Blog4：My Favourite Drink—Milk Tea

Among all the different drinks, my favourite one is milk tea. I love many kinds of milk tea, such as pearl milk tea, coffee milk tea, milk tea with pudding and so on. Compared to the milk tea that has more milk than tea, I prefer the one with more tea than milk, as I think the one with too much milk is always too sweet for me to drink.

I have loved this special kind of drink since I was in primary school. At that time, there was a small milk tea shop just on my way from my home to school. Every time I walked past it with a friend after school, we would both spend 1 yuan on a cup of pearl milk tea and drank it on the way home. If it was in summer, we would buy an iced one and if it was cold, we would buy a warm one. Then, we both held a cup of drink and made a competition to see who drank faster. Sometimes I won and sometimes I lost the game. Although the milk tea I drank in my primary school was actually a mixture of water, milk powders and tea powders, which was not so tasty, the memories of that time are so beautiful and unforgettable.

When I went to high school, I lived in the school and only came back home on weekends. During those years, I could not get milk tea on weekdays as we were not allowed to go out of the school. Therefore, I developed a habit to buy a cup of milk tea on the days that I went home from school. I got the drink from a tea house called 85°C or Dakasi. It tasted much better than that I bought near my primary school, and it was much more expensive than that, too. For those days I spent in high school, milk tea meant going home and having a rest, and you can imagine how much I was looking forward to getting a cup of milk tea at that time.

Now, I am in Singapore, and I am a bit disappointed that I could not get my favourite drink as easily as before: the price of the milk tea here is so expensive that I could not afford buying it. Thus, I have been missing the milk tea in my hometown for a couple of months. Perhaps when I land in Guangzhou Airport at the end of this year, the first thing that I will do is to find a tea house and enjoy a cup of warm tasty milk tea!

blog4: My Experience of Tennis

In my blog, I want to share my experience of tennis with you.

I started it when I was seven years old. The initial purpose for playing it was just to enhance my physical quality. Most of you may hold the idea that, since the tennis is a so elegant sport, which is full of aesthetic actions, the training must be very enjoyable. However, from my personal experience, I firmly think if you have a great determination to learn it well, you must put forth a painstaking effort to achieve it.

Actually, before I touched the racket, I had (may be “suffered from” is more suitable) a three-month intensive body training. As my innate qualities, in terms of strength, endurance and bounce, are unsatisfying, I necessitated to do a lot of extra exercises for the sake of improving them. Although such trainings as running for 1500 meters within 5 minutes were quite tiring and monotonous, they did render me robust and sturdy. After that, I commenced my real tennis training.

What is the real tennis training? Let me tell you the answer—fatigue. I needed to concentrate on the ball all the time and consider how to beat my opponents. In many circumstances, I had to run quickly from one side to another so that I could catch that ball; moreover, I should assimilate my coach’s criticisms, like “you move so slowly”, “you should play it via your brain not your hands”, and convert them into motivation. Due to both physical and mental stress, I told myself “you have no choice but keep going!” Once, I had a very important game; in order to win, I spared no effort to practice beforehand; however, I still failed. After that game, I felt so depressed that I even wanted to give up tennis. I thought the world was so cruel to me and I doomed to become a failure. Then, my coach saved me. Even though nearly seven years elapsed, the words he said are still haunted in my mind. “jiangze, you are never a failure. You have only lost a game, but what you have learnt is more valuable than ten triumphs. No one can succeed all the way; however everyone has the chance to be a winner if you really want! When you become old and recall these memories, you can feel satisfied since you know you have done your utmost and never squander any chances!”

Tennis, my best friend, has inculcated the conscientiousness and persistence in my mind as virtues.

I love tennis! Maybe this is what I can only say. Thanks for your reading!

Blog 4:The animation and movie industry in China

Do you like movies? Do you like comic and animation? Nowadays, people are seeking for visually pleasing things and as a result, animation and films became the famous way to create and enjoy art. In my view, China has already been out of fashion in these areas.

First, let's have a look at animation If you ask this question in any senior high school in China: "what is your favourite comic book?" I think more than 90% of the answers are Japanese comic books. The enthusiasm for that once became so high that the government considered that Japanese culture had already invaded China, and all the Japanese animation programmes on TV were abandoned. It seemed that Chinese cartoons would occupy the market later but the truth proved that there are still only a few children who are interested in Chinese products. In my opinion, there are several reasons for this situation.

