Singapore and China's economy

I think that although Singapore's economy grew from 3rd world to 1st quickly, we should not be complacent because the economies of other countries are also growing rapidly, especially China's. Relationship with China is important as Singapore's economy is heavily reliant on China's, so the slowdown in China's economy will hit Singapore harder and faster than any other country in the region. Our economy is also going downhill, and more uncertainties have surfaced, such as political uncertainties after the election of the US President Donald Trump. We rely a lot on China for imports and exports, so we have to maintain good relations with China and not be complacent.

Thoughts on culture and the similarities and differences between Singapore and China's cultures

I have learnt that culture and cultural forces are about the 4 Fs: Food, Festivals, Fashion and Folks. For instance, different festivals are celebrated by different races, such as the Chinese celebrating the Chinese New Year traditionally every year. Also, from the lesson, I have learnt that there are many differences between the East and the West, like how the Westerns hug as a greeting, whereas the Chinese prefer to just shake hands. This helped me to understand that we have to be cultural sensitive to other cultures, and embrace our differences.

There are many differences between Singaporean and Chinese cultures. In Singapore, being a multiracial country, we have a wide variety of foods from different cultures, such as Chicken rice, Nasi Lemak, Roti Prata, Western food, and more. In China, they mainly eat Chinese food and are more traditional. Here, we celebrate many festivals from all the cultures and religions, like Christmas, Hari Raya, and Deepavali. In China, they celebrate only Chinese festivals, and not festivals from other races. We also speak many languages, English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and Singlish. This includes a mixture of all the languages we speak and occasionally Chinese dialects. As for the Chinese, they mainly speak Chinese and Chinese dialects. 

However, there are similarities too. For example, Chinese New Year is celebrated by both Singaporeans and Chinese, and we have similar religions and beliefs too. 

In conclusion, there are more differences between Singaporean and Chinese cultures than there are similarities, therefore we have to embrace our cultural differences and be culturally sensitive towards one another.