 by Carl Czerny (1791-1857) and Impromptu (No. 1 from Quatre Morceaux pour piano, Opus. 25) by Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906). I felt rather good after playing the piece as I had controlled my technical, tone and phrasing well. Even though the judges still looked rather serious, I could feel that they were pleased with my playing. Mr. Xia Gang, the leader of the group of 21 participants from China, also praised that I had played well.

The next group of participants is the Junior Section. All of the participants in this section are under the age of 10. My younger brother, William Wei Chung Yee (namely: Wei Lin Qu), is ready to play his competing pieces. When he was called to go up to the stage piano, he walked to the piano calmly and with confidence. He bowed politely and sat down and straightened his tuxedo steadily. Upon his first key on the piano, the whole hall was stunned by his performance. The judges enjoyed his playing and smiles appeared on their faces. His control of the tone, phrasing and technical was perfect.

Junior 1st Prize Winner William Wei Chung Yee (8 yrs old)
2006 St. Petersburg the 2nd “ЛИРА” International Music & Art Festival


Another pianist that caught everyone’s eye is a Russian 16-year old youth, Imalkis Efim. He was another outstanding participant. He played two masterpieces by Frederic Chopin. The judges enjoyed the superb performance of his. His control of the technical, dynamics, tone, phrases…were just GREAT!! How I wish to be just as good as him. I must work harder as I still have a long distance to catch up with him. Anyway he is 16 and I am 12, so in the meantime I should concentrate on my PSLE.

At 7.30pm, the prize presentation ceremony started. The first prize for the Junior Category went to my brother. My brother was excited and he exclaimed a “YESSSS, HOORAY!” before walking up the stage to shake hands with Professor Sharov and claim his prizes. He came with a certificate of achievement in Russian with the signatures of all the 6 judges and a golden trophy. As for me, I was also overjoyed to receive the 2nd prize of the Youth (A) Category. I walked as fast as I could to Professor Sharov and shook hands with him. I was awarded with a certificate of distinction. After the event had ended, Professor Sharov even invited us to dinner with him! We felt most honoured and thanked him for the invitation. We told him of our intention to hold the world’s first 8 years old solo concert for my younger brother, William Wei. He beamed at the idea and said that he will send their best Russian 16
The Prize Presentation Ceremonyyear old youth, Imalkis Efim, to support. He suggested letting both my brother and Efim to perform in Singapore as it has good musical talents. Later, when we returned to Singapore, Michael Tay, the Singapore Ambassador of Moscow, Russia, said in his email “It makes me so proud that our two Singapore boys won the first and second prize in the St Petersburg competition! It shows that if we aim high, we can do great things.”

This competition has influenced my life in the journey of piano education. It was the first time that I had stepped out of Singapore and headed for a world-class international music competition held in the centre of music-St. Petersburg, Russia. I found that I need to enhance and improve is my music feelings and knowledge towards music piece. The most important lesson I learnt is “Music is life, and life has feelings. If the music is played without life and feelings, then it is sound not music."



(1330 words)

Homework: Journal, Part Nine-2nd June

This morning at around 5.46am, we landed at Singapore Changi Airport. As there were no taxis around by then, we went for a breakfast in the Food Court located on the basement floor of the airport building. Once the plate was settled in front of me, a sense of familiarity crawed over me. In Beijing, all the dishes were of Northeast China Region while in Singapore, all the food that was seen here were of the Southeast Asia Region. The good is-I can finally eat without much hesitation now. The bad is-no more cultural dishes I can taste anymore. Aw!

After dinner, we took a cab to our home and started to unpack our stuff. As I unpacked, I still thought of what happened 24 hours ago by then... That was 9am by then, I was then had just woke up from bed in the hotel. Now, I still could feel like 96 hours before from now, I was visiting the Tiananmen Square with my aunt, my younger brother, Master Wang Suiyuan, author Wang, mum and Master Qing Linhai. How I hope I was still there, visiting more places then to return back to Singapore soooooo soon. Sigh...I guess the end is the end then, so I should work harder in order to gain the privilege to go to Beijing. Wish me good luck!

