Learn Mandarin & Chinese History

Let's learn Mandarin/Chinese history together:

Poem by Tang Dynasty renowned Poet - Tu Fu, his admiration of Zhu GeLiang's (諸葛亮) ingenius military strategy.

八阵图 - 杜甫

功盖三分国①，
名成八阵图②。
江流石不转③，
遣恨失吞吴④。


①三分国：指三国时魏 (Wei)、蜀 (Shu)、吴 (Wu) 三国。
②八阵图：由八种阵势组成的图形，用来操练军队或作战。

八阵图，指由天、地、风、云、龙、虎、鸟、蛇八种阵势所组成的军事操练和作战的阵图，是诸葛亮的一项创造，反映了他卓越的军事才能。

③石不转：指涨水时，八阵图的石块仍然不动。(remember Israelites crossed River Jordan - twelve stones/rocks?)
④失吞吴：是吞吴失策的意思。In the very beginning the kingdom of Wu (under Xun Qun and Chow Yu) forged alliance with Kingdom of Shu (Zhu Ge Liang) to counter the all powerful late Han Dynasty (魏 -Wei) prime minister Caocao (曹操) in battle of the Red Cliff (赤壁之戰),After establishment of "detente" among the three kingdoms: 魏、蜀 、吴 , Zhu Ge Liang regretted that he did not conquer Kingdom of Wu, as subsequently the Kingdom of Wu grew more powerful and ambitious and attempted to destroy the other two kingdoms (Shu and Wei) captured and beheaded Zhu Geliang's general Kuan Yu - 關羽 - no forever friends or enemies!

八阵图 strategy being adopted and proven by latter military strategists, including, Tang Dynasty (Emperor Li Shi Min), Qing Dynasty Emperor KangXi (八旗軍) when he defeated the Russian Tsar. Others who applied similar strategy include French Napoleon, Nazi Hilter, etc - conquest of Europe and Central Asia.

If I have not mistaken, I believe the approach of 八阵图 was applied in the Joshua leading the Israelites crossed River Jordan.

To defeat the incumbent, one has to apply the wisdom: 以柔制剛, 以少勝多, 以弱勝强.

Wisdom of Zhu Geliang - 諸葛孔明

Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win. - Zhu Ge Liang 萬古軍師 - 諸葛孔明

MOE World’s Best-performing School System?

Our pupils do brilliantly in Mathematics and Science tests. America students are worse off in examination results but do better in the real world. Students from China, Taiwan, Korea and India outshine anything in the United States academically. East Asian countries top virtually every global ranking of students in Science and Mathematics. It's not just Singapore pupils outperformed America in this area, it's an East Asia and global phenomenon. "Singapore ranked 4th among 45 education systems” – Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006.Afterall, this is not something exclusive that Singapore MOE should feel proud of. Singapore's students do so brilliantly on these tests, when you look at these same students 10 or 20 years later, few of them are worldbeaters anymore. Singapore has few truly top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors, business executives or academics. American kids, by contrast, test much worse in the upper primary and secondary levels but seem to do better later in life and in the real world. Why? One belief is that Singapore and America have different types of meritocracies: American is a talent meritocracy.Singapore an exam meritocracy.An exam meritocracy is not able to assess the student well in areas like creativity, curiosity, risk taking, ambition, etc. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority. These are the areas where Singapore is far behind many first world countries. Some years ago, a friend of mine brought his children back from America and put them in Singapore MOE SAP schools. He pointed out a marked difference in that the American school, when his children would speak up in class during lessons, they were applauded and felt good. In Singapore, they seen as disobedient and weird. The fun, passion and culture of learning is totally absent here. Our MOE system makes learning a chore. Work hard, memorize and test well. After two years of struggles for the kids, he took them out of the Singapore SAP schools and put them into a private, international schools. This certainly provokes thoughts about Singapore MOE education system.

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林花谢了春红，太匆匆，无奈朝来寒雨晚来风。

胭脂泪，相留醉，几时重？自是人生长恨水长东！

无言独上西楼,月如钩,寂寞梧桐,深院锁清秋.

剪不断,理还乱,是离愁,别是一般滋味在心头.

南唐后主李煜

MOE Faces Challenges

Elitism in the education system triggers competition at all levels – among pupils, classes, teachers, principals, schools and parents. Elitism identifies and picks the best. However, not everyone can be the best. For some to be the best, others would have to settle for second, third or even fourth place. This quest to be the best inevitably results in an over emphasis on ranking. Instead of teaching and learning, schools are focused on comparing and competing. Aggressive streaming done at too young an age kill alot of late developers and potential talents.

Elitism breeds elitism. A good PSLE score is needed to get into a top secondary school. Good “O” Level examination scores are needed to get it a top Junior College or popular courses in the polytechnics. Excellent “A” Level or diploma results are needed to get into the local universities. Everyone wants only top results. Many in this society only narrowly focus on getting these results at the expense of learning. This is competition in a well.
The system is overly focused on performance ranking, academic achievement and the acquisition of skills to prepare students for the rat race and paper chase. Moral education and character developments seem lacking, if the increasing reports on teenage suicide and sex are anything to go by. Have we done enough to get to the root causes of these social problems? The current system of school ranking and teacher performance appraisals need to be reviewed.
The quest for knowledge feeds the competition for grades, which students partake in so that they can move on to next level of their education or secure a better paying job. Once attained, students tend to lose the motivation to upgrade themselves. Sadly, it is perhaps for this reason that the initiative to promote lifelong learning and inculcate it as an attitude and practice didn’t start in the schools but originated from the labour movement. Our education policy has undergone too many changes that may be in conflict with the ancient philosophical wisdom of "Bai Nian Shu Ren"( 百年树人 ).

The heavy price we are paying for due to agressive streaming, ranking and branding in our schools are as follow. The youths these days are apolitical and self-centred. Compared with the youths in Hong Kong and Taiwan , the typical Singaporean youth does not have a sense of entrepreneurship, much less to ever aspire to become an entrepreneur. Can this be attributed to the dominance of civil service jobs and the presence of multi-national corporations? The civil service takes in the most talented scholars who might not have had the exposure to or have ventured into business. Singapore is a country with good administrators but a society badly in need of entrepreneurs. Instead of bi-lingual, today Singapore pupils speak only Singlish. Singapore is fast becoming a mono-lingual society. Our next generation has lost the cultural heritage in their ability to speak our dialects.

小六定终身, 天生我材必有用， 拒绝分流！
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/
http://geraldgiam.sg/
http://www.beyondsg.typepad.com/
http://www.avatarimage.net/news/Chiam-See-Tong.html
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2009/12/alex-tan-barred-by-ypap.html
http://theonlinecitizen.com/
http://www.temasekreview.com/
http://www.gov.sg/
Lee Hsien Loong
Goh Chok Tong
Ho Ching
Mah Bow Tan
http://www.cabinet.gov.sg/CabinetAppointments/Mr+Mah+Bow+Tan.htm
Lee Kuan Yew
Wong Kan Seng

Dr Poh Lee Guan & Dr Yam Poh Nam, John

Singapore Economic Growth Measurement

I believe that our economy will eventually reach a saturation point
like most western countries and Japan. Realistically, our long
term objective should focus on longer term sustainable, balanced
and moderated growth – not just property prices and productivity growths.
Greater emphasis in tracking and measuring the number of quality jobs created
(value added products and services) is more relevant than just GDP growth.