Overseas Immersion Experience Essay

Overseas Immersion Experience – Individual Journal

It was an honour participating in the Overseas Immersion Program (OIP) held at Tianjin, China. It had expanded my knowledge of local education system and allowed me to absorb cross cultural concepts. Every day was a great learning opportunity for me. In terms of knowledge, I undertook one core module and had gained an insight into the Chinese culture. On the other hand, soft skills that I had picked up include independence and interpersonal skills.

Below are 3 areas that I would like to focus on in this journal. The first portion of the journal will cover the Chinese work ethics and business practices. Followed by the Chinese social behaviour.

Work Ethics and Business Practices

With the rising

When one is ordering food in the canteen, people often just shout out their orders without caring about someone who was there before them, queueing does not exists most of the time. If it does, there comes another issue – the Chinese will just cut in whenever they see gaps between some people instead of joining at the end of the queue. On the street, people often walk in big groups and block other pedestrians, oncoming automobiles and bicycles. While waiting for the subway to arrive, the Chinese often stand anywhere they want however, upon arriving of the subway, they will just all rush over and squeeze onto the train when the train doors open. Majority would not give way. While onboard the train, they will just stand really close to you as their concept of personal space is really different from ours. In the public transportations or narrow lanes, intensive competition for seats or access to doors is a common sight too. All these are acceptable forms of social behaviour in China. I believe if any of the above mentioned matters were to take place in Singapore, there will certainly be problems of complaining, arguments or simply displeasure to someone. However, after familiarizing with the Chinese cultures through attending Professor Zhao’s lessons, all these Chinese behaviours could be explained.

“When faced with the difficulties and discomforts imposed by daily life, a Chinese person will more often approach these as water, not letting themselves be bothered or impeded, but simply moving around and through them without becoming substantially agitated. Such is the social behavior in China.” (Voskuil.C,