Homework: Journal, Part Eight-1st June

Oh, NOOOO. Today's night, we are going to leave Beijing! Well, I guess that this would be the last day and evening of my time in this city. Pooh!

At 10am, our flute and gourd flute (笛子、葫芦丝) teacher Master Wang Suiyuan came to our hotel while we checked out of it. He is a member of the Chinese Music Association, a department of the Chinese Art Council. He had participated in lots of concerts organised by the Chinese Orchestra of China. He had a very busy schedule, with performances and meetings for almost the whole day! He is over 50 years old then, and he still working busily in public. Quite amazing!

We all set off (Mum, I, younger brother, Master Wang, my aunt and an author) for the Tiananmen Square first. It is the home for the Tiananmen(天安门), the Qianmen(前门) and the Maozedong Memorial hall (毛泽东纪念堂). Maozedong was a very powerful person in China history, and he was the first official president of morden China. We firstly went to the Maozedong memorial hall, where his dead preserved body had been kept. The square was already very crowded with a lot of locals waiting outside the Memorial hall. It seems as though a lot of people had come with their children to pay respects for their past famous leader. He was the man who had united the whole of the People's Republic and had almost demolished all superstitious beliefs of China.

We waited for over twenty minutes before we got our turn to enter the memorial hall. We firstly walked into a big hall where a lot of flowers had been placed under Chairman Mao's statue. The statue was made of white rock and he was sitting on a chair smiling. Then, we accessed the most exciting part of the memorial hall. An unrotten body of Chairman Mao lay there, covered by a flag of the communist China. His face had been coloured with a thick layer of waxed paint or it would look horrifying. His body had shrunk by many times of his original size and he now looked as small as a primary six pupil. He was enclosed in an transparent airtight coffin which was enclosed by a larger non-airtight tank. Two CLA (Chinese Liberation Army-人民解放军武警) sergeants stood beside the coffin like two statues guarding the coffin. They had to stand in the chemicals for two hours, where they change shifts by then. Poor Liberators!

After the visit to the memorial hall, which was quite uninteresting, we went to Master Qing Linhai's office at a fashion centre-3.3 @ New Sanlitun Street. As mentioned before, Master Qing is a master artist expertise in the making of Auspicious Batik Paintings. He had won the gold award in the 2005 China Fashion Exhibition. He showed us to his shops and luckily, they were all open. We firstly visited his design store and he welcomed us with a TV introduction of his products. His products and art of Batik Paintings had been broadcasted countrywide by the CCTV, Artists' Channel and many other big China television channels. I had a good look at his products and admired the amount of artwork he had put to make his homeland own product so welcomed by the Beijing's residents and leaders. His designs included categories ranging from horse carriages to beautiful ladies that lived in the past. However, all have one similarity-all of them were made with lots of artwork and concentration.

By accident, we also saw that Master Qing's mobile phone. As soon as my younger brother saw it, he immediately asked for his permission to borrow his mobile phone. He agreed and my brother spotted the 'games' section as quickly as lightning. It looks as though he only recognises the Chinese word 'games' in the mobile phone! There was a great number of java-powered games in his phone too! He played S.W.A.T on the phone and he performed quite well in the game. For the first two tries, he accidental shot a civilian and was disqualified. Finally, after the third try, he managed to access a mission in which to rescue a hostage from the heavily guarded roof of a building. He had three chances-which means that if the character he was using dies, he still can choose another character to use. "ARGH!""OUCH" cried the enemies as he brought them down with his Magnum pistol one by one. But alas! He was finally killed by the waves and waves of enemy machinegunners in heavy armor in the second part of Mission One.

While he played, we went to the Guizhou restaurant (mentioned before in the earlier entries). We tasted the fish dipped in sour soup and made in a steamboat. It was all very tasty and we even mixed our very own bean sauce. What an experience!

After the dinner, we left the restaurant and headed for our hotel. There, Mr Zhao and Master Zhang Minqi, a very famous calligrapher. From then, we did our remaining homework and talked to the artists and our aunt (I talk!). Finally, BOOO! At 9.30pm, we left the hotel and called for a taxi to take us to the airport while our aunt went to the train station. We bade farewell to all of the Chinese artists there and our aunt. Finally, we set off towards the airport and here comes the end of our trips in Beijing! At 11.30pm, our plane took off for Singapore and we arrived the next day at almost 6am. I really hope to come to Beijing again and of course, meet all the Chinese artists and my aunt.

