Guangzhou, China

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Day 1 - Day 5

Departure

Departure from Singapore to Guangzhou. On that evening, we all set a meeting time at 7.30pm for everyone to gather and check-in as a group since we group-booked. I went straight to the airport from our morning class with Shraddhaa and Joy. We came to the airport by private cab and we split the check. We were quite earlier than others, ended-up snacking at McDonalds. I had some fries and chicken nuggets. It had been quite some time since I last had McDonalds before this. Still got a lot of time, we moved to Starbucks chill while we wait for the others to come. Most of our classmates were on-time. The 3 other classmates were the ones who always came late to class, and then, they were late to the airport as well. What irritated everyone was to see them late and walking so slowly, grinning, with their lovers tagging along. Also kissing. So uncool. But anyways, we managed to get everything done and checked-in.

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Arrival

Four and a half hours later, we landed at Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou, China. It was 3 am, 09 March 2018. We arrived and had to queue for visa pass for about one-half hours itself. The next time I knew, was that we went out of the airport welcomed with such freezing cold wind. We had to walk to our bus. Some of us weren’t prepared for it at all. One of my classmates brought summer clothes on a 11 degree city, others had the same issue too. Luckily, I was told by my mother to bring winter coats and scarf as it would be cold, so I did. It was a nice cold, or maybe I just like cold weathers. It was nice. The last time I had this kind of weather was when I went to Europe, which was about 3 years ago and I miss it. So I was enjoying the cold weather as much as I could.

Day 1:

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Woke up at 10 am. Went straight to shower. We had to be down at the lobby at 11.30 am. Also, we had to get some breakfast. Found some food area down the service apartment building, which was connected to the train station and a mall. Convenient. I bought some egg tarts for shockingly pricey; 20 Yen. Finally the day started. We got into the bus and headed to our long journey destination, a factory. It was a long bus ride, probably about 1 h 30 mins. This factory was one of the biggest factory distributing internationally, including Singapore brand called The Island Shop. It was fascinating to see the production going from raw fabric to retail products being packed into boxes ready to be distributed. Then there was the graphic printing production stage which was also interesting. When we walked towards the factory, I could smell the industrial dye which made me think of the health of the labour. Speaking of labour, after seeing the factory working scene live, I am still quite ticked to see those workers work so incredibly fast and efficient like machines. It is such a pity to ever replace labour to machinery. Yet, machine productions fastens the productions which means, more and more clothes are being produced and made, leads to fast fashion and that these products are more disposable. It really isn’t sustainable to the environment and society. In terms of technology, I appreciate the advanced machines there were for us to see and I bet there are way more high tech machines out there. These machines just makes everything produced instantly, reduce labour health risks, and higher efficiency. But, just not everything that’s easy and quick-produced are the best.

As the day went, we finally were on our way to a very nice area called Shaimen Island, which was has this European architecture and vibe. Had dinner in an international cafe/bar called, Lucy’s. It was such a nice place, very cosy. I had some sweet & sour pork rice and the others had some fried rice. We were just so hungry we just ate the big portion of our meals. Right after dinner, we went by the river side we found. It was a pretty night sight. It was a good closing of the day. It was quite a busy day, I treated myself with some nice warm bubble bath which I haven’t had in ages. I loved it. Oh, and me and my two roommates came with me to wish one of our classmate, Kimberley a happy birthday. It’s her 22nd birthday.

To close it off, the highlight of the day was that I have opened up my mind more on labour intensives and their working terms and conditions and mostly their working environment. Second, I have such great passion when it comes to playing around with my camera; taking pictures and videos, during travels. Lastly, I feel like we have connected and bonded more with our classmates more than ever. Such a nice, warm feeling. I hope to find more new things upcoming day and learn more and have a good time.

Day 2:

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Early today, we are going to one of the largest wholesale fabric market. This is an important part of the trip for some of us because we need to source our fabrics and even buy them for our project. The market was huge, but, it was clean and quite tidy. That’s one thing that the city has improved in. Even the streets and most places are not as unclean as the last time I went to this city. In the wholesale market, there were sample fabrics all along the side perimeter of each floors. I took a lot of it, thinking that I might need it in the future, who knows. Besides, the colour palettes will definitely help me in future projects. From what I have observed, most of the fabrics there were not really original. Like, if it says cotton, it is not a 100% made out of cotton. They quite used a lot of plastic materials in their fabrics. It took us about 4 hours to go around and explore the building. Before we left, we had some big lunch of big portions, which we didn't expect. It was such a huge meal. Big enough to fill us up until dinner.

