Asia Magazine #31

SINGAPORE

SEOUL

SHANGHAI

TAIWAN

The Five C's

A New Slate in an Asian Megapolis

Swiftness in Chinese Cities

Travel Like a Millennial

BY CHALMERS STUDENTS IN ASIA

ISSUE 31

FALL 2018

WELCOME! In your hand you are holding the latest issue of Asia Magazine, a joint effort carried out by Chalmers students in Asia. The magazine is meant to be informative and entertaining regarding current topics of Asia as well as a source of inspiration for students curious about exchange studies. With this dynamic region in focus, it features articles on cultural, political, economical and social subjects. The magazine is coordinated and compiled by students at the Chalmers International Taiwan Office.

CITO WHO?

CITO WHAT? Chalmers International Taiwan Office, CITO, was opened in March 2003 and is the result of a bilateral exchange agreement between

Johanna Udesen

Tobias Stenshagen

HEAD OF OFFICE

DEAPUTY HEAD OF OFFICE

Management and Economics of Innovation johanna.udesen@chalmers.se

Supply Chain Management tobias.stenshagen@chalmers.se

National Chiao Tung University, NCTU, and Chalmers University of Technology. CITO is strategically located at NCTU, near the Hsinchu Science Park.

Nils Andrén

Daniel Berg

EDITOR IN CHIEF

ART DIRECTOR

Systems, Control and Mechatronics nils.andren@chalmers.se

Industrial Design Engineering daniel.berg@chalmers.com

CITO WHY? The main purposes of CITO are: • To increase awareness about the development of East Asia, with focus on Taiwan, at Chalmers

Jakob Larsson

Victor Pantzare

ACADEMIC EXCHANGE

CORPORATE RELATIONS

Management and Economics of Innovation jakob.larsson@chalmers.se

Management and Economics of Innovation victor.pantzare@chalmers.se

• To support mobility of students and staff between NCTU and Chalmers • To enhance the visibility of Chalmers in Taiwan and in the neighbouring region • To act as a hub at NCTU for Chalmers students in East Asia

Linnea M Andersson

Erik Almblad

CORPORATE RELATIONS

IT RESPONSIBLE

Supply Chain Management linnea.andersson@chalmers.se

Supply Chain Management erik.almblad@chalmers.se

• To further develop Chalmers’ cooperation with Swedish companies in Taiwan and Asia

CITO CONTACT! Ebba Johansson

Samuel Eksmo

PUBLIC RELATIONS

ALUMNI RELATIONS

Management and Economics of Innovation ebba.johansson@chalmers.se

Software Engineering samuel.eksmo@chalmers.se

Looking for internship, master's thesis or other co-operations in Asia? Or do you just want to say hello? Don't hesitate to contact us! www.asia.chalmers.se National Chiao Tung University

Cover photo by Linda Sköneskog

1001 Daxue Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan R.O.C 1

CHALMERS IN ASIA Studying at Chalmers does not limit you to Gothenburg, Sweden. Through many exchange programmes Chalmers students are given the opportunity to study at a range of Asian universities. Likewise, students from many different countries are invited to study at Chalmers in Sweden.

Singapore Nanyang Technological University

National University of Singapore

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Beijing, China

Shanghai, China

Tsinghua University

Tongji University

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Seoul, South Korea Seoul National University

Chung-Ang University

Sendai, Japan Tohoku University

Tokyo, Japan The University of Tokyo

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Hsinchu, Taiwan National Chiao Tung University

Hong Kong, China City University of Hong Kong

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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CONTENTS 5 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

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Asia Letter Johanna Udesen

Tokyo

Can AI save Japan from Decades of Stagnating Growth, or can it not?

Sofia Hagström

Singapore

Stargazing in Singapore Hannes Bolmstedt

Shanghai

M50, the Creative Garden of Shanghai Artin Esmailzadeh

Alumni

Past and Present with CITO Alumnus Fredrik Ramberg Samuel Eksmo

Singapore The Five C’s

Mark Henriksson

Tokyo

Japans Winter Wonderland Rickard Hjort

Exclusive content Before Setting out Cheng-Yu Wu

Singapore

To Study Architecture in Singapore Beata Karlsson

Taiwan

China’s Pumping Heart of Innovation Jakob Larsson

27 32 34 36 38 41 44 46 49 50

Asia Photos Seoul

A New Slate in an Asian Megapolis Felix Lissåker

Singapore

A New Community Victor Loftman

Hong Kong

Beyond the Skyscrapers Eliza Nordén

Singapore

The City in a Garden Louise Persson

Shanghai

Swiftness in Chinese Cities Linda Sköneskog

Tokyo

Japan, The not Always so Modern Country Ludvig Storm

Taiwan

Travel Like a Millennial Erik Almblad

Beijing

The Nightmare of Bike Sharing Gustav Södermark

Tokyo

Shuppatsu Shinkou

Selma Nahida Tabakovic

S

Asia Letter Letter Editor’s

2018/09/12

Dear Reader, This magazine is for you. Regardless of if you are searching for knowledge, entertainment or opinions. Asia Magazine has one purpose in particular, and it is to guide Chalmers students in their decision of whether or not to study abroad in Asia. It will you tell you a story, written by Chalmers students who have experienced Asia by going there for exchange studies.

This number has something for everyone. Turn to page 6 and you will find Sofia discussing whether AI can act as Japan’s economic springboard. Jump to page 34 and Louise will show you a greener side of Singapore. Move on to page 42 and Erik will offer an alternative way of travelling. I addition to this you will find beautiful images taken by the students themselves.

My name is Johanna and I am part of Chalmers International Taiwan Office (CITO) who publish Asia Magazine. After spending two semesters in Taiwan I have just recently returned to Gothenburg, and with a good dose of nostalgia I am excited to pass on the knowledge of previous exchange students to you.

After all I am biased, feeling like this has been one of my most memorable experiences yet.

For all of you who are considering an exchange I would like to leave you with some advice I wish I had listened to before leaving: Keep an open mind – try not to get limited by what you thought you would be doing, explore everything you’ve never planned or even thought of.

Make the trouble of going outside of the most travelled locations, rent or buy a transport vehicle if you can.

Learn some of the language-if not just to be able to order your coffee. You will get a warmer welcome when travelling as well.

Stop – try to enjoy the present. An exchange is only temporary, squeeze out every drop of it Now as we pass on the office to the next group of students, on behalf of CITO 17/18 I wish you an interesting and enjoying read.

Head of Office Johanna Udesen

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Can AI save Japan from Decades of Stagnating Growth and Labor Shortages, or can it not?

Ever since AI became the major buzzword of the entrepreneurial world, Japan has sought to position themselves in the front line of the AI development. The Japan Times has predicted AI to be the most critical factor of the digital economy, hence a strong position within the field could generate future strong economic power.

Maybe AI is the solution to Japan’s tedious struggles with a stagnating economy and ageing population?

Paul Harris from the Australian embassy in Tokyo, writes that AI indeed has become the main focus for the Japanese government and private sector in the task of generating technology-based change and future competitiveness. The government wishes to make a transition from Industry 4.0 to Society 5.0 in order to ensure future growth of the Japanese economy and society. However, Richard Jolley from ACCJ Journal, writes that Japanese AI research is very different from the one of other big players in the field. The US for example – who spends more money than any other country in the world on AI research – attacks AI from many different angles (e.g. military and medical solutions) and has a big focus towards software development.

Japan on the other hand, has a considerable focus towards robotics and hardware. Something which in turn may affect the final success of the Japanese AI program.

Jolley states that the deliberate choice of focus is understandable for two reasons. First, Japan has a long history of developing industrial robots, as well as creating the world’s first personal robot – Pepper – that became a great national success. In other words, the robot hype and technical confidence within the area are large in Japan. Second, the severe demographic challenges make the idea of robots very appealing to Japan. Ever since the mid-1990s, the working population has steadily decreased while the senior population has increased. Something which according to Gavin Blair from SCMP, has resulted in critical shortag6

es in sectors such as manufacturing and nursing.

For every jobseeker, there are 1.5 vacancies. At the same time, the government is pressuring companies to improve working conditions by for example cutting infamously long working hours, making the shortage of workers even more palpable.

Ultimately, intelligent robots may counteract the labor shortage.

But there are two considerable risks with this strategy. To begin with, if Japan continues to maintain a narrow focus on AI they risk missing out on other game changing solutions deriving from AI. They also risk missing out on a top position in the race of AI. For example, Jolley emphasizes that Japan is very behind the US in big data and deep learning; two vital fields for the revitalization of AI. Japan has neither the expertise nor the financial strength as US based companies such as Facebook and Google who are big players within big data. By maintaining robotics in the forefront of their AI developments, Japan reveal their considerable weaknesses within AI. They need to access greater experience and knowledge within big data, deep learning and IoT, and combine it with their knowledge within robotics.

Secondly, AI may not be the final solution to Japan’s demographic challenges at all according to Blair. This is because regulations on the labor market would cause the changes resulting from automated work to behave rather differently than what is currently believed. Employees at the low end will not be put out of work because automation

is costly, hence companies will want to keep their cheap workers. Employees at the high end will also benefit from automation because, according to Blair, new systems generally favor skilled workers by not putting them out of work but only changing the way they work. Therefore, it is feasible that the mid-level employees are the ones who would be negatively affected by automation. But due to labor regulations they are comparatively well protected in Japan and hence not as badly affected as mid-level employees in other countries. As a result, the work that could be automated would instead be moved overseas to other Asian countries, and the high-end positions would remain in Japan.

Consequently, it is proposed by Blair that Japan would experience greater benefits not from AI robotics, but from allowing work immigration.