Homework: Journal, Part Seven-31st May

Yippee! Today is finally the time when we can play to our heart's content! At 7.ooam, Master Zhuang came to our hotel to drive us to the Great Wall of China and for the whole day! We were very much pleased and thankful to him. Even tough the distance to the Great Wall of Badaling and back was long and tiring, he still agreed to drive us there.

The distance to the Badaling Great Wall is about 80km and the time taken was around one and a half hours. As we travelled along the expressway（八达岭高速公路）in the mountains, I could see the high peaks of mountain and large fields of green. That scene was almost impossible to be seen in Singapore as it is an urban city, even it was nicknamed as "Garden City". We finally reached the Great Wall of China（万里长城）at Badaling after much waiting in the car. Badaling（八达岭）is a group of mountains formed with 8 peaks. In the past, the Great Wall had many gates that lead into China, and the Badaling zone is the home of one of the gates. The Great Wall was used to defend China from northen invaders such a as the Xiongnu race（匈奴）. It had proved itself to be an outstanding piece of construction that provided protection for China until the end of the dynasties period（after Qing Dynasty-清朝）.

We then bought the tickets for the cable car ride up to the peak of the mountain. Master Zhuang did not go up with us as he felt too tired to do so. He decided to have a good rest in his car while we went up. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, we mounted on the Great Wall and headed for a watchtower built on the Hero's Peak （好汉顶）. The hero's peak is the highest point in the Badaling mountain areas. There was a saying about the Great Wall-"If you hadn't been to the Great Wall of China, it proves that you are not a real man of courage（不到长城非好汉）". It means that all man should go to the Great Wall and climb on it. There are two battlements connected to the watchtower, and there were named "Hero's Slopes（好汉坡）". The way up the slope is very tiring. The slope is tiring as it is slanted at about about 50 degrees. WOW, how can the ancient soldiers guard on this kind of places? What a marvel! Thanks to the later constructed stairs, it made the climbing much more easier.

We had a good look around in the watchtower and then headed for another watchtower. From there, we can see that the lower parts of the wall looked exactly like a giant snake made of mud, sand, clay and bricks twisting and curving about in the mountain ranges. Just as we were deciding whether to go for another watchtower a stone's throw away, the sky suddenly started to shower. We quickly ran for cover under a bridge built above the Great Wall. As I watched the raindrops falling one by one on the wall, I could feel a bit ashamed of myself. You could imagine that over 2000 years ago from now when the workers were building the Great Wall, they had to bear the rain, heat and snow. The workers had been forced out of their homes under emperor Zheng's command (also Qing Shihuang（秦始皇）of the Qin Dynasty) to build the Great Wall. They pulled and pushed carts of materials up the steep slopes with run-down machines. Many were also killed by the guards, the temperature or the rolling rocks from the carts. Then the soldiers who had once stood on the battlements of the Great Wall. They brave the rain and were determined to protect their homeland from barbaric invaders.

The Great Wall is a symbol and a masterpiece of the Chinese. Though after thousands of years since it was built, it still remained uncrumbled and undamaged. This was because as the wall had proved itself to be an ideal defense equipment for the other dynasties to use. Even the Japanese felt unwilling to destroy the wall as it was so difficult to construct it. From space, the Great Wall is the only the Wonder of the World that can be seen. It also reminded the next generation of Chinese about their ancestors and their courage so as to teach them how to be strong and treasure what they already had. It had became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It had been visited by Bush and many other national leaders.

After leaving the Great Wall of China, we headed for another UNESCO World Heritage Site-The Summer Palace（颐和园）. It was actually named as the Logetivity Park（长寿园）. It was originally constructed by Emperor Qianlong as gift to his mother on her 70th birthday. The park's construction spent about 4 million silver coins. Around 1800, the Anglo-French Army of England, France, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal（八国联军） invaded China and nearly destroyed the park. Then, when Ci Xi（慈禧太后） became the empress of the Qing dynasty during the 1870s, she ordered to reconstruct the park with 30 million silver coins. That amount of money was actually meant to upgrade the navy force of China. However, that horrible empress used up that sum of money to build something to enjoy herself! What a choice to make!