◆The contents of the animation are not suitable. As I know, the stories included in that are almost made up according to ancient Chinese mythologys or masterpieces, which may be familiar or boring to teenagers.

◆The artists whose job is to draw comics in China are not creative. This may be similar to the first one, because that is the result of this fact. I can assure that more than half of the cartoons created by Chinese cartoonists patterned some famous Japanese comics. Consequently, teenagers will go for the original one.

◆The appearances of the roles are scratchy. I do not know the reason about that, maybe our government still have not understood the importance of a good Chinese animation, so no one would like to treat it seriously. To be honest, I do think handsome men and beautiful women can attract more attentions.

◆Most of the roles in Chinese cartoons are animals. As a result of the previous reason, artists can only try something that is easy to draw. As far as I know, the most successful animation in China is a long story about two wolves and many sheep. However, teenagers like heroes and one of their hobbies is the behave like super heroes. I can hardly believe they will perform like a sheep, and that is dangerous for a cartoon.

◆Anything about violence, sex and whatever the government thinks sensitive is abandoned in both comics and cartoons. That is actually a positive rule, but perhaps it was carried out too thoroughly, which makes these things unacceptable for teenagers and adults. How can that hold the big market with customers only under 12 years old?

The similar problems occurred in movie industry in China, too.

In conclusion, the fashion of art has already turned into a competition about how can people express their feelings and imaginations, for example, movies, cartoons and comic books. China has to do something to improve its position in these areas.

BLOG 4: My Opinions about Faith and Religions

There is a saying goes like this:”Chinese people don’t have faith.” Though I couldn’t tell whether it is true or not, I do think there is something wrong in many Chinese people’s state of mind.

In my opinion, in order to let a society run effectively and safely, there must be two systems. One is the law system; the other is the morality system. Law system exists in all countries in similar form, while the morality systems are quite different.

In many western countries, the morality system is backed by religions. For instance, many people in America and the UK are Christians so that the public values and accepted moral standards are supported by the tenets(教义)  of Christianity. To some degree, this can regulate the certain behaviors of common people where laws cannot reach. I think it is pretty lucky for a race to own a religion because at least majority of people have a clear pattern of moral standards in their subconsciousness.

However, in China, there exists a problem called demoralization(道德败坏). It is a common problem and I think all of us are aware of it. So what are the reasons? From my perspective, first is the poor executive power of the law; second is the darkness of the Party and the government, and last is the lack of faith or religion. We all know most people in China are free thinkers. Many people feel very proud of it, as if it means they are open-minded. However, for some of them, they are not freethinkers, they just think about nothing in terms of what is right and what is wrong. In a society without a main religion or faith, the moral standards are so weak that the law becomes the only thing some people are afraid of. I always think that a man must have something to hold in awe(敬畏) and veneration（尊敬）. For western people, it’s God and Devil; for people in ancient China, it’s all kinds of gods and ghosts and the hell. However, many Chinese are afraid of nothing except laws nowadays. Some people are even not afraid of the law and there are many unwritten rules beyond the law in China. In many situations, people can do bad things without the punishment from the law and the blame from their own moral aspect. They have thousands of reasons to offend themselves and nothing powerful in the perspective of faith could be used to blame them. In Christian’s eyes, anything wrong comes with a price, because God knows everything and everything will be considered when it’s time to decide whether you should go to the Heaven or the Hell.

So what are the solutions? I don’t know. Maybe socialists have some ideas. For me, I think maybe I could be a Christian one day. However, at least, I will try my best to hold the value system of moral standards in my mind and find my own faith.

     At last, I want to recommend a course to all of you. It is called Cultural Cornerstone(基石文化-生命培育课程). I have taken 4 lessons in this course and I found it is really helpful in the building of my characters and value systems. By the way, it is not an advertisement. It’s for your sake.

Blog 4: A Catastrophe Caused by Prejudice

Last Thursday, we watched a fantastic movie called “Schindler’s List” in the class, which perfectly described the inhumanity, the evil misdeed of the Nazi Party and also successfully figured the main role “Schindler”, a glorious character who had actually saved eleven hundred Jews from the talon of Nazi Party. I am not going to retell or summarize the story as you all have seen it. I just want to tell you some of my true feelings and reflections on what the movie has shown me.