Next up, we headed to IGC mall to view flagship stores of Mo&co, Urban Revivo, Adolfo and Aquascutum. Here we entered a mall that is targeted on to the middle-upper class market. The mall was quite filled with customers coming. The four brands we looked at was quite the higher target market they set. More elegant, classy, luxurious atmosphere. From what I’ve seen of the people there and the styles of the younger generation, they wear more street style outfits, Korean style, black or whites, and some have their own personal style. Guangzhou really uses a lot of colourful lights in almost everything and everywhere. Which makes the city look alive and festive every time.

The final destination of the evening was visiting a flagship store called, Go Fun. It is located in the millennials area where there were many Instagram-able cafes and bars. Such a pretty area it was. The store we visited was one engaging place to enter too. Go Fun sells fashion products made from local designers. Their branding was rebel, young, fun and hyped as was also projected through its store design.

The highlight of the day was the incredibly huge fabric wholesale market, as I have not quite seen that big of a fabric market with such considerable and affordable prices, regardless of its qualities. Go Fun store was one fascinating brand that represents today’s generation, and it also suits the trends and styles of local youngsters in Guangzhou.

Day 3:

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Today we had more rest in the morning. Met the group to head off to Guangdong museum. I was starting to feel unwell. The weather, the too oily food, and the amount of walks we had each day were the main cause of it. It was freezing cold when we first got there, then, the sun was strongly shining with its burning heat. We experienced weather season change during the trip.

So we made it to the museum to see some exhibitions and local art works. This was one of the best part of this trip for me. Seeing the art pieces made me feel very excited. The first exhibition we entered was the art nouveau to porcelain bowls to the natural resources exhibition. Each section inspired me differently. I became more aware of China’s strength and originality in their designs and making of porcelain. Carvings was also one of the unique traditional artefacts. Meanwhile, what I have found interesting was the natural resource exhibition. It had many different things from soils to stones to different types of precious stones, mines, even to marine animals like sharks, dinosaurs and many more.

After the museum, we had some lunch before heading towards Redtory. An area where we came by foot and found an old, grungy area filled with coffee shops, and some nice boutiques. Every turn I looked were people taking pictures, modelling and more pictures. It was quite fascinating to see the young generation in such a way that they have such a thing in common. Pictures in every angle, every corner to have these pictures posted on social media. Some were having actual photoshoot for some clothing brands. But, I couldn’t quite make the difference. I took one to two pictures, I usually would do more but, it always make me feel like that it is less special when everybody has pictures of the same exact sceneries. So, I searched for the least crowded area and took pictures with that particular scene. Then, we went to explore the boutiques there. It was nice and well merchandised but some materials weren't so great. Lastly, we head to get some coffee. No, I had ginger tea for my cold. It was so good! The ginger tea opened up my nostrils and for that moment I felt like I was alive.

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To close off the day, we headed to a local street market. Looked around the busy, crowded area. Me and my two other friends went to stroll down the street to checkout some local stores. It was this pattern of stores along the rows; Korean style brands, sports shoes, t-shirt stores, traditional Chinese clothing stores, souvenir stores, and some fruit and street food stalls. They came in many different brands but, they most basically sell the same items. The prices were unbelievably low. It was madness. I wondered where the unsold garments go to.

The highlight of the day was the museum visit and Redtory. The two places inspired me quite a lot of its local people and the young generation, their styles and trends.

Day 4:

The day started off late at 1.30 pm. The only activities in the schedule were the meeting with Blue Space for them to have a talk with us, and to visit this one mall called, Taikoo Hui. We headed to Blue Space, but we went to the wrong address taken from the website which was not updated. So we had to walk back all the way and take the train to head to the other address. This address was correct. That I learned to reconfirm and check things twice before-hand. As we reached Blue Space, we got into their office. It was small but compact and well designed. They prepared a room for us and for the talk from them. The talk was about the fashion market in Guangzhou. They explained and let us have some questions for them to answer since they know more about it.

Here are what I have note down of the talk;

Firstly we talked about the issues in fashion:

-Trends are constantly changing

-Copy

-Environment

-Stocks overload and too much

-How to make sales accurately

-Lack of partnership

Secondly, how people currently are in fashion:

-People want to show off brands and luxury brands

-Strong personal style

-Making too many similar things

Thirdly, the secret of a brand’s success:

-Suiting with the trends and styles accurately

-Setting the team

-Hardworking enough

-Open enough to new ideas and to learn new things

How you pursue your objectives

-Set plan to reach the team’s objectives

Then, we walked to the Taikoo Hui mall. The mall was full of branded, high class brands. It was like Marina Bay Sands of Singapore. In here we visited this one big store that sells local branded clothes, bookstore, it has coffee corner as well, and some other products of different brands. It is like a multi-brand and multi-product store. The pricing was on a middle-upper level, more towards the upper-upper. It was a very nice, cosy store to shop and spend time in, especially with the coffee shop in it, makes the store smells so good.

Day 5:

Good bye Guangzhou!

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*More pictures & more about this trip are posted on Photogram and on video creations.