There are a few attractive spots in the park too! Let me introduce some of them:

The octagon Temple（八角亭）

It is made up of a double roof, 24 square-shaped pillars and 16 circular pillars. In the Qing Dynasty, it was where the Emperor talks with his concubines and advisors.

The 17-arch bridge（十七孔桥）
The bridge connects the mainland to an island where the emperor watches the moon in the evening. It has 17 arches and about 60 small lions built on the bridge. The main reason why the bridge is built with 17 arches as it is a symbol of peace and happiness.

Stone Boat（石船）
There was a saying in China-Water can carry boats, but can also overturn boats. The meaning is extremely obvious, right? Well, to prove that the saying was incorrect, the Empress's son built a dragon boat out of marble. The stone ship rests at the side of the lake. Though it cannot be overturned, it cannot sail at all!

After the long walk, we went to rent a boat to drive on the Kunming Lake. I could only say that the boat is too slow and lousy. Dear me! We had nearly crashed into a large dragon boat as well! It tooted its big horn and I quickly reversed the boat. Then, after an hour's time on board the boat, we went to Master Zhuang and headed back for the city in his car.

At night, we packed up our stuff to prepare to go back to Singapore tomorrow night at 9.30pm. Blow, BLOW, BLOW!!!!!!!! Why do good things always end so quickly? OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


END OF PART 7

Homework: Journal, Part Six-30th May

This morning at 8.30am, our seal carvings and calligraphy teacher Master Zhuang came to take my aunt, my younger brother and I to one of the oldest streets in Old Peking (Beijing). It is still famous for its historical records, for it had been the home for many royal shops.

We took about twenty minutes to get to our destination as our journey was delayed by a massive traffic jam at a crossroad. It was very common to encounter a traffic jam in Beijing, as there were so many vehicles there. The air there was also very bad and the haze was also huge. If you were to stand at a certain distance, things are are almost a mile away would seem very blur. What do you think of that? I bet the air pollution rate is above 50.

After reaching the mouth of the wide street, we got out of the car and walked to the shop we were going to. The street was buzzing with activities with people walking everywhere with shopping bags at their sides. We passed a few small stores that were having auctions like promoting Jade items at per piece. We even walked past the oldest cinema in China-dashingly. According to Master Chang, the movies played in the theatre in the past was without sound and bi-coloured (Black & White). Now, the theatre was playing movies like Poseidon and The Da Vinci Code. The cinema was in the shape of a castle, with a giant door as its entrance. It was huge and looked very grand.

We had planned to go to a tailor along the street to make for us a set of traditional Chinese costume for participating in the St. Petersburg International Piano Competition. The tailor's shophouse was called Ruifuxiang (瑞蚨祥). That shop was very large with two levels. The first floor is selling cloths in many different textures, colours and types (like thick...). The second floor is the design floor. We met one of Master Zhuang's friends at the gate of the shophouse. She is a tailor at the shop and is also expertise in the making of adult's clothes. She led us to another tailor, whom seem so serious that I felt chills ruinning down my spine. However, she was actually very gentle and nice in reality. She firstly asked for which kind of design we would like to have. Then, after our selection, she carefully measured our dimensions. She even commented me that I had to put some fat off or I would never be able to walk up a stage smartly. Coo, what a disgrace from her! GRRRR!

After that, we went to choose the colour of the costume we would like from the 1st floor. There were so many colours, that I had quite a hard time choosing my favourite. Finally, I selected a blue one and my younger brother selected a red one. When it was all done, we thanked the friend and left the shophouse.

After that, we went for a dinner at a nearby restaurant. It sells Old Peking buns. It was originated in Tianjing and that shop only made buns for the Qing emperors to eat during the 1700s. It was named Goubuli (狗不理).