For example, labor from countries such as the Philippines could fill the gaps on the labor market. This suggestion is further supported by Harris, who states that it has been found that AI technologies risk generate even greater standardization and homogenization in Japan. The country would on the contrary benefit more from increasing diversity, not only when seeing to the labor shortage but also when seeing to their AI research. It is believed

that the Japanese researchers need a better balance between logic and creative thinking, where the logical minds currently are given the most attention. It is possible that more diverse research teams could reach a better balance, hence increasing the chances of success with their AI experiments.

So, no. AI will probably not save Japan from decades of stagnating growth and labor shortages. That is, if they do not change their AI research strategies. A country that seeks to tackle the AI field from every direction has a bigger chance of discovering disruptive and innovative solutions, and in turn a bigger chance of securing a top position within the AI race and all the economic benefits that derive from it. Unfortunately, Japan is still too narrow minded in their approach towards AI and clings to past success within robotics. When it comes to the labor market, they may on the other hand be accused of complicating matters much more than what is necessary. Rather than inventing expensive, high-tech AI robots, they could only turn to a neighboring country with excess labor. But apparently, the creative minds are given more attention than the logical minds on this occasion.

WORDS Sofia HagstrÜm Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Quality and Operations Management sofhag@student.chalmers.se

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Stargazing in Singapore Have you seen the northern lights? This question is likely to follow if I mention that I am from Sweden. Turns out that a surprising number of Singaporeans have been to Sweden and they all seem to have enjoyed the northern lights. I have never seen even a sliver of green, but I am way too interested in astronomy to admit that. The conversations usually end with me saying something like; “uhm yes, the northern lights, very cool, nice colors”. Thinking about how Singaporeans go to Sweden to enjoy the northern lights, I asked myself what astronomical events I can experience in Singapore.

Singapore is located approximately one and a half degrees north of the equator. This means that during noon, the sun is very high in the sky and shadows will be small. Not that impressive, however there is always one single point on earth where the sun is directly overhead and the sun’s rays will hit earth perpendicular to its surface. This is called the subsolar point.

The shadows at this point are really fascinating and look weird since they will be cast exactly straight down. This means that vertical poles and similar objects will cast no shadow whatsoever and appear like a bad CGI rendering as seen in figure 1. The event is referred to as Lahaina Noon in Hawaii meaning “cruel sun” or kau ka lā i ka lolo in ancient Hawaiian meaning “the sun rests on the brains”.

The subsolar point will due to the rotation of earth move the opposite way around the globe at the same rate to stay directly below the sun. The subsolar point also slowly changes its latitude due to the axial tilt of earth. It will move between the tropic of Cancer (north 23.4 degrees) and the tropic of Capricorn (south 23.4 degrees) and back again over the course of a year. This is easier to understand by looking the visualization in figure 2 depicting earth during the summer solstice. The middle arrow is pointing towards the subsolar point on the tropic of Cancer, which is the furthest north the subsolar point will be. Thus, the subsolar point will never be in Sweden, but it will pass Singapore twice each year.

Awesome, I must experience this in person!

The event will occur at 12:58 PM 19th September, 8

I have located some vertical objects to observe, I am ready. Mother nature had other plans. She preferred thunderstorm and rain. Oh well, the next opportunity is 13:10 on the 24th of March, better luck next time.

Speaking of latitudes, while we can’t experience the subsolar point in Sweden since we are above the tropic of Cancer, we are so far north that the northern parts are above the arctic circle. In these places, the sun never rises above the horizon during about a month in winter called polar night. The opposite occurs in summer when the sun never sets called polar day, during which one can experience the midnight sun.

Back to Singapore, while waiting for the next opportunity to experience the subsolar point, what else is there to see. I took a course in astronomy and cosmology and also joined the local astronomy club at school. The astronomy club organizes star gazing sessions during clear weather, through the aptly named whatsapp chat Astro Impromptu.

During my first session, we used a telescope

Figure 1

Arctic circle Tropic of Cancer Equator

Tropic of Capricorn

SUN RAYS

Antartic cirle

Figure 2 to look at Saturn and its rings mere hours before the Cassini Spacecraft which had orbited Saturn for 13 years plummeted into its atmosphere and incinerated. Looking at a planet approximately 1 billion kilometres away knowing that a manmade object has been there for 13 years gathering data is simply astonishing.

While seeing Saturn is amazing, I wanted to see something that is not visible from Sweden.

The Magellanic Clouds are two dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky way. They are only visible in the southern hemisphere and up to about 15-20 degrees north, thus making them theoretically visible in Singapore at about 1.5 degrees north. Unfortunately, they are faint and I have not been able to see them, not because of mother nature but because of man. Light pollution is the enemy, especially in Singapore with billions of lights illuminating the night sky making it near impossible to see faint objects. The astronomy club organizes trips to so called “dark-spots” in Malaysia for this very reason

but I have not been able to go.

I have however been able to see the southern cross or Crux which is an easily identifiable constellation visible from about 25 degrees north depending on season. The constellation features four main stars creating a cross and is used in navigation to locate the south pole, similar to how Polaris in the northern hemisphere is used to locate the north pole. The southern cross is famously depicted in the flags of Australia and New Zealand but it can also be seen in the flags of Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.

I hope this article goes to show that there is more to travel than food and culture. Look it up next time you’re abroad and who knows, you might see something new. I would recommend however that you start in your home country.

Then you won’t have to pretend to have seen the northern lights.

WORDS AND PHOTO Hannes Bolmstedt Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Systems, Controls and Mechatronics hanbol@student.chalmers.se

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M50, the Creative Garden of Shanghai 50 Moganshan Road, famously known as M50, is a contemporary art district in Shanghai, China. It all started in the year of 2000 by a local artist called Xue Song, whom at first was attracted by the cheap rent for the outmoded industrial spaces. Soon after, various other local artists began to join, and suddenly M50 started to develop into an area for up-and-coming artists, where they could showcase and share their work with the public.

Although M50 started off as an area for independent artists, it has now been converted into a spot that furthermore hosts various cafés, vintage stores, design agencies, as well as over 120 galleries and art studios. Accordingly, art from all over the world can be found at M50, such as from Great Britain, France, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and several provinces in China. The work includes everything from traditional paintings, to LED constellations and interactive art.

M50 is located in an industrial area in Putuo

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District, which is also close to downtown Jing’an district. Before hundreds of artists started a community here, there were only abandoned warehouses, factories and grey walls. Today, the art quarter is one of the most popular cultural attractions among both locals and international visitors in Shanghai. M50 is often compared to Beijing’s 798 Art Zone and New York’s SoHo – both areas famous among people interested in both fashion and art. However, M50 is not only for visitors interested in contemporary art, the area is also well known for its graffiti walls, which attracts a lot of photographers that are looking to take the perfect snapshot.

During a day trip to M50, it might be difficult to choose what to visit among all the galleries, but there are some that frequently host interesting exhibitions, which in turn attracts a lot of people. In addition to the galleries, one ought to make sure to check out the cafés and vintage stores, as these provide M50 with a further artistic feel and authenticity.

Island6, an artist-run space founded in the year of 2006, is one of the most famous galleries in M50. All of the exhibitions are made of collaborative and multi-disciplined in-house workshops.

The exhibitions usually involve the latest forms of technology – meaning they might include LED artworks, interactive installations, photography, video art and sculptures. Thus creating an interaction with the recipients of the artwork.

Another technology-oriented, but not so wellknown art gallery is Chronus Art Center. Chronus Art Center is China’s first non-profit art organization, which helps to create, present and fund media art. The organization focuses on artistic innovation by critically engaging with media technologies that are changing and reshaping contemporary experiences.

After spending some time at Island6 or Chronus Art Center, a coffee at UNDEFINE is a must to end this artistic experience. UNDEFINE is a mixture of a café, art studio and gallery – just what someone would expect a café in M50 to be like. It is designed in a simple, but creative way, combined with a retro vibe. There are semi-hidden stairs, which will bring you to a second floor where you can enjoy a coffee and their famous brownie, while trying on retro sunglasses.

Despite there not being all that many artistic areas in Shanghai, M50 has enough of an appeal to attract locals and tourists, on a daily basis. Whether it be a day-trip, or a tourist visit, the hours will be well-spent, and you will leave feeling more educated within art.

WORDS AND PHOTO Artin Esmailzadeh Tongji University, Shanghai Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Production Engineering artine@student.chalmers.se

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Past and Present with CITO Alumnus Fredrik Ramberg Fredrik Ramberg is a CITO alumnus and is currently working at Fingerprint Cards AB in Shanghai. He was raised in the small town of Onsala outside of Gothenburg and 2008 he graduated with a Master of science in Engineering Physics from Chalmers Technical University. Before that, he had been on an exchange year at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan where he also happened to meet his future wife.

What’s your top three memories from your exchange year?

One good memory was the team, the cooperation between the Chalmers students at NCTU. We had a really close group and we had lots and lots of fun together and we’re still friends today. Many of us still meeting up at a regular basis. We made so many memories together and will continue to stay close friends for long time for sure.

The second thing was the intensive studies. I was thrown into the electrical engineering department and it was extremely tough and I was the only foreigner in all the classes. It really sat the benchmark for me, how hard you really need to work in this industry to succeed but it provided me with a solid foundation for the future. And since I was the only foreigner I had to connect with the Taiwanese students.

And that gave me a lot of experience in how it is to work as a team in an Asian setting.

The third thing I’d like to mention is that in Sweden, you don’t really have any sport activities at the university to the same degree as in Taiwan. I joined NCTU’s table tennis club and we played a lot. Practising a couple of hours every night, we even went around all of Taiwan, competing against other schools, it was a lot of tournaments, often during a whole weekend. I got very close to the team and it was tons of fun!

