ASEP 2014 EXPERIENCE

DAY 1

I’m lucky to be selected as one of the 16 Malaysian delegates to participate in Asian Student Environmental Platform, an educational program organized under AEON CSR initiative.The purpose of this event is to educate youth on the environmental issue in a particular country. Currently only five countries are involved in ASEP: Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and China (the host for this time). The theme this year is Water and Human. So our learning objective is to learn how China manage their water resources (both upstream and downstream; natural and man-made water) which can fulfill both human needs and conserve the ecosystem.

It is exciting because this experience is shared with my best friend, Shian Feen and also my partner, Jaron. Also, my first international flight to China! Initially our flight was MH370, depart at the same time as the unfortunate airplane. But it was then changed to MH360. Anyway, there was neither bad omen nor weird instinct, and the flight touched down smoothly at about midnight. Salute to MAS for the good service throughout the journey too. So here we are in Beijing, the capital city of China, also one of the busiest and populated cities. According to the tour guide, Beijing is popular because of its population. This city itself caters for 23 million (or even more) people, an amount nearing Malaysia’s overall population of 30 million. Not only that, when congestion happened, the longest recorded traffic was 729km!

On the first day, there was no big event except for opening ceremony and dinner reception party. Malaysia and Vietnam delegates arrived first, we got to had lunch together. Apparently, they have more female participants than male just like us and the females are very enthusiastic when they saw us. Probably because we looked very colourful and vibrant with our traditional clothes.

In the afternoon, we visited Tsing Hua University for the opening ceremony. En route there, I observed that:

1) Bicycle is a common mode of transportation

2) Roads there are straight and not as complicated as Malaysia with lots of dividers and flyovers. It also seems to be more established and systematic with lots of pedestrian cum motorist bridge, bicycle lane, traffic officers at the zebra line, controlling the traffic.

3) Their public bus is longer in size, as in two buses are connected like LRT coaches.

(bus, pedestrian pic)

Due to heavy downpour, we were not able to walk around the University for sightseeing. The green meadow; serene landscape; unique building’s architecture both from the East and West; the cool breeze that caressed our cheeks upon getting down the bus – were the impression that had nailed in me. It was campus way larger and established than UM. One of the reasons I say established is because of their automatic hand wash in each of the toilet. Imagine this in Malaysia. Automatic hand wash is usually prominent in high class shopping malls and airport, not in University! Another point is, automatic hand wash is always better than manual one because of lesser water consumption. Cheers for that!

After the opening ceremony, we headed to the hotel for dinner served in buffet style. Nothing special to me as it was all cooked in Chinese style. Following that, we performed Rasa Sayang, our old folk song jovially and got everyone stuck with the beat. Other countries’ delegates performed too. Mostly singing and some dance moves. We also got to meet our group mates which consisted of two delegates from each country.

It’s a tradition in ASEP that we would have roommates from other countries each time we switch hotel. My first stay in Nikko Hotel was with a Korean girl named Kyu-ri.

DAY 2

The real business kickoff today. We traveled from Beijing to Tianjin, another busy city with lots of trading activities going on in the sea shore. Thus, one of the country’s important cities after Shanghai. Today we visited Tianjin Planning Exhibition Hall. Apparently, this type of hall is available in each city as a medium to inform public about the authority plans to develop the city. I think it is a good idea particularly on the transparency and the two-way communication between government and people. The purpose of this visit to learn about:

* the importance of wetland in a city
* learn how a city plans its development in harmony with nature

Throughout the visit, I realized that the government emphasis a lot of ecological nature, as in reviving threatened species as well as maintaining biodiversity balance. Secondly is on resource assurance. Tianjin’s economic activities depend heavily on water resource. Therefore, pollution is something they definitely want to avoid. And lastly is to create a liveable place for the people. Overall, it is a human to human and human to environment driven effort, which is good.

In order to fulfil the first aim, the authority outlined an area into three categories, distinguished by red and yellow lines. Development is strictly prohibited in red lined area while in yellow lined area, development is allowed with permission from government and of course the minimal environmental destruction. The last category is beyond yellow lined area where development is allowed.

Understandably, natural wetland is in within the red lined area.