Then, we went back to our hotel. We did a little of our homework and then around 6pm, we went to the China Arts Council Tower and to the 14th floor to meet my mother and a few more secetaries on that floor on the tower. The 14th floor is the headquarters of the China Folk Literature and Arts Association. We met Mr Xiang, the Secetary General of the CFLAA, Mr Li, mentor of the CFLAA and two other assistant secetaries. The tower that they work in was also the headquarters for six other departments such as the dance association and the writers association. We then left the tower to a Sichuan-Beijing restaurant opposite. The dishes there were all very spicy and hot. The spicy soup fish was so hot that I have to drink five whole glasses of iced water just to get rid of the spice! Imagine how hot could that be!

After the dinner, we went to meet a Seal Carver, Master Yanhong. He had returned from Singapore to start a new occupation in Beijing. He is now the state councilor of the Lotus Market Zone (荷花市场). It was a place very similar to Clarke Quay in Singapore as there were pubs and karaokes along the streets we walked past. Some of the pubs even have singers performing music for the customers at the pub. My younger brother thought that the singers were "mad" and "unpleasant". It was most probably that we were not used to rock music, as we often listen to classical piano and violin music.

After an hour's walk there, we left the market and went home.

ATTENTION: MUST READ!

Attention!

PLEASE READ FROM PART ONE!!!

Homework: Journal, Part Five-29th May

Ouch! That damning old fish bone still hurts me like hell! Luckily, the hotel had agreed to pay for the damage and refund the fee for my lunch buffet yesterday. I had also gone to a doctor for checking up my thorat and it was cleared all right. There were only some wounds in the throat and not anything else. PHEW!

Still, another beautiful day begins. After seeing a doctor, my mother brought my aunt, my younger brother and I to Parkson Shopping Mall to meet another few leaders of China at an exhibition of artworks. We met Mr Zhu Hong, the Secetary General of the China Folk Arts and Literature Association, Mr Tong, Vice-Secetary General of the Zhejiang Arts Council, Mr Wang, the Secetary General of the Zhejiang Arts Council and Master Liu, an expertise in Lacqureware Art. We all had a good look around in the exhibition hall and some of them caught my eye just like fire! Let me introuduce you visitors some of those pieces of art.

1. Temple of Heaven (天坛）
Material: Gold Platte and agate
The Temple of Heaven was built over 600 years ago, during the end of the Ming Dynasty. It is the place where emperors pray for good luck and weather. Important offerings to heaven are also conducted there. Today, it is a big tourist attraction of mordern China.

2. Nine Dragons Plate（九龙图）
Material: Lacquerware
The Nine Dragons Plate is actually a painting of the Nine Dragons. It is a symbol of luck and prosperity.

After the visit to the art exhibition, we left the exhibition hall amd headed for a nearby Sichuan-Beijing resturant. We had a nice dinner there and I and my younger brother went for a walks while my mother is still discussing business with the secetaries. We went to a toy city on the 7th Floor of the building. It is really a heaven of toys and fun up there. Some of the products such as Lego toys were not very new as they are all old goods, while the Geomag of Switzerland are much newer than those in Singapore. Singapore had yet Colour 400 pack and Panels 220 pack, but here in Beijing, there is such things on sale. I was very tempted to buy them, but after looking at the price, I guess it was far too expensive.

Geomag 400-￥1799.30
Panels 46-￥599.20

END OF PART 5

Homework: Journal, Part Four-28th May

Today, we met some of China's Art Council Leaders. Until 5.30pm, Dr. Bai Gensheng and his wife came to our hotel to take us to a dinner. Dr. Bai Gensheng is the present Chairman of the China Folk Literature and Arts Association (CFLAA). He grew up in a poor village in the past, and lived beside cows and pigs during his childhood. He had to work hard during the day to get only until midnight for time to study. Despite his poor conditions to study in, he managed to become the only student out of a ten thousand to get into a city school in Beijing.