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What was it like working as a junior engineer in Taiwan vs Sweden, TSMC vs Ericsson?

In Asia you always have a technical manager with a small team of around 5-6 engineers, and that person is the supervisor of everyone.

He or she will attend all the meetings and you just have to do your engineering part. You will get assignments that you need to work on and you’ll always be trained by the more senior engineer. I think it’s a very efficient way of learning.

In Sweden on the other hand, you will get a lot of responsibility fast but at the same time you’ll also be a little bit by your own and you need to drive things on your own so you don’t necessarily get that hard-core engineering training that I think is extremely useful. I think this is pushed more in Asia in the beginning which can be both good and bad.

Age Family From What would you say to someone who is about to go on an exchange year?

Try to take the opportunity to learn about the culture, and the only way to do that is to get out there. When I was a student we were the only western foreigners at the whole university so we had to communicate with the locals on a daily basis to be able to survive. Try to join some activities, for example joining a school team of some sort. This way you push yourself into new, slightly uncomfortable situations where you really get to experience the culture. If you sometime in the future are going to work towards for example China, you need to be familiar with the culture and understand why people behave the way they do.

I think for the language part it’s important to set a goal early on. If you aim to become fluent then maybe you should reconsider it since you’re also going to take regular courses. You need to understand how much effort that actually is needed to just reach that basic level.

I recommend choosing a target level before arriving so you know what to prioritize. This probably means that you can’t always join all the fun activities. It’s a big challenge.

Try to get to know your TAs, professors and students, they are a key component if you decide that you want to continue working in that region after graduation. If you want to have a career in Asia, a good way to is to start building your network with the local people, they can help you on your way. I meet a professor at National Tsing Hua University which is the neighbouring university to NCTU. He helped me so I could write my master’s thesis at TSMC in Taiwan and later land a job there.

He has been invaluable for me, we still keep in touch today.

Education

34 Wife & 4.5 year old son Onsala, Sweden Master of science in Engineering physics, Chalmers Master’s thesis at TSMC and complementary studies at NTHU, Taiwan, 2007-2008

Academic exchange Currently based Work

NCTU, Taiwan, 2006-2007 Shanghai, China Manager ASIC system integration & verification, Fingerprint Cards AB

Mandarin level

Fluent but basic

How should I handle time shortage when there are so many things I want to explore?

I’d like to emphasise that It’s almost impossible to do everything right. It’s important that you try to prioritize what you want to get out of a year abroad. Whatever you choose it will be challenging but when you are done you’ll be happy and will have gained something you can build on in the future. I think it’s good idea to do this prioritisation before arriving, otherwise there is a risk that you feel a bit unsatisfied with your choices when the year is over.

Try to at least highlight a few areas that you’d like to focus on and stick to those.

WORDS Samuel Eksmo National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering and Technology eksmo@student.chalmers.se

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C

AR ONDOMINUM OUNTRY CLUB REDIT CARD ASH

The Five C’s

Is the Singaporean society materialistic?

Singapore is seen by many as a materialistic society where people work hard for money to buy luxurious items. This belief might stem from Singapore’s many futuristic skyscrapers, fancy hotels and high-end shopping malls. The fact that Singapore have been rated the most expensive city in the world several times might also have something to do with it. But is it purely a prejudice or do Singaporeans actually see tangible items as a label of success to a larger extent than people from other countries?

Singaporeans sometimes joke about being a materialistic country by saying that you need to have the five Cs to call yourself successful. The five Cs are things which are particularly hard to come by in Singapore (or at least so has previously been the case). Despite it being a joke, perhaps the five Cs can reveal something about the Singaporean society and culture. Nonetheless, they do highlight some interesting facts about Singapore.

The first C stands for car. The cost of buying and owning a car in Singapore are among the highest in the world. A part from taxes and car dealer margin, you must pay a so called additional registration fee (ARF) when purchasing a car. This fee ranges from 100 to 180 percent of the original car value. You also need a certificate of entitlement 14

(COE) which allows you to drive your car for ten years. These certificates are sold at auctions, so in periods of high demand the prices might become very high. They are typically sold for around 40 000 SGD (240 000 SEK) though. The main reason for the high car prices is to avoid traffic from flooding Singapore’s small land area. This have resulted in only about 15 percent of the population owning a car, potentially making it a status symbol. However, many people are perfectly happy with taking the subway.

The second C is condominium. There are two types of housing options in Singapore, public and private. Public housing is controlled by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Its purpose is to provide affordable homes for Singaporeans.

About 80 percent of the population live in these apartments. Private housing includes a few different options but typically refers to condominiums, which are more expensive than the HDB flats.

Condominiums, or condos for short, is a collection of apartment buildings with shared facilities that the residents can enjoy, such as pool, gym and BBQ area. Singaporeans usually buy an HDB flat as their first apartment, but some hope to move into a condo further down the line.

The next two Cs, country club and credit card,

are somewhat passé nowadays as indicators for success, but used to be relevant back in the days.

There used to be many restrictions on owning credit cards in Singapore in the 80s and 90s, making it expensive to have one. Since this is no longer the case, the status associated with owning a credit card have become diluted. The appeal of owning a country club membership on the other hand have mainly fallen due to the improvement of facilities in condominiums. Thus, it’s hard to see the allure of country club membership once you have a condo.

Lastly, cash is also one of the five Cs. This refers to spending power. After having tied up most of your money in the other four Cs, you might find yourself a bit short on cash. Hence, having shopping money left after these investments could be regarded by some as a symbol for materialistic status.

In conclusion, it’s difficult to determine whether Singapore is materialistic purely by examining the five Cs. Surely many Singaporeans

want a car and a nice home, but that is probably the case for citizens in most countries. Interestingly though, some Singaporeans today talk about new, far less materialistic Cs which defines their values. You can find many articles with different variations of five words with C as initial letter, one example being creativity, collaboration, contribution, compassion and confidence. Perhaps this is an indication of Singapore becoming a less materialistic society.

So, materialism might just be a prejudice about Singapore. But how do Singaporeans themselves view their society? In a survey from 2015, Singaporeans actually rated materialism as the third most common aspect they see in their society. When they were asked about their personal values though, very un-materialistic answers came up. On the top of the list were words such as family, responsibility, happiness and health. Most likely, it is values such as these which defines Singaporean culture to a larger extent than materialism.

WORDS AND PHOTO Mark Henriksson Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Management and Economics of Innovation hmark@student.chalmers.se

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Japan’s Winter Wonderland “This was the greatest snowboarding day ever! I’ve never had snow like this!” shouted Aska through his snow-covered balaklava as we made our way to the car. He had just flown out from Tokyo to join us, while we were now in week three of skiing in Japan. We laughed. Enea, native to the French Alps and a skier since age three told him: “This is the worst day we’ve had so far in Hokkaido.”

I met Enea, my French friend, in our intensive Japanese course at university. While I had chosen Japan because of Tokyo’s biggest-city-inthe-world appeal, Enea had been planning to try Japanese backcountry skiing since he got his acceptance letter. He told me about the reputation of Japanese snow abroad, and we started discussing doing a week at a ski resort. The idea of renting a caravan and driving around for a month came up, and before we knew it, a week turned into a month. Enea’s cousin, an avid mountaineer and ski hiker, signed up to fly in from France to join the fun and bring some gear. We resolved to leave the slopes the first chance we got and spend all our time in the fresh powder in the backcountry, between rest days of sightseeing and enjoying the local festivals. We were going to Japan’s very north: Hokkaido.

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Perched like a fleeing manta ray between Russia and Japan’s main island, separating Japan’s three seas, Hokkaido is the size of Iceland with the population of Denmark. It is the most rural part of Japan, known for its friendly people and seafood. On the same latitude as Rome and Barcelona, the summers are mild, attracting bike clubs and camper vans. The island is riddled with national parks, volcanoes, hot springs, caldera lakes and tributes to the indigenous Ainu population. In winter, cities host snow and ice festivals with towering sculptures. This is also when tourists come to ski the famed, dry, and feathery light powder.

Out of the hundred or so ski resorts in Hokkaido, Niseko is the most well known abroad. It is also the one that feels the farthest removed from Japan. In one week in Niseko, I can count on two hands the number of Japanese people I talked to, including staff. If you are as into partying at night as you are into skiing during the day, though, this is the place to be. Aska, our highly sociable British friend from Tokyo flew in to meet us, and we found that there was no shortage of events for all tastes, from chill pool bars and niche restaurants to clubs blasting psytrance. Niseko is home to a significant population of seasonal workers from

Europe, Australia, and New Zealand who happily burn their day’s earnings in the night. Other than that, Chinese and Koreans have the most comfortable access to Hokkaido by mere proximity. This was especially evident the days around Chinese New Year when the lift cues ran up to 10 minutes long.

Apart from this one occasion -- the most popular resort on the most significant Chinese holiday -- you would be excused for thinking February is off-peak for skiing in Japan. The slopes are close to empty, even in the most popular resorts. Compared to the Alps or Sweden, you won’t have to wait long for the lift, and you won’t have to share your carving space with many people in one day. Yet another reason you can expect to be hitting the untracked powder.

About an hour’s drive from Niseko is Kiroro. The resort has been dubbed “the powder capital of the world,” getting dumped with up to 18 meters per season. As one article puts it: “Snowmaking machines are useless[...], they would just be buried in deep snow”. Another small resort in the vicinity is Rusutsu, where we had the most free-flowing, beautiful powder days ever. We found that the single best way to have the ski trip of a lifetime in Japan is getting a car and going away from the main resorts. The smaller resorts all share a few traits: They are cheap, there are not

many people there, even fewer tourists, and every ski blog seems to recommend them. Break out and rock out.

