DAY 3 (18TH JULY 2016)

SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY

On 18^th July morning, we had a very fruitful interactive session at Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University(SHJT). We departed at 7am to Shanghai Jiao Tong subway station and were welcomed and led by a student to Antai College. Along the way to the college, there were a lot of greeneries, heritage buildings, students travelling around in their electric motorcycles and residents walking around in the school area.  The environment was very comfortable.

Figure 13 Ms. Stephanie who welcomed us.

We were welcomed by Ms Stephanie (lecturer) at the main entrance of Antai College and we were lead to a meeting room.  The interactive session was attended by Professor Tang Ningyu, Deputy Dean of Antai College of Economics, Mr. Phil Wang, Director of International Office, Antai College of Economics & Management, Mr. Fred Liu and other 6 undergraduates. Most of the SHJT students were having summer break at the moment, most of them were either on holidays or went for summer exchange programmes.

Our session was kick started with a welcome remark from Professor Tang and brief introduction about Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Antai College of Economics & Management. Shanghai Jiao Tong University is a public research university which established in 1896 by an edict of the penultimate Emperor of China. It is one of the oldest and prestigious modern universities in China. It is globally recognized and it has achieved some global Rankings in 2016 Program Ranking by Financial Times, for example Antai Executive Education program ranked No.9 worldwide, Antai EMBA program ranked No. 10 worldwide and much more. Antai College also have been triple accredited by AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA.

The three strongest disciplines in SHJT are management studies, Bio-medical and engineering. After the presentation by Professor Tang, Mr. Phil Wang and Mr. Fred Liu shared with us their international programmes and one of the key courses, Master of International Business respectively.

The flow was followed by presentation from Associate Professor Dr Ruzita, Deputy Dean of Faculty of Business and Accountancy(FBA) and Dr Suria, senior lecturer of FBA on University of Malaya, Faculty of Business and Accountancy and international programmes for international students.

Next, we had a cultural sharing session through presentations and cultural performances prepared by respective universities. SHJT undergraduates shared about their country and provinces, places of historical interest such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Terra Cotta Warriors, the transformation of calligraphy, traditional music and instruments. On the other hand, we shared with them about the brief history our country and provinces, multi-races, food, traditional costumes and our national language.

Figure 14 We presented Tarian Joget

With that, we proceeded to cultural performances from both universities. We have the privileged to enjoy wonderful music pieces played by two SHJT students, using the traditional instruments which are Er Hu (Chinese violin) and Di Zi (Bamboo Flute). After that, we performed a short Malay Old Folk dance, Joget dance. Next, we had 15 minutes of sharing session, whereby we get to exchange our thoughts and our own experiences as well as answering one another’s questions. The student’s representatives from SHJT universities have a very good command of English. One of the students told us that English is not a mandatory subject for them to study, therefore they will usually attend TOEFL classes to learn English.

At 11.30pm, we ended our indoor activities with souvenirs giving ceremony. Ms Stephanie then brought us for an hour campus tour around its few main buildings. She stopped by some of the representable buildings such as their libraries and provided us brief explanations. Last but not least, we ended our visitation by taking group photos at the main entrance of their university.

All in all, we were glad that this 3E trip has provided us a good platform to approach for university visit in Shanghai. We believe that we have foster better understanding among different nationalities through cultural exchange, at the same time create, widen and strengthen the network between University of Malaya and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

ORIENTAL PEARL TV TOWER

Figure 16 Day view of Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Figure 16 Day view of Oriental Pearl TV Tower

Figure 15 Night view of Oriental Pearl TV Tower

After that, we visited the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which located at Lujiazui in the Pudong district. This tower has a height of 468m which is higher than our Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Tower which is 421m. The construction of this tower began at year 1991 and the completion was done in the year 1994. With the Oriental Pearl TV Tower constructed, it has become the distinct landmark for Shanghai until now. The tower is brightly lit different sequences of light which makes it looks more beautiful at night.

Inside the tower, there are three main levels which are cultural level, observation level and antenna level. We have visited the cultural level and observation level except for the antenna level. In the observation level, we can see the view of the Shanghai city with the height of 263m and it also provide binoculars for us to view objects in further distance. At the lower level, there is glass-bottomed skywalk around the sphere which can make you see the Shanghai city is just at the bottom of your feet. At the upper level, it also provides a restaurant for the tourists to have their meal while enjoying the view of the Shanghai city.

After that, we went to visit the cultural level. In this level, there is Municipal History Museum. In the museum, we can know the changes of the Shanghai from old traditional lifestyle until the influence of the Western people. At the beginning, we can know the traditional Chinese lifestyle such as how they do the business within the local people. After that, we can see the influence of Western people brings the new culture to Shanghai people as well as the new technology. With the influences of Western, there are vehicles such as car appeared in Shanghai and the Christian belief also began to spread out among the Chinese. We can learn that the China locals is exchanging the knowledge and culture with the Western to improve living standards.

Super Brand Mall

After Oriental Pearl Tower, we went to Super Brand Mall which was just next to the tower. We reached to Super Brand Mall around 3.00 p.m. It is located in the center between Oriental Pearl TV Tower and Shanghai Stock Exchange Center and it is a major shopping centre in Shanghai. It located in a prime area of Finance and Trade Zone and required only 3 minutes walking distance from the Lujiazui station.

Super Brand Mall gathered most of the international brand outlets such as Swarosvski, Sephora, Mango, JNBY and Levis. By comparing Mid Valley Megamall in Malaysia with Super Brand Mall in Shanghai, the size of Mid Valley Megamall is bigger than Super Brand Mall. However, in term of similarity, both malls are very easy to reach by using public transport such as cab, bus and subway station.

Our very first experience in Super Brand Mall was the atmosphere and ambient of the mall is very refreshing and clean in overall. We can see that the shops are well organized and the interior design of the mall is simple and nice. A lot of tourists and locals were there even it is on Monday. Another great different is no one will bargain for the price as compared to YuYuan because all goods are tagged with net price.

In Super Brand Mall, there are a lot of fashion brands competing each other and hence by attracting more customers, the shops are giving out free samples or testers for customers in order to create crowd in front of the shops. In addition, in several shops that we entered, part of the promoters could speak basic English when communicating with us. In addition, the location of Super Brand Mall is very strategic as most of the tourists who pay a visit to Oriental Pearl Tower could just enter mall by crossing a bridge.