What is a wetland? A wetland can be river mouth estuary, lake, pond, river, or wet area, saturated with water. The primary factor that distinguishes wetland from other land form or water bodies is the characteristic of vegetation particularly the soil characteristic. Also, wetland can be divided into natural and man-made.

So why is wetland so important that it should be conserved?

It has various significant functions like:

* conservation of biodiversity

* controlling temperature

* maintaining the habitat of flora and fauna

* prevent flood

* provide natural resources to human like fish, duck, etc

* buffer between land and water body

However, due to drastic human activities, climate change, water pollution, natural wetland is decreasing in amount. Therefore, the need to create more man-made wetland one the natural one fails to be revived. Olympic Park, which is the place we going to visit tomorrow, is an example of man-made wetland.

There were also some areas designated for research purpose, tourism and others.

In the afternoon, we visited the largest natural wetlands, called Bei Da Gang Wetland. Covering about 44,240 m², it was originally a reservoir used to hold surface water and discharged water from industries. But now, they are using this as nature reserve for wetland protection as well as to adjust the microclimate of DaGang district. It is also imperative place for migration of Eastern Asia migratory birds to take place too.

DAY 3

As mentioned, on the third day, we were back in Beijing for a study excursion in Olympic Forest Park. In order to enhance our learning, we were brought here to understand about the importance of man-made wetland and also enable us to make a comparison with the natural one.

In Olympic Forest Park, things are easier managed and within human control. With the help of technology, water, material and energy consumption of the designed water system can be decreased. Olympic Lake is the main water area, which shaped like dragon head. From the lake, water flows in the stream shaped like dragon tail, passing by the Bird Nest Stadium. This in a whole, formed a dragon-shaped water system.

This system is basically used to purify wastewater into cleaner water for human use. It is certainly a better option to decrease dependency on primary water source like river and running tap water. Maintenance cost can also be largely decreased.

Besides functioning as water purification and filtration, Olympic Forest Park is also a recreational park where every morning, the local could exercise, get in touch with nature and its beauty and also enjoy the fresh air. It is a picturesque place that I think everyone should visit if you are looking for a gateway in the busy city.

Morning excursion in Olympic Park. Prof Liu, the coordinator of the program in pink.

Note that they are not playing badminton but they are tried to balance the ball on the racket. This is part of the locals morning exercise routine.

Wastewater is treated using technology and biological concept. Here’s the outcome!

After the visit in the park, we had a lecture by Prof to summarize our learning in Beijing and Tianjin. Both wetlands that we learned are the examples of downstream water management in China. After lunch, we would be travelling to Engebei (Inner Mongolia) province to learn about the effect of water scarcity which results in desertification. Few days later, we would be in Cheng Du city to learn about upstream water management.

It was a pleasant flight from Beijing to Bao Tou , capital city of Engebei. The bird eye view of Engebei creates a type of sensation in me but I couldn’t find a better word to describe it. It was kind of a dilemma actually. Initially the view was a large patch of greeneries, agricultural farm I guess, distinguished very clearly in rectangular shape. Then there was another area where green was no longer visible; high rise buildings and skyscrapers dominate. As much as we prefer greenery, sometimes development is imperative for the country improvement. Without economic development and technology, lots of environmental protection efforts cannot be done.

Take Malaysia and Japan for comparison. Japan is way more progressive than us because of their economy and great technology. Therefore, they can afford to have various equipment to solve environmental problem.

If I did not recall my Geology wrongly, the first two pictures show the floodplain. Meanwhile the third photo depicts the rapid development that is going on Bao Tou.

Anyway, back to Bao Tou, I got to learn about this city from the local tabloid. Apparently Bao Tou is getting famous for its abundant rare earth. Mining activity is prominent. Finger-crossed that they mine sustainably. Possible with the greed of human?

Upon touching down in Bao Tou, we could immediately feel the cool breeze, more or less like Genting Highland. This time we visited the grassland, an area with very important ecological role in desert area in Engebei. It is vital for it provides habitat for some species, nutrients, regulate environmental condition and also as an entertainment area for human.

Due to the cooling temperature, lots of people love to cycle around the grassland. We even saw a few Mongolia yurts in the vicinity.

We had late dinner today, about 8.30pm and so, no group discussion took place. As mentioned, we would have new roommate each time we switch hotel. This time my roommate was a Korean, and interestingly, she was my group mate, named Kim-Joo. The room was even more luxurious than in Beijing. Too bad we only stay for a night.