Another excellent reason to get some independent transport is that Hokkaido has far more to offer than daily dumps of fresh snow. The festivals are what the locals invariably bring up.

The Obihiro ice festival, renowned for fireworks, shows, and amazingly detailed ice sculptures; the Sapporo snow festival, the most famous of them all with daily national TV coverage; the local small festivals, with seafood kebabs and high school talent shows; all a testimony to Japan’s love for celebrating everything in life, the small and the big.

For nature lovers, Hokkaido is a summer paradise, but winter is not without its charm. There is something about watching a steaming volcanic rock in a national park otherwise covered in snow.

Or seeing drift ice all the way to the horizon over the Sea of Okhotsk. Or having Pacific waves crash against a natural pier on one side, while the same ocean lies frozen on the other, with deer grazing along the shoreline.

For those with a more comfortable love of the natural, Japan offers hot springs like Iceland and New Zealand, and Hokkaido has some of the best. The Japanese “onsens”literally meaning “hot spring”, are as much a part of Japanese culture as sushi, anime, and bowing. Onsen culture is reminiscent of sauna culture: mostly visited naked, by guests of all ages, and mostly located outdoors, which makes for brilliant contrast in the snowy winter. Folklore holds that these baths have healing qualities. The water is heated by geothermal energy and contains natural minerals such as sulfur, alkalis, and iron. For relaxing after a day of skiing, nothing beats a warm soak.t If you are traveling in Japan, the big draws may be Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. But don’t miss out on the beautiful countryside. And if you ever get the chance to do a bit of skiing in

WORDS AND PHOTO Rickard Hjort The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Algorithms, Language and Logic hjortr@student.chalmers.se

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EXLUSIVE CONTENT

BEFORE SETTING OUT

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Gazing at the snow scattering from the misty sky with elegant seagull gliding in, I still cannot believe that I have been in the country that is over 8000 kilometers away from my lovely hometown, Taiwan, for more than two months.

How lucky I am to have the chance to explore the charming country and experience the unique life space here, and thus the feeling of trepidation before setting out this trip to Sweden seems to be nothing compared to the wonderful experience.

Everyone feels disturbed and anxious before going to an unfamiliar place. Thus, in this article, I will use my own experience to introduce some differences between Sweden and Taiwan, and try to list what exchange students from both Sweden and Taiwan should know before setting out to Taiwan or Sweden in order to enjoy their unforgettable exchange experience. Though the content is not 100 percent objective but full of my own experience and opinion, I believe that it is still helpful for you, who is going to have a wonderful exchange experience in Taiwan or Sweden.

First, money. When you go to another country, of course you need to getting to know the currency used in that country. The currency used in Taiwan is New Taiwan Dollar(NTD), and in Sweden is Swedish Krona(SEK). One SEK is approximately 3.5~3.7 NTD, and the prices in Sweden is approximately three times than the prices in Taiwan. When you are in Taiwan, it is better for you to bring some cash with you when you go out instead of merely bring the credit card, because most stores or shops only accept cash in Taiwan.

On the contrast, when you are in Sweden, in most occasions, you can buy everything with the credit card, but for Taiwan students, remember to set the pin code when you apply for a new credit card, because in Sweden, some supermarkets don’t accept the foreign credit card with no pin code.

Second, food. It is said that “Food is paramount necessity of the people”, and you need to prevent yourself from starving so that you can begin exploring the new environment. In Taiwan, as a student, it is possible for you to eat out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner without cooking by yourself! It is something crazy in Sweden but pretty normal in Taiwan. In Taiwan, you can buy good breakfast like sandwiches, burgers, milk tea in the breakfast shop for less than 100 NTD easily on the street, and you can also walk into the Bento shop to buy the Bento with one main course and three side dishes for lunch or dinner, and it often costs you

less than 100 NTD each time. If you feel hungry at 10 at night, don’t worry about it, because people in Taiwan like the late night supper so much that you can buy tasty bubble milk-tea and chicken fillet even if it has been late in the evening. You do not need to worry about if you will starve because food in Taiwan is cheap, great, and everywhere.

If you are the exchange student that is going to Sweden and you are not good at cooking, I strongly suggest you begin to practice cooking from now on. In Sweden, there is no breakfast shop or Bento shop like Taiwan. If you walk into the restaurant, it means that you will spend much money, usually more than 100 SEK in once. Most people include exchange students choose to cook by themselves, and there are many supermarkets in Goteborg like Lidl, Willys, and HemkĂśp, where you can buy ingredients to cook. If you really do not want to cook too often, bars might be good places to have meal, because many bars in Sweden allow you to have their buffet with the cost of only one jug of beer in the afternoon. You can order the cheap beer that costs you about 40 SEK and enjoy the meal which is very cost-effective in Sweden. I still recommend students from Taiwan to cook by themselves because it is a good chance to improve your cooking skill and having healthy meals made by yourself, which is hard to be achieved in Taiwan campus lives.

Third, transportation. In Taiwan, it is normal for Taiwanese people to ride the motorcycles for short distance transportation, but I do not recommend exchange students from Sweden to ride the motorcycles in Taiwan. The reason is the issue of

road safety. There are countless car accidents happening every year in Taiwan, and too many people lose their lives in the accident especially motorcycle riders. Furthermore, the public transportation system in Taiwan is convenient enough so that you should not take the risk of getting hurt or even losing your life for the convenience the motorcycle brings. In the Hsinchu city, the bus costs you only 15 NTD each time, and if you want to travel around Taiwan, long-distance buses, train, and Taiwan High Speed Rail give you ways to move between cities easily.

For exchange students from Taiwan, the public transportation system in Goteborg is quite good and not complex at all. There are buses and trams running on the road, and there are screens hanged on every stop that show you what time the next bus or tram will come, which build the fantastic transportation network of Goteborg. Most exchange students travel a lot, if you want to go to other cities in Sweden like Stockholm, or countries nearby such as Denmark, Flixbus is a good choice.

You just need to go to the central station, jump on the bus, sleep, and you will be at the destination. If you want to visit other countries that are far away from Sweden, budget airlines such as Ryanair and Wizz air are good choices for you because the prices of the tickets are so low so that is affordable even for students. With the help of the budget airline, traveling in the Europe becomes a much easier and cheaper thing that everyone will fall in love with traveling.

To sum up, things mentioned above do make you have better preparation for what you might face in the future and easier to adapt the life in Taiwan or Sweden, I consider having an open mind the most important element that everyone should have. Because in the foreign countries with different people and culture, something unexpected happens every day, and you can only accept it if you have an open mind, deal with it, and finally love it, and then look forward to what will happen tomorrow.

WORDS AND PHOTO Cheng-Yu Wu Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg Exchange student from NCTU, Taiwan a608033yyy.me03@nctu.edu.tw

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TO STUDY ARCHITECTURE IN

SINGAPORE Everything is so different here in the tropics, not only that the cars drive on the wrong side of the road or that there are wild monkeys jumping around in the trees. Even the architecture is different. Before I went here, I knew, of course, that the school would be different and that Singapore’s architecture differs from Swedish. In Singapore, most buildings are relatively new, given the fact that the country has only existed since 1965. There are however older buildings that have been preserved, such as cute shophouses and stately colonial buildings. But most of them are newer high-rise buildings in concrete. When it comes to housing, there are lots of villas, but most of all dwellings are apartments in high-rise buildings. There are two types of residential high-rises: public and private housing. Housing Development Board (HDB) flats is the name for the public housing subsidized for Singaporeans, they are more adapted to hang out with neighbours and are often close to a common food court, public gym and proximity to public transport. The private housing is called condominiums, which are the more luxurious homes most often with private pool area, tennis court, gym, etc. The majority of Singaporeans live in public housing. It is more about a class difference to live in HDB or condo and it is pretty easy to see the difference between the buildings from the outside.

At the University we work a lot with high-rise buildings, which is something I think is very fun because I have never done it before in Sweden. My first thought when I started working with housing here in Singapore was that they hardly could differ so much from the Swedish, but I was so wrong. What matters most is how to relate to the tropical climate, but here is some basic knowledge of how the dwellings are different.

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Dealing with weather and temperature

Swedes love big windows, especially if there is a nice view. And the windows need to be thick, several glasses to resist the cold and to not let the heat out during the winter. The protection against weather, especially the cold is the most important. In Singapore, smaller windows are great, it makes it cooler indoors and neighbours cannot spy, which may be nice in a country full of cameras. There are thin windows and several ventilation holes in the walls; where the best thing is to have cross ventilation that allows you to maximize ventilation in the home to make it cooler. A window in both the kitchen and bathroom is a must in order for the ventilation to work. Dead materials, as concrete and stone are the best materials to avoid mould due to humidity.

How to handle the sun

In Sweden, south facing is all that matters. All brokers describe the Swedish dream of a balcony with maximum sunlight where you can sit and sip your coffee. But in Singapore it’s the shadow that applies, preferably everywhere. The sunbeams are strong and nobody wants direct sunlight into their dwellings. It just gets hot, sweaty and unpleasant.

Many pool areas, patios and balconies are designed to maximize the shade. The Singaporean dream is rather to sit in the shade and sip iced kopi.

The layout of the dwellings

In a standard home in Sweden you will always find a bathroom or toilet next to the entrance door.

The kitchen is often large, open and accommodates many guests. In Singapore, the bathroom should not be visible, because it is unpleasant for guests to meet a toilet when they come to visit. Since most people eat food outside, no special advanced large kitchen is required; the best thing is to have the kitchen outdoors where there is better ventilation.

I’ve learned a lot here by making mistakes and my professors have laughed at my projects and wondered how I’ve been thinking, and they’ve explained that I have to stop thinking so Swedish, because we are in the tropics!

