Our main objective of this Taiwan trip is to share the joy of music and exchange ideas on how to improve our standards of Guzheng. On the first day, we went to Ximen Ding. Ximen Ding is the source of Taiwan's fashion. I was so engrossed with all the shopping. Our hotel is in the middle of Ximen Ding which is very convenient for us to shop for what we want.

We had a morning exchange programme with Taipei Municipal Fuxing Senior High School. The performers from Fu Xing High have strong foundation and their performance was excellent. I learnt that I need to persevere with the everyday training in order to achieve a better result. Daily training is very important as lots of practice is required to master Guzheng. We need consistent effort to improve and I will be more serious during practice time.

We proceeded to Toucheng Leisure Farm and we learnt to make the heavenly light. They are constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame. We wrote “Guzheng 2011 SYF GOLD WITH HONOUR” on the heavenly light and I really hope that this wish come true. While we are making the heavenly light, I learnt about teamwork. Our performance is actually quite normal compared to them so I hope that if we have the chance to come again, our performing skills will improve. Although we did not perform well, this helps to build our confidence and stage presence during learning and observation.We walked around the farm and experienced traditional countryside life. We fed the goat and water buffaloes; we experienced planting rice on of paddy field, digging sweet potato and the DIYing of T-shirt or bags. We used leaves from different plants and used different color to design out the shirts or bags. Using creativity to come out with something unique is a very special experience to me.

We had an exchange programme session with Tang Ming Guzheng Association. In West Spring, the Guzheng instrument has 21 strings with movable bridges but Tang Ming uses a different type of Guzheng which is named as "Zhuan Diao Zheng. Zhuan Diao Zheng" . It is spilt into half, one of the half has 21 strings and the other half has 26 strings. It is very convenient for the Guzheng performers as it solves the problem of changing tune. But performing using "Zhuan Diao Zheng" requires years of practice and it is very expensive. It is very unlikely that our school will purchase "Zhuan Diao Zheng". Although it is very different but "Zhuan Diao Zheng" kept the tradition of Guzheng. Tang Ming performed Beethoven pieces which is almost impossible for performers who use normal Guzheng. I learnt that Guzheng instrument can be used to play modern music.

After that, we proceeded to National Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Danshui Old Street, The Fisherman’s wharf and Chiufen. I think that Chiufen is very special as in the past, the village here housed nine families, and thus the village would request nine portions for everything. Later Chiufen become the name of the village. We visited Shilin Night Market which is considered the largest and most famous night market in the city. We walked around in groups of four and we ate fried chicken steak, tempura, bubble tea, stinky tofu, oyster vermicelli, pig blood pudding and Taiwanese sausages.

We visited Taipei 101 which is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District. It is ranked the second tallest buildings in the world. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. We visited the 85th floor which has an observatory restaurant. We observed the world largest tuned mass damper which is suspended from 92th to 88th floor. Tickets cost NT$400 and it allowed us to excess to 88th floor using the world fastest elevator. We proceeded to Wu Fen Pu which is the heaven of teenagers as the clothes were cheap but with good quality. We bought bags, clothes and accessories there.

We visited Chinese Culture University Dept, of Chinese Music. The performers there performed in a group, in a Chinese orchestra way, using many types of instruments to perform. Their performance consists of Guzheng, Dizi, Sheng, Violin and other instruments but our performance only consisted of Guzheng. They performed a piece that used drum set as the main rhythm and used Guzheng to play the piece. They performed it in a modern way. The Taiwan trip changed my impression, now I know that Guzheng need not be played in traditional and fixed way. The piece that was used in Taiwan is very different from the pieces used in Singapore. In Singapore, teacher often changed pieces but in Taiwan, Taiwanese use their creativity and changed piano pieces into Guzheng pieces. Taiwan trip provided opportunities for bonding and team building among members and we became closer as in Taiwan, we stick together and we helped each other. I hope to see that during the next practice, the members can be more cooperative and help each other when we face difficulties. Lastly, I really hope that Guzheng can get gold with honors in 2011 SYF so that we will get the chance to travel again during the June holiday as it is the last chance for the sec three members.