DAY 4

Day 4 was the most exciting day to me because we were going to the desert! Such a privilege as not many people get such opportunity.

Prior to the desert, we visited Engebei ecological demonstration area for some inputs. It was more or less like an exhibition hall, explaining on how efforts were poured in order to make desert a liveable place. In another words, it is called desert management.

It started by Mr Toyama Seiei, a famous Japanese expert on desert controlling, who made poignant contribution to Engebei.

The whole desert is managed using simple concepts integrating engineering and biological principles like biological sand-fixation, engineering sand-fixation, chemical sand-fixation and also combination of both biological and engineering methods. After sand fixation, they would recover vegetation and other ecological elements.

Take note on the right side of this picture: You would notice the pineapple skin-shaped design along the slope in desert. It is meant to prevent sand erosion and also to stabilize the sand structure using dried paddy fibres (if I’m not wrong).

Camel rising is one the tourism activities in the desert.

Besides, due to the liquidity of sand brought by wind erosion, resulting sand disaster, the towns around the desert could be affected anytime. Thus, trees were planted as a buffer between desert and town. At the same time, bilateral relationship was created between Japan and China by this tree planting event in which a man-made forest was also formed. 

The man-made forest.

After lunch, we travelled to the next province, Sichuan and called it a day.

DAY 5

Another interesting and eye-opening day for today. Cheng Du, the capital city of Sichuan is where we gonna learn about the upstream water management. By upstream it means from the primary source of water.

Here are some fun facts on Cheng Du:

1) The word Cheng means to become, whereas Du means capital.

2) It is a city with 2,000 years of history.

3) Cheng Du has a population of 60 million while the province itself has a total of 100 million people. Hence, it is known as the fourth most populous city.

4) Their public bus is run by battery.

5) Spicy food is famous here because the local believes that it can reduce body moisture.

6) Weather here is always cloudy and humid. I basically don’t sweat much in Cheng Du.

7) Has a more relaxed lifestyle compared to other city.

8) People here love to drink tea to relax and in fact address waiter as tea doctor instead.

Here's some scenic view of Cheng Du.

The largest bonsai tree! (right)

Gingko biloba tree

Close-up view of its seed and leaf.

Group photo - before

Group photo - after

Today’s visit was to Dujiang Weir, the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in the

world which is also a wonder in the development of Chinese science.

Why?

Well, over 2,200 years ago, the people living in Sichuan had suffered from frequent flood and extreme drought. When heavy downpour struck, water often exceeded the carrying capacity of the river and thus, gushed towards the town. A very intelligent engineer named Li Bing, who was also a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, designed Dujiang Weir for water control purpose.

It started from these three main parts of the system called: Fish Mouth Water-Dividing Dam, Flying Sand Fence and the Bottle-Neck Channel.

The river is basically divided into outer and inner rivers. When there is excess water due to heavy downpour, water is diverted to outer river to be channelled to Yellow River located in Hebei Province. While in a normal condition, water is flown into inner river which then acts as a water resource for various activities in Cheng Du. Basically, the former is natural river while the latter was dug by General Li Bing and his people in order to provide water for the people in Cheng Du.

In the modern time, a water gate is built to further enhance the prevailing function. Gate will be opened to divert excess water to outer river while closed on normal basis. This area is named as fish mouth because water originated from the hillside is diverged into two rivers, forming a shape like fish mouth.

Fish mouth: Divide river so as to channel the water from its origin to the city

Flying Sand Weir is the second part of the water system in which it plays an important role to discharge sediments from the water. It is able to do so due to the unique water flow pattern which is in S shape. Sediments will be diverted to outer river while cleaner water will get its way to inner river to the city.

Flying sand weir: Act as spillway to avoid excessive water in the inner stream by diverting sand and stone

Last but not least would be the Bottleneck channel – also another man-made river to channel water from spillway to the city. Basically, to create this channel, General Li Bing and his people felled off large amount of trees in the forest and burned the ground including those rocks for a long period. Following that, water was flown into this channel.

Bottleneck channel: Control the amount of water into Cheng Du for flood prevention purpose

Overall, we learned about the intelligence of General Li Bing through his work and planning in order to solve human’s problem and at the same time ensuring the harmony with nature. His diligence and hard work certainly paid off because until now, the modern generation has enjoyed the benefits from Dujiang Weir.