WORDS AND PHOTO Beata Karlsson National University of Singapore, Singapore Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urban Design beataka@student.chalmers.se

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CHINA’S PUMPING HEART OF INNOVATION Forbes, CNN, and the Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri have all been on what has now become my end of the line, from Johan Nylander, a journalist reporting back on the development of Asia to the western part of the world. Johan lives in Hong Kong together with his wife and his son, from where he recently published a book about the neighboring city Shenzhen. During the interview, Johan is sitting in a café in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, with his son occupied with homework beside him. Prior to the interview, I read Johan’s book called “Shenzhen Superstars: How China’s smartest city is challenging Silicon Valley”, a book that gives a great introduction to understanding China’s development pace, by elaborating the innovation ecosystem in what could be considered as China’s most powerful geographical location. This article will mostly be about getting to know Shenzhen and the area surrounding it, but before we dig any deeper into that, let us first have Johan help us with understanding Chinese geography as a whole.

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THE THREE CHINESE CLUSTERS China has a population of one point four billion people and in my interview with Johan he points out that they are becoming more dominant in every sector you can imagine. “Even if we don’t see the same double digit growth anymore there is still a great growth when it comes to quality, and in some sectors they are definitely not just catching up but rather outsmarting the west. So whether you’re a business person, investor or just interested in what is shaping the future of almost every industry, you really need to keep an eye on what is happening in China”. Johan continues to explain that a mistake westerner people often do is they look at China as one country, and that it is important to instead consider that China is focused on three huge clusters, especially when you look at business.

The clusters that Johan is referring to are the Beijing Tianjin corridor up in the north, the Yangtze river in the east with Shanghai and surrounding cities, and the south-east cluster by the Pearl river delta including Hong Kong, Shenzhen and the province capital of Guangzhou.

“These clusters combined have a population of almost 270 million people, and when you talk about Chinese business, or Chinese manufacturing, it’s normally based on either of these three massive clusters” Johan’s recently published book is focusing on the third of the clusters mentioned; the Pearl River Delta. He claims that this area is the most important out of these three to know about, because unlike other technology clusters in China that are focused on the domestic market, the Delta area with its Shenzhen serve the world and so have an infrastructure designed mainly for exports and global business. It is also the very heart of innovation in China, and in the following section of this article, I am going to try to have Johan explain in which pace and with what power the heart is pounding.

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THE PEARL RIVER DELTA The pearl river delta cluster, often referred to as ‘The Greater Bay Area’, is explained as the Chinese government’s scheme to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub. The world bank recently named the pearl river delta the world’s biggest urban area, and people are flooding in from all over China to join this area. The following text that explains the area further is quoted directly from Johan’s book.

“Though the Pearl River Delta region accounts for less than 1 percent of China’s territory and 5 percent of its population, it generates more than a tenth of its GDP and a quarter of its exports.

It soaks up a fifth of China’s total foreign direct investment and has attracted over a trillion dollars in foreign direct investments since 1980. Shenzhen is at the heart of what the Economist calls the Silicon Delta.”

Johan also emphasizes in our interview, the important role played by Shenzhen, and the first story that you are likely to come across when reading about Shenzhen is that 40 years ago Shenzhen was nothing, it was farmland, it was a fishing village. Shenzhen now hosts a large amount of huge Chinese companies and is a center for innovation and finance, it’s home to roughly 20 million people and is in turn surrounded by a lot of other smaller cities where you have the whole supply chain for every imaginable product you want to manufacture. Some of the so called smaller cities, still each inhabit populations comparable to that of the entire Sweden. One of the cities next door from Shenzhen is Dongguan with about 10 million people, of which about 80% are migrant workers from other parts of China who work in huge factories. Foxconn (famous for manufacturing many of the components inside Apple’s products) has about 1 million people working in factories there. Johan also brings up the proximity to Hong Kong as an important

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part of this area which is, “naturally, the gateway to in- and outbound foreign direct investment in China. Everything goes via Hong Kong, legally as illegally”.

It’s simply the world’s most complete and advanced supply chain for manufacturing. And according to Johan, that’s not an exaggeration. I ask him how to really understand the size and potential of this area, and while his book gives a great hint, he tells me that you just have to go there, because you cannot really understand the area by only reading about it.

His answer makes me think of an anecdote brought up early on in Johan’s book, about when the Silicon Valley veteran Scotty Allen first came to Shenzhen. He went there a few years ago as a part of an organized tour for American tech geeks, and witnessed the city’s hardware and electronics markets, its tech startup scene and countless skyscrapers and his spontaneous reaction was not: “ Wo w , this is cool.” It was: “Wow, we are fucked”.

I know that Johan gets back a few times to Silicon Valley in his book, so I ask him some questions on the topic of Shenzhen compared to the valley.

“Everybody knows about Silicon Valley, you might say that Silicon Valley is a software valley, exemplified by for instance Facebook and Google. Shenzhen is equivalent in terms of hardware, and the strength of Shenzhen is that you also have the integration of software and hardware which is what everybody is talking about right now”.

What Johan is referring to is internet of things, automatization, robots or pretty much anything with a chip in it. Edith Yeung who is responsible for the Asian operations of one of the world’s most famous funds for investing in start-ups, 500 Startups, is interviewed in Johan’s book and says that if you think that the future belongs to automatization, robots and/or smart things, then Shenzhen is the place to be.

PACK YOUR BAGS, YOU’RE GOING TO SHENZHEN There are up to 20 million people living in Shenzhen, twice as many as entire Sweden - so where do you start? Well, first of all Shenzhen is an incredible place to start your own business. If that’s what you’re looking to do, Johan recommends you to tap into the start-up community by hooking up with any of the co-shared offices. Another good way to start is if you already have a startup or an idea, then Johan would recommend you to go to an incubator. The most famous one is American and called HAX. There are also many organizations, you have Invest Hong Kong, Invest Shenzhen and the Universities have many international events. If you’re a student, Johan recommends you to get in contact with Shenzhen University and attend one of them. One more thing Johan wants to emphasize is that everything is much more social in China than in Sweden. “It’s just much much easier to make contacts, and people open up doors for you, everybody helps everybody, and that creates a network that you can tap into much faster than you ever would in Europe. That’s another great strength of Asia”.

There are great opportunities for you if you want to work in a large company too; “they are hiring like mad, there are a lot of westerners who don’t speak Chinese who have good careers in the big corporations, one example is the telecom giant Huawei and even in these huge corporations, there is a lot of startup mentality because they’re growing so fast” Johan says, and gives me the story of Huawei that in ten years went from being half the size of the Swedish ICT company Ericsson to now being roughly three times bigger.

I mention to Johan that readers of this article are mostly Swedish students, and they might consider it a risk to move to China after graduation instead of staying in Sweden where they would know what to expect.

“I’d like to turn your question upside down; I think it’s a risk not going to China. People in Sweden know a lot about Europe, a lot about America, but we have a lack of knowledge about China”. Johan then states that if you’re serious about making a career in technology you really need to learn and see and understand what’s happening in China.

China is driving the evolution in terms of many high tech areas, if you limit yourself to have input from Europe and the United States, you will fall behind the curve. You don’t have to go and live in China, you don’t have to love China, but you do need to understand what is happening here. And he mentions again that the best way to do that is to just come here, and visit, and get to know the local people.

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WRAPPING THIS THING UP Johan has now started walking towards the subway, along with his son who appears to have finished his homework. I can clearly hear the high paced surroundings through the speakers of my laptop, and it is getting time to wrap up this interview. I ask him a question that goes beyond China and onto some thoughts I have been hearing more frequently lately about the development in India, namely the country becoming “the new China”.

I ask Johan what he thinks about those thoughts and if, for our next interview, he will be an India correspondent living with his family in New Delhi. Johan laughs a little at the obviously bold suggestion, but he is very excited about the topic, and tells me “I think that the country is being held back, they don’t really have a middle class in the same way as you have in China where all of its growth comes from. In India you have a few extremely rich and highly educated people and then you have a massive amount of people who are poor and uneducated and left behind. I mean you have more hungry children in India than you have in North Korea so I think the pure demographics are holding India back and I don’t think it will live up to its potential as long as you have this demographic so called thin waist. You need a fat belly!

All successful countries have fat bellies”. He continues tongue in cheek by extending his answer to “but maybe I’ll take you up on the challenge and become an India correspondent. I’ll have to talk with my wife and my son about it”.

As we hang up the call a short moment later and Johan disappears down the stairs of the Hong Kong subway along with his son, I come to realize that this interview was yet another one of those moments I’ve had since I moved to Taiwan about one year ago, where I am piece by piece starting to realize the extent of China’s incredible potential and power that is step by step being realized through the rapid growth and development rarely seen elsewhere. While Johan told me in a part of the interview, that I chose to leave out here, that there is still no country in the world challenging America, China sure is a rising star. Of course there are businesses being successful because they are heavily backed by the Chinese government to the degree where one could argue that it is impossible to compete with them. And of course you have manufacturing that to some extent is dependent on low wages, high pollution and unethical work-

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ing environments, along with plenty more negative consequences of the rapid development that are also mentioned in Johan’s book. But currently, we are seeing investments by China in what is likely to become the world’s largest infrastructure project, “OBOR”, we are seeing increased presence in other Asian countries and Africa along with more and more acquisitions in Europe and America. On the home ground some of the companies that were allowed to grow much thanks to blocking foreign companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter, to mention a few) are turning into some of the world’s largest corporations. But perhaps most importantly, you have more than a billion people recently starting to mobilize, and a government that can implement strategies to advance in the global competitive environment by just pointing their fingers at things.

And when you consider all of these initiatives and conditions together with a machine called Pearl River Delta that every day develops and pumps out products to satisfy a whole world’s consumption, Scotty Allen’s set of words “we are fucked” might come to seem more well thought through than what they do at first glance.