He is also very jovial and sociable. He responded enthusicatically whenever we asked hm a question. Upon reaching the restaurant, I found out that it is a restaurant of Guizhou Chishine. We met Mr Zhao Guangming, Master Qing Linghai (and his wife) and Mr Li Yasha. Master Qing is an expertise in Auspicious Batik Painting, and all his creations are directed back to his beautiful homeland-Guizhou. The dinner was all very orindary until Master Qing brought in two performances. The first one was a musical showcase by two of the restaurant performers. They played two folk pieces of music from Guizhou on the bamboo recorder (芦生). Then, in came two dancers to perform us some traditions from Guizhou. They performed to us their country's method of welcoming guests from faraway lands. They first sing a tune of welcoming and then serve the drink into the guest's mouth. According to Guizhou tradition, they serve you one cup of wine at the entrance of the restaurant, a second cup before your meal, third during your meal, and one last cup when you leave. The person who serves you wine will be females, from the youngest down to 18 years old up to an old woman up to 70 years in age. Very interesting, isn't it?

After the meal, Master Qing took us to his shop to have a look. His shops were unfortunately all closed and so we could not go in and have a look around. Still, we managed to have an outer view of his shops. He has two fashion shops and one shop for designing. He even has a golden cup placed on his work desk and we really admired it.

After the visit to his shop, we left him and went back to our hotel.

Something else unfortunate happened too on that day. When I was having lunch, I accidentally swallowed a piece of fish bone. Damn! Shucks! Lawks! It really hurt my throat until now. I hope that I can eat more carefully next time. Pooh!

Homework: Journal, Part Three-27th May

This morning at 9.30am, Mr Li Yasha, a mentor of the Chinese Folk Literature and Arts Association came to our hotel to take us to see Master Zhuang Weiming (also Zhuang Moshi). Master Zhuang was our former Seal Carvings and Calligraphy teacher. He is also the Chairman of the Beijing Seal Carvers Association.

He works in a garden that has a history of over 500 years. Two queens of two different Qing Emperors had been residents of the garden. The garden is made up of two big flowerbeds and houses built in the olden method surrounding them. The houses are very old and most of the paint had been washed off by water. Tough the place is very broken and old, it provides Master Zhuang with an ideal place to work in. It is quiet and big there, and the artist can feel relaxed while working in his office.

Master Zhuang's main workrooms is divided into two sections: the tea house and the calligraphy lounge. The tea house is where Master Zhuang discuss and drink tea with his friends, colleagues and customers. He has a whole collection of tea leaves in a wooden rack behind him. They are tea leaves that had been kept for more than two decades and they are extremely valuable. As I saw Master Zhuang serving tea for us to drink, I found out that his method of serving tea is very special. He has to rinse the tea leaves and filter the tea before pouring them into tea cups. It was all very interesting. During the visit to his office, I even saw his pet cat! It was an astray cat, and Master Zhuang was very kind to keep her in his office as a pet. His colleagues called her "Mimi" or "Kitty". She is a very clever cat. She knows the difference between clean and unclean. She even knows how to hide her waste after removing them. Very clever of it to do that!

Just as my mother, my younger brother, our calligraphy and seal teacher (Master Zhuang) were leaving the office for dinner, two of my mother's business colleagues came to Master Zhuang's office. They are Mr Zhao Guangming, the former Chairman of the CFLAA and Master Liu Jianghua, a young province master artist in Inside Bottle Painting. After their arrival, we went to a nearby restaurant together. At the restaurant, I managed to see and taste some of Old Beijing's dishes. Some looked very pleasing to the eye, while others look most unpleasant. One of them even looked like "poo"(according to my younger brother)! It was most disgusting! However, it is actually Beaten Green Beans. After the dinner, we went back to our hotel and to do our chores in the hotel (do homework...).


END OF PART 3

Homework: Journal, Part Two-26th May

This is the second part of my June Holidays:


Yeah! Just yesterday at 12.15am, my mother brought my younger brother and me to the change Airport for a flight to Beijing, China. We were very excited as we could finally go overseas after nearly two months of school.


After 6 hours of flight, we finally landed in Beijing International Airport. Upon walking out of the arrival gate, we met some of my mother's business colleagues. They are the CFLAA, the Chinese Folk Arts and Literature association.

The hotel we lived in was expectionally good. It had a double bathroom, one for bathing and one for shower, two cozy beds and an internet connection port (LAN=Local Area Connection).


Yesterday, we generally did our homework and then have a good rest.

End