Mother Nature is just as simple as that. As long as your planning is coherent with the law of nature, it will help you back. 

"At the end of the day, everyone will only remembers how scary it was to cross the ever-swinging bridge and not about the facts of Dujiang Weir", said the tour guide jokingly.

At that night, we went to Kuan Zhai Xiang Zi Street, a very unique place rich with Chinese-culture and vibrant night life akin to our local pasar malam just that the street is lined with shops instead of umbrella kiosks.

The word kuan means wide while zhai refers to narrow. Thus, the street has got two categories: wide and narrow street.

One of Chengdu so-called must-try food: rabbit head – described as succulent and best enjoyed by sucking its brain. Ouch.

Glutinous rice on pineapple

Peanut-made tidbit

Agar-agar like pudding

DAY 6

One of the must-visit things in China besides the Great Wall is for sure the big adorable panda! The purpose of the visit to Panda Center was to learn about the wildlife living upstream and also the role played by human in conservation work.

Here are some fun facts on panda:

1) The name “panda” was coined by a French man.
2) There are only 1,600 pandas left in the world; 1300 in the wild and 300 in the zoo
3) Panda has five real fingers and one pseudo finger
4) Long ago, panda was a meat eater.
5) One of reasons for panda extinction is due to the scarcity of bamboo tree.
6) Of the 500 bamboo species, only 50 is edible and 10 is panda’s favourite.
7) Panda consumes 10 kg of bamboo but only absorbed 20% of it. That what makes it a lazy creature who only eat, excrete and sleep in order to conserve energy.
8) A panda can bear two babies at maximum.
9) Baby panda can weigh up to 150g while the tiniest weigh only 65g.
10) Baby panda has difficulties to survive in the wild due to predators.
11) A wild panda has life span of 18-20 years while panda living in the centre lives five to 10 years longer.
12) Panda aged more than five years old is considered as an adult; cub aged between two to five years old.

The three photos above show the growth process of a young panda. Upon seeing this, a dilemma arises in me that we, human were the one who destroyed the animal’s habitat, and now we are intervening with our technology to safe it. I do agree that such effort is imperative although it might deem as unnatural. But it’s an irony to see that we are stuck in the wheel of killing and saving.

DAY 7

Tree maintenance was the main event of the day. Basically, decades ago, Chinese and Japanese had been cooperating restoring the forest around the Great Wall of China. To date, a total of 1 million trees have been planted as a means to prevent climate change from becoming worse and also maintaining the beauty of Great Wall as World Heritage site.

Our job there was basically to remove weeds and grass around the tree, dig a hole of about one metre in diameter and water the plant. As simple that yet, the job could be strenuous for some people.

Unfortunately, we did not get to visit the Seven Wonders of the World as we were running out of time. We only got to catch a few glimpse from the bus.

                                                                                                                 

DAY 8

The final day of the whole program took only half a day with each group presenting their learning outcome to the VIP.

I still recalled the content of our discussion highlighted on how China should not be blamed per se for the prevailing water issues but every each of us regardless of nationalities. 

Why?

This is because the items that we own like camera, clothing, bags and handphones are all manufactured in China. As a consequence to that, lots of pollution particularly on water resources happen in China. Who to be blamed? Everyone as all of the productions are to meet the global needs. We conveyed this message as an opening for our presentation. 

Our group did not get to be the best group, but I truly enjoy the discussion process in the past few nights. Lots of brainstorming, idea-sharing and nonsensical laughter we shared out of sudden.

CONCLUSION

It is indeed a pleasant experience because to me it’s not easy to get the opportunity to learn about the environment aspect of a country when you travel for vacation. This program by AEON is certainly beneficial to many youths out there. Though some of them did not come with the intention to learn about the environment, but I believe at the end of the event, the interest to protect the environment will be instilled. 

Overall, AEON representatives, the host country and all the back-up staff had done a great job in providing the best comfort to us in order to maximize our learning. Million thanks to them and not forgetting also to UMCARES for giving me this opportunity. Through such exchange program, I believe some brilliant ideas from China can be propagated in Malaysia. Start by changing myself, the campus community then Malaysian as a whole. Thank you for reading this lengthy report.