WORDS Jakob Larsson National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Management and Economics of Innovation jaklars@student.chalmers.se

PHOTO Erik Almblad National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Automation and Mechatronics Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Supply Chain Management alerik@student.chalmers.se

ASIA PHOTOS

Japan Photo by Erik Almblad 27

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Tianmenshan Photo by Linda Skรถneskog

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Seoul Photo by Felix LissĂĽker

< Japan Photo by Rickard Hjort

< Indonesia Photo by Erik Almblad 30

< Taiwan Photo by Daniel Berg

Mongolia Photo by Tobias Stenshagen

Indonesia Photo by Linnea Andersson

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A New Slate in an Asian Megapolis Everyone has their own origin. Collectively, however, we all have in common that we go through different phases throughout our careers and lives. Everyone takes steps, moves to new locations, starts new schools and attend new internships. Commonly, these steps dictates change of habitat, culture, and network. For each new step climbed we encounter novelties that were not present on the last step. In general, however, most stay the same: we still speak the same language and use the same gestures; we still buy Mellanmjรถlk and do so at our local ICA supermarket; we still call friends without timezone lag and can easily visit our relatives during cultural celebrations.

Older generations have experienced this incremental development throughout their lives and careers, but things are changing. The current generation, the millennials, will inevitably work for companies that either operate or have the ambition to operate, on global markets. This implicates that most people will experience the pros and cons of situations where only a small portion of the novelties of the last step will still be present in the current. That is, instead of incremental development we will have to learn how to start at almost entirely new slates, again and again.

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Many students are anxious about taking this step. As they should be since no one in their families likely have any experience to guide and help.

However, knowing how to encounter foreign situations is increasingly important, which employers are not late to acknowledge. These situations will in all likelihood be upon all of us, with highly educated engineers in the forefront. Hence, it is increasingly irrational to reject these excellent opportunities.

There are many reasons to do this, one of which is the possibility to start on a new slate.

This is obviously in reality impossible due to our increasingly connected world. But nothing comes closer to a new slate than a remote exchange in Asia. Climbing the steps from our origin and onwards to higher education and bigger cities only somewhat erase parts of our slates to make room for the novelties of the next step. Meaning, what we do a regular day in Gothenburg is highly affected by the people we met in our high school; they are still calling to chat, as are parents and other relatives. Furthermore, we have trouble finding new activities that better match our current persona. Primarily because we are stuck with activities from the past. Also, we have troubles being

the latest and most perfected version of ourselves.

Only because we are stuck with old habits. On and on it goes until we are utterly out of free time with a lifestyle that stresses us to death.

When I came to Korea no one spoke Swedish, or even English to me even if they could. It turned out that cooking is wildly unpopular so people eat out, or not at all. And you start a new network more easily than growing your old one. For the first time in my life, I have had 24 hours per day to allocate exactly how I want. Because very little from my past take up unwanted time. The things that actually take up time are deliberately handpicked to suit my current ambition and direction.

By starting a new slate you can meet new people that more accurately match your current interest. This is enabled by putting the people you know from previous steps on hold for a while. Certainly, this distancing is only positive and gives you time to reflect on what relationships you want to have and which ones you’d better take care of back home. Furthermore, managing a new relationship with the latest version of yourself is much less de-

manding than managing old relationships with people you have known for decades.

This is also an opportunity to quit bad habits that are too linked to the habits, culture, and network you have at home. When no one around you drinks four cups of coffee each day, parties every other day and smokes whenever they have a break, why would you? I am not saying that this isn’t the case in Korea. But still, now we can choose unaffected by others. This frees up a lot of time that we previously didn’t know existed. Now, all of a sudden, we have the time to exercise seven times per week, or whatever amount you want; to learn how to invest in cryptocurrency, or how not to invest; to develop an app or whatever other geeky interest you have.

All in all, there has never been a better opportunity to improve your current situation, by starting a new slate. Nor has it ever been a better opportunity to improve the outcome of your past by distancing. Lastly, it has never been a better opportunity to shape your future fortune. So grab yourself by the hand and seize this opportunity.

WORDS AND PHOTO Felix Lissåker Seoul National University, Seoul Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering lissaker@student.chalmers.se

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A NEW COMMUNITY Before an exchange, there is usually a lot of questions regarding how your stay will be. All of these questions are very common at the beginning, but you will soon recognise how wrong you were for worrying. Because there are so many people that want to help you and try to make your stay as comfortable as possible.

Whether you like football, rugby or swimming it will be a simple way for you to contact other students with the same interests. That is because there is usually a school-, collage- or block team. All these small communities are both a fantastic place and an opportunity where you find new friends.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more common with these communities here in Singapore. The communities have an important purpose for both the university and the students, and that is to make students more bounded and so that each studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; free time contains more than assignments and homework. The period you are studying will therefore be more interesting and fun and I feel that these communities play an important part of the student life. That is because it brings people together that probably never would have talked or met each other if it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for the community groups.

Even for the colleges, there are groups that arrange activities and other fun events, so the residents who live there are able to have a great time with their neighbours. A college is usually a larger complex where students live and is also where the majority of students are staying. At the colleges, the community groups strive to increase the social cohesion among students and also try to make your stay more comfortable. With the activities, that are arranged by the community groups, your neighbours will be more than just a pass-byer in 34

your life. In some colleges, an entire floor can be seen as a large family, because they have a lot of activities and everyone knows each other. All that is thanks to the fantastic work from the community group at the college. The communities are therefore not limited to sport or competitive events but for everything in your everyday life. If you are into

Besides the community groups that exist at university and the collages, the overall time that each student spends with other students seem to be more than in Sweden. religion, there will be a community where you can meet others with the same beliefs as you. As long as you are willing to contact and sign up for activities you will probably not have a free day during your week.

Besides the community groups that exist at

university and the collages, the overall time that each student spends with other students seem to be more than in Sweden. One reason is because there is no need for cooking your own food, due to the canteens at the college and at the apartment complex. They sell a large variety of food from different parts of the world. Therefore, each student will have more time and money for other activities and can spend that extra time together with friends. Another thing is that most students do their activities with their community group and after or before, all of them go and eat together at one of the canteens or hawker centers around the university or the city. This does not only include the student, but all Singaporeans. For a lot of people in Singapore, eating outside home is an activity where you can meet your family and friends.

The price for one meal is more reasonably priced, and can be as cheap as a fourth of the price for a lunch in Sweden. Therefore, no matter how high the salary, people are able to enjoy a meal with the family in the city. In this way, the entire community comes together in a more harmonious way and you will get to know a lot more people in your environment. For such a large city, making individuals feel as a part of the community is big step and a very important one for the society. You will feel safer in your environment and also view life in a different way, because you will feel that you can make a difference for the society through the community. A feeling of social cohesion will start to develop in everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. This is because the community at the university, and even the city is bringing people together without considering nationality or origin. If we were able to bring the same lifestyle and values back to Sweden, it would hopefully help the society to evolve and stop the society to be focused on the individual at all time and instead on the community as a whole.

WORDS AND PHOTO Victor Loftman National University of Singapore, Singpore Holds a Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Electrical Engineering and Energy Currently pursuing a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Electric Power Engineering loftman@student.chalmers.se

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Beyond the skyscrapers A very common image of Hong Kong is that it is a financial hub, China’s portal to the West, and an overcrowded city buzzing with life. And this is all true.

The population of Hong Kong is currently at 7.4 million, double the population size of 50 years ago. This has of course put a lot of pressure on the world’s most expensive housing market, and nowadays, large parts of the city are a labyrinth of densely packed pencil towers. In fact, Hong Kong holds the record of most skyscrapers in the entire world. But there is more to Hong Kong than meets the eye.

The Chinese special administrative region has a land area of 1100 km2, but only a quarter of it is developed. This sounds strange given the existing housing crisis, but one of the main reasons is that Hong Kong is very hilly, making construction a challenging task. Ironically, this is also the reason for Hong Kong’s many nature reserves and country parks, most of which are less than an hour away by public transportation. They serve as a retreat from the busy city life, offering great hiking trails, rewarding views and sometimes, hidden beaches.

The climate in Hong Kong is temperate to subtropical. Winter time, the mean temperature is 16 °C, rising to 28°C in the summer. Add to this that countryside visits are hard to fit into the schedule of the hardworking locals, hiking and other nature adventures make the perfect crowd-escaping activities for most parts of the year.

Hong Kong is commonly divided into three regions: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories. The first is known for housing bank offices and the uber-rich, the second the working class.

New Territories is the largest of the three, covering 86 % of the Hong Kong territory. It is also the most sparsely populated, with only 3801 people/km2.

As a comparison, Kowloon is 11 times denser. In Northern New Territories lies Sai Kung, a country park containing stunning hiking trails and nearly empty beaches. There’s also a fishing village and seafood haven (holding no less than two Michelin star restaurants) with the same name, a rem36

nant of old Hong Kong. When done lunching at the village, get on a bus to Sai Wan pavilion in the middle of nowhere, and from there, follow the 45 min hiking trail to beautiful and remote Sai Wan Beach. Another 10 minutes away lies two waterfalls and fresh water pools. This is a very popular spot to bring some beers to, chill at with friends, get the adrenaline going with some cliff jumping, and watch the scenery change as the sun sets.