It was awesome and horrifying. What I saw during the movie grieved me so much: a devil shot right on an innocent Jew’s head, after which several floods of blood rushing out from the hole of his skull. After that was the massacre in Krakow, a city in Poland. Jews in rags were screaming and running across the streets with great pain, accompanying with the shrill sound of the bullets coming from Nazis’ guns. Jews just wanted to survive. They tried to escape from this catastrophe, although it was in vain to do that eventually. Rags and shells of bullets were everywhere and they both were immersed in human blood. Nazi troops ruined Krakow. They trampled on the humanity- the basic human right for living.

I tried my best to stop myself from screaming when seeing those cruel scenes because I could feel my crying soul. Although the movie was shot in black and white, the evil conducts of Nazi did not fade away; on the contrary, it enhanced them- audience may believe that it was more horrific if it was in colour. In the movie, there was a little girl walking through the street while Nazi troops were busy with killing Jews. She was in red, which is the only colour of the whole movie. I think it may symbolize life and hope. Unfortunately, the girl appeared again but among the dead bodies, which made me feel woeful. However, in the end, the scene suddenly became colourful, which meant that Jews had walked out of the hell and they were heading towards a bright future.

This movie is quite instructive. We hate wars and we want peace. Furthermore, if there is less prejudice on countries, races and religions, the world war two may have not broken out. German and Jews may have lived happily together. Conflicts would disappear from our world and our world would be a perfect one.

Blog4:Mayday

Mayday is my favourite alternative rock band. It was found in the late 1990s by 5 members-Ashin (vocalist), Monster, Stone (lead guitars), Masa (bass guitar) and Guan You (drums). Formerly making music under the name of So Band, they came to be known as Mayday in 1997, with the name originating from Masa's online nickname. No one could imagine that this band was able to achieve such great success when it was first formed during the members’ studying in The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University. At that time, almost all their family members were against them because they thought the five boys couldn’t even earn their own living by playing in a rock band. Despite the opposition, they kept making their own music and finally reached the top.

I can still remember the first song of Mayday which I heard was called ‘angel’. I was attracted by it when the first few notes flied into my mind, then I searched the song on the Internet, finding its lyrics were so nice and attractive. All their lyrics are written by Ashine. I think most of them are wonderful and touched, though they seem to be too straightforward to some people. However, I think it may be exactly the lyrics that give their songs unique souls to have resonances for people. Taking the song ‘you are not truly happy’ as an example, it says: ‘you are not happy as you look like, your smile is only the protection you take.’ Sentences like this show the common feelings of people, so they are popular. Although some people think that Mayday is a fake rock band because the group doesn't have many songs that can be defined as pure rock and roll, I still love them very much since it is what a song sounds like rather than what kind of song it is that really matters.

Mayday finished their concert in Singapore on 25th February. It is only one stop of their one-year concert tour. Just before the release of their latest album-second round, they said it would be their last album unless the year 2012 was not the end of the world. Many fans were shocked when they saw the first few words but their anxiety eased after the whole sentence was finished. In fact, there is one thing that surly makes many fans upset. As the five men will soon be in their 40s which seems a little old for band members, fans are worried that they may possibly stop making music. However, I think they deserve to achieve even greater success because of their talents and love for music.

Blog3: What Is My Advantage?

  Everyone is born to be innocent and equal. I am a human and everyone is. What is my difference? As we know, some people live better lives but some are not. I’m not sure what life I will live in the future. Instead of talking about whether I will live a meaningful life or not, I have to think about how to live a better life in such a competitive society. Advantages of me stand out to help me this term. When I was a child, I would like to read an encyclopedia for child and I liked to ask many questions so I know little more than peers. Mathematics was taught to me and I was trained to be outgoing and independent. I followed parents and teachers more so I did well than classmates. I have the abilities in social networking, fixing things or some. Those are advantages in the past. As others grow up and are educated, they learn more knowledge and are trained so that they have more abilities. They catch up with me! Thanks to my parents and my teachers, their trainings contribute to my personality of optimistic, confidence, introspection and so on. I’m not sure whether those are enough for me to win the competition of life. I would like to accumulate advantages to win. What about yours?