If one is in the mood of a more cultural experience, I can strongly recommend the island of Lantau. Unlike Chinese mainlanders, Hongkongers can enjoy freedom of religion. There are a multitude of religions in Hong Kong, one of the main ones being Buddhism. The Po Lin monastery on Lantau is one of the most popular Buddhist temples in the territory, famous for its grand

Tian Tan Buddha, a 34-meter-tall bronze statue overlooking the mountains. Make sure to also seek out the nearby wisdom path. It is marked out by 38 vertical timber beams, placed in an infinity pattern. The beams are inscribed with the Heart Sutra prayer in Chinese characters, and while it can be argued that proficiency in Chinese is a necessity to gain this wisdom, the path still makes for a nice stroll. On a foggy day, the tranquil site looks like something from Chinese folklore, and Chinese superstition suddenly starts making sense.

What is the best way to reach the monastery and its surroundings? The luxurious means of transportation is by glass bottom cable cars, letting you see the mountains from above. This of course, comes with a hefty price tag and a really long queuing time. Another option is to hike there. The three-hour trek offers a 572 m ascent and 10 km of stair climbing. For most people, this is not the definition of a leisurely day off, meaning that you will have the panoramic views largely for yourselves.

All in all, Hong Kong is the perfect all-round city, offering a mild climate, a unique fusion of East and West, endless big city entertainment, plenty of nature activities and views that never get old.

WORDS AND PHOTO Eliza Nordén The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Honk Kong Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Complex Adaptive Systems elizan@student.chalmers.se

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S IN GAP ORE

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THE CITY IN A GARDEN

Nature and greenery is something I always have valued, growing up in a small village with the forest as a neighbor. When I last August got the opportunity to move to Singapore for almost a year I expected a big city with a lot of concrete, since a population of five million live at the same area as half of Öland, Sweden’s second biggest island.

What I didn’t know then was that Singapore have a vision about being a “city in a garden” and value and involve greenery in the city’s development.

In 1963 the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew planted a Mempat tree, which initiated a big tree planting programme and became the start of the vision about a “garden city”. The goal was to transform Singapore to a city with both greenery and a clean environment to make it pleasant for people to live there. Today Singapore as a city have many initiatives to promote sustainability and have green building requirements in their legislation, which indicates the minimum requirements on environmental sustainability for new buildings

a green city. The architecture of many new buildings aims not only to reach harmony between human habitation and the natural world, but also to minimizing ecological impact such as energy consumption and emissions.

As mentioned, including greenery in the city is not only very pleasant and visually pretty, it also has several positive effects on humans and the city environment. Extending green spaces in the city not only enhance the biodiversity but also has a positive impact on the temperature in the city.

Studies have shown that the temperature can be 4°C cooler in lushly-planted urban areas than in urban concrete zones (Singapore City Gallery, 2018). In Singapore this is very relevant, since the country is located about 137 km from the equator and has a tropical climate all year around with about 30°C.

According to conducted studies, energy costs can be reduced with 14,5% by having a roof garden on a 5-storey building like emissions and energy efficiency. The original vision about a “garden city” is today rephrased to a “city in a garden”, which is a vision that not only involves the development of a green and sustainable city environment but also involves the daily life of Singaporeans.

Plants and greenery is not only included in nature environment such as parks and flowerbeds, but also in Singapore’s fascinating architecture. Almost all new buildings include rooftop gardens or terraces, where people can enjoy the greenery as well as the building is fitting in the vision about 39

Further, involving greenery in city buildings can have positive effects on the energy consumption of the city. According to conducted studies, energy costs can be reduced with 14,5% by having a roof garden on a 5-storey building. This has a strong connection with the fact that the temperature on a building surface can be around 11°C cooler with green features and therefore the use of air conditioning can be lower (Singapore City Gallery, 2018). Green spaces also helps to clean the air, which is important in a high dense urban environment.

The involvement of greenery in a city and buildings doesn’t only have a positive impact on ecological aspects, but also psychological advantages for the people living in these areas. Green areas and roof gardens can be used of the population for recreation. It is showed that people who is connected with nature reduces their stress level and have lower risk of getting a depression. Children who grows up with spending time in nature or green spaces in general get more creative and active and also have better ability to concentrate.

Being surrounded by nature also increases the physical activity, which has direct positive effects on both body and mind as for example stress handling. Involving sky gardens and terraces in the city makes high density living more enjoyable, which Singapore really have in mind for their residents.

I got positively surprised when I moved to Singapore last year, since the city was more green and lushly-planted than I expected. All the greenery is really making Singapore a very enjoyable city in my opinion. An increasing problem with global warming in combination with more and more people living in urban environments, makes Singapore a role model for future urban development around the world.

WORDS AND PHOTO Louise Persson Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Quality and Operations Management louper@student.chalmers.se

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SWIFTNESS IN CHINESE CITIES That must be new, right? I am sure this was not here last week! Wow, let’s go there! Wait, where is it?

Shanghai truly is an amazing city full of life. New events, restaurants, shops, boutiques, bars, houses, blocks and skyscrapers pops up here in a swift pace! As a citizen you might think that you know your street by heart, but believe me, you never will. Every month, or even week, there will be something that has changed, especially in the city center. Either it is your favourite restaurant that has been replaced with (hopefully) an even better one, the new enterprise for photocopying has changed into a barbershop, a dog café has opened up or a completely new housing building has replaced the not so old one. And you did not even notice that the previous ones were being replaced behind all the mahjong playing people, parked scooters and laundry hanging from the cables on the street! Cities are constantly changing, that is a fact, but Shanghai has a swifter pace than I ever could imagine. Quickly after arriving here I got mixed emotions, how on earth am I going to explore it all? Here is just too much interesting and exciting places and they are all changing so fast!

As an architecture student coming from Gothenburg in Sweden, where skyscrapers are rare and with a population of 500 000 people, it is overwhelming to start living in Shanghai with 24 million others, tons of skyscrapers and more buildings than the amount you can get your head around.

When the first excitement had settled down a bit and I started to actually see the amount of building sites and reflect about the swift changes in

the city, I found myself questioning why. Why does China have this swift ongoing change towards the newer? Is all this demolition and replacement necessary? The buildings were not even old yet. And more importantly, does it have any concerns about sustainability?

In the year of 1949, when the Communist Party assumed power, China had 69 cities. Today it has 633 in total. The urbanisation has been rapid and more is to come, today half of the Chinese population is living in cities but that number is expected to increase to 75% within the next two decades. Each year China is building 2 000 km² of floor space, a size as big as one and a half New York City. But it is not only the development of new floor space that is swift, buildings are being torn down and demolished almost in the same rapid pace, regardless of their age and shape.

Almost all housing buildings built before 1999 will be demolished during the coming decade, and these buildings stand for half of the housing supply in present China. Out of all new development land in present China, 40% is produced by demolition. While the buildings in the United Kingdom’s have an average longevity of 132 years, the USA 74 years, China only has 35.

So why this interest in rapid demolition of buildings, regardless old or new, in bad or good shape? Is it not better to aim for buildings that can last longer?

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Real estate and urbanisation increases the GDP, even demolition. So the government is keen on keeping the construction industry busy.

The property tax is only paid upon purchase, thus a long longevity of a building is not as profitable as several with shorter. Thereby the government can and will buy back houses just to demolish them, to collect a new batch of property tax.

When a developer lease a lot, they are not allowed to sit on it and would risk losing their rights for development if they do not build something quick. So they do, under pressure and often as cheap as possible. The lease lasts commonly for 50-70 years, which is enough time to carry out 2-3 projects. In these cases the longevity is already expected to be short. topment should be used more carefully for the sake of the global environment.

So the reason why there is a swiftness appeal in urban China today is because of this bigger interest in economy and GDP, than in social and ecological sustainability. However, a swift mindset towards urban development is also necessary for adaptation to new conditions and circumstances.

I consider that a swift construction is a quality, but when the building is completed the longevity should be as great as possible. Demolition in itself should never be a goal. Demolishing buildings for the reason of collecting more tax is unjust, especially when it has massive negative consequences on the environment.

Further, this demolition consequently creates waste. The construction and demolitions waste (CDW) in China stands for 30-40% of the total waste in the whole municipality, and only 5% of that waste is reused and recycled. 30 million tons of waste was used as landfill 2014 in Beijing only.

Simultaneously 75% of the cities in China today is facing so called CDW surroundings, areas where waste is dumped in open-air piles, harmful to both

the environment and the citizens. These negative examples could have been avoided if the time and money spent on demolition would be spent on reconstruction or maintenance on the existing buildings instead.

Swiftness in urban development should be about designing a building with a framework that can enable many different types of purposes. Having a building core where you can change its program or purpose swiftly is, in my opinion, where swiftness is combinable with sustainability in urban development. For example, a residential building that can become offices or shops later, without demolition, just reconstruction and renovation. By creating a framework of good quality, with proper research beforehand of what is required, the complete demolition of a young building should not be necessary again. New does not always equal better.

I am not proposing a concept of eternity but swiftness in urban development should be used more carefully for the sake of the global environment.

WORDS AND PHOTO Linda SkĂśneskog Tongji University, Shanghai Holds a Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Architecture Currently pursuing a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Architecture and Urban Design lindask@student.chalmers.se

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Japan The not Always So Modern Country I am sure many of us have a view of Japan as one of the world’s most modern and vibrant nations when it comes to high technology, and in many regards, this is a justified view. Japan boasts a large number of high-tech companies, including Toyota, Honda, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and the list goes on. The country also has a reputation for sporting some of the world’s most advanced toilets; a phenomenon that apparently stems from that the Japanese consider a clean toilet to be the key to good hospitality. With all this in mind, one may be surprised – and I certainly was – to find out that some systems in Japan come across as outright old-fashioned. Perhaps the most evident as a foreigner is the Japanese bank.

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The Hanko

In Japan, rather than signing papers using signatures, it is customary, and most times mandatory, to use a personal stamp – a “hanko”. This is a small wooden stamp usually containing your family’s name and to get one you simply need to go to your dedicated hanko store and make the purchase. While this may not seem like that big of a deal when discussing how technologically advanced the Japanese bank is, what really makes the system seem outdated is that you are required to use the hanko in almost every official affair. Essentially, this means that nothing can be dealt with online. In fact, this phenomenon is not only found in banks; next to every official facility requires that you sign by hand rather than using the internet.

The Japanese Writing System

Another peculiarity that may be more related to the lack of modernity than high technology is that Japanese banks require you to write your name in Japanese characters. Without knowing Japanese, it is impossible to make any signings at a Japanese bank. As a foreigner with a non-Japanese name, this can turn out to be a challenge, as the Japanese writing system does not contain the same syllables as the alphabetic one. To give you a hint of what this may imply: rather than writing my name as “Ludvig”, my name in Japan is written as “ルドヴィッグ” (Rudoviggu). Fortunately, since the Japanese are generally very helpful, figuring out how to translate your name is not that much of a problem.

The Cash

The use of credit cards for transactions in Japan is next to non-existent. Every transaction must be done using cash. An instance where this became painfully apparent was when a fellow exchange student ended up in an accident and had to go to the hospital. Upon arrival, it turned out that the hospital only accepted cash, leading to that my friend first had to visit an ATM to be treated. This lack of digital transactions is most likely not going to change soon, especially because of the recent hacking incident in Tokyo where $530 millions were stolen.

The Conclusion

Concluding this article, it is safe to say that the Japanese bank lacks some of the features you would expect in an otherwise well-developed country. But despite all of this, it is all mended by the hospitable nature of the Japanese. In few other countries can you find people who, to such an extent, go out of their way to assist strangers. As such, it is also safe to say that living in Japan has been a vastly positive (and high technological) experience.

The ATM

Because of the constant need for cash, visiting the ATM every now and then is unavoidable.

When inserting your credit card into the machine, you are greeted by a sleek-looking interface with only one problem: it’s all in Japanese. As a country with a with such a large number of international ties, the complete lack of English is somewhat surprising. Actually, it is not only the ATM that is all-Japanese; all letters received from the bank are exclusively incomprehensible to foreigners with no knowledge of Japanese.

WORDS AND PHOTO Ludvig Storm Tohoku University, Tokyo Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Complex Adaptive Systems storml@student.chalmers.se

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TRAVEL LIKE A

MILLENNIAL

So, you’re thinking about moving to Asia? Maybe you’ve already applied to a university in Japan or landed an internship in China? Regardless, you are most definitely considering where to go and what to do when you get there.

Part of studying or working abroad is the opportunity it presents to experience new cultures. And this is particularly true in Asia, where from a westerner’s perspective, everything is different. The question is ‘How do you make your travels as memorable as possible?’ Perhaps you’re thinking you’ll travel with a group of friends, do research online and watch travel videos on YouTube to prepare. This article suggests an alternative. A better option – if you will.

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Detour.

Does that have a negative ring to you?

Wouldn’t you agree that some of your best travel experiences have resulted from you accidentally taking a detour? Maybe you stumbled across an amazing café whilst accidentally walking in the wrong direction? Or perhaps you bought your favourite sneakers when strolling through a market you hadn’t planned to visit?

What I’m getting at is that oftentimes the most memorable travel experiences are things you originally hadn’t planned for. One way to find these experiences is by using the Detour app.

Detour provides a real-time, in-ear, personal guide in some of the major travel destinations around the world. London, Seoul and Tokyo to name a few At first glance it doesn’t sound so major does it? Well, let me tell you why it is my new favourite go-to app when traveling Asia.

My first experience with Detour was in Hongdae district, Seoul, South Korea. I was recommended by a friend to visit the district and Detour happened to have a tour available. I went to the starting point just outside Hongik University, put my earphones on and pressed start.

University graduate Han Byul Jang, voiced by Alec Cho, greeted me.

From there on, Alec guided me around Hongdae, using my phone’s GPS to tell me about my surroundings. Sounds neat right? Basically it was like walking around with a private guide, only this was a virtual one.

Alec guided me through narrow streets with graffiti and told me stories about who painted them and what they meant. At the same time he told me anecdotes from his time at the university.

All in all it was a really great experience and it led me to places I would never have found otherwise.

The image below is taken outside GOGOS2, a club where Korean indie bands play during the evenings. Whilst passing the building Detour provided a short interview with the lead vocalist of a band called Stereotype; a local indie band who performs there frequently.

The level of detail and the amount of work put into the tour was to me astounding. And it far exceeded my expectations. Basically it was like being guided around the area by someone who had actually lived there for many years. And at the same time it allowed for you to keep your own pace, stop whenever you wanted to and not have to follow a guide rushing ahead quickly with a tourist flag held high.

To me, this was an amazing way to experience Seoul, and I’m eager to try it out with other tours in other cities. And I highly advise you to check it out as well. Aren’t you tired of the massive crowds of tourists gathering at TripAdvisors Top 10? I know I sure am.

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View from Lotte World Tower, Seoul

DETOUR APP

WORDS AND PHOTO Erik Almblad National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Holds a Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Automation and Mechatronics Currently pursuing a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Supply Chain Management alerik@student.chalmers.se

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The Nightmare of Bike Sharing The newest trend in China right now, is the Bike sharing system. Basically, you can unlock a bicycle just by scanning an QR code in your smartphone, ride it around the town, and then leave it anywhere. Customers are charged just pennies per 30-minute ride, and they pay a deposit before the ride. This bike sharing system makes cycling to work, to school so much easier. The two biggest industry leader companies Ofo and Mobike, have created 19 million new bicycles, becoming one of Chinas most visible tech exports. These companies growth has been way too fast, and growth vastly outpaced immediate demand and overwhelmed the Chinese cities, where infrastructure and regulations were not prepared to handle a sudden flood of all these shared bicycles. The problem with all these shared bicycles is - not like back in Sweden, you have a specific parking spot to park you bicycle, people would park the bikes anywhere or just abandon them in the middle of the street. As cities impounded abandoned bikes by the thousands, they moved quickly to cap growth and regulate the industry. Vast pikes of impounded, abandoned and half broke bicycles have become a familiar sight in many big cities. During some hours, you

can’t even get from home to the metro station because there are so many bike in the way. Some startup bike sharing companies like Bluegogo who became bankrupt, and has now left their bikes on the street and no one takes care of them. Shanghai currently has 1.5m shared bikes on the street.

When you look at this picture, you think it’s a farm somewhere in the countryside, it is actually not a field of tulips, but a drone’s-eye-views of tens of thousands of unused shared bikes lined up in a field near Shanghai. Bike sharing will remain very popular in China, and will likely continue to grow even more, just probably and hopefully at a more sustainable rate.

WORDS AND PHOTO Gustav Södermark Tsinghua University, Beijing Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Quality and Operations Management gussode@student.chalmers.se

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Shuppatsu Shinkou!

Pointing and Calling for Safer Trains in Tokyo My first time riding in a Tokyo train was quite an experience. Everything from the preciseness of the trains to the ground markings indicating passenger queues impressed me. However something that really caught my eye were the train conductors found standing proudly in their uniforms in the back of the train. As the train would come to a halt their white-gloved hands stretched out and intently pointed out the stop location at the platform. They then stepped out onto the platform, pointed in the direction of the train and then followed procedures such as speaking out train information, checking the timetable in comparison to their own time, and point and observing platform security monitors. When this was done, they called out ‘’shuppatsu shinkou!’’ which

roughly means ‘’all aboard’’, and stepped back in.

As the train left, I would look as they leaned out and watched the platform pass before them. This scenario is a part of the so-called pointing and calling method, or in Japanese shisa kanko, used on the train stations all over Japan.

Japan has one the world’s most famous railway system, and that is not without reasons. The trains are extremely punctual; the railway company may even provide a delay certificate if the train is more than 5 minutes late. The whole train experience goes very smoothly. This despite having 12 billion passengers every year and 46 of the world’s 50 busiest train stations. The hard-working train staff is a significant reason for the success of the Japanese railway system. Everything from the nightly railway maintenance, to the helpful staff and train

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operators’ methodology, keeps the trains running without fault. The usage of the pointing and calling method is essential for the operators’, as well as the platform staffs’, daily work.

Instead of relying on the eyes alone, the pointing and calling requires the operator to also engage in their work with speech, gestures and listening.

This in order to raise the consciousness levels, and thereby prevent errors. For example, when approaching a speed limit the driver would point at the sign and read the contents of the sign, and distance to it, out loud. The driver would then look at the speedometer to confirm their speed. The pointing and calling has proven itself very effective. In a study from 1994 by the Railway Technical Research Institute, the method was shown to reduce errors by almost 85 percent when doing a simple task. In another study from 2011 by Osaka University, it was shown that pointing and calling also improves the memory performance and sometimes increases the decision making time.

The origin of the pointing and calling is not known for certain. One theory is that the steamtrain engineer Yasoichi Hori originally came up with the idea of calling out the signal status when driving the train. The status could then be confirmed with the accompanying fireman, who would call back. Hori was beginning to lose his

sight, and the calling was a way of preventing mistakes and ensuring safety. This took place sometime in the beginning of the 20th century. The calling practice was then in 1913 written down in a railway manual, by the name kanko oto, which means ‘’call and response’’. The pointing was added some years later, most likely after 1925.

Today pointing and calling is a common method on the Japanese trains and stations, but it is also used in some industry, for example during quality checks. The method is however not as wide-spread globally. You can find it in the New York’s subway systems, and also on some trains in Taiwan and South Korea. But abroad and in industry, the implementation has been subject to modification or straight up simplification. So if you want to get the full experience, which I think is well worth your time, I doubt there is any place better than Tokyo.

WORDS AND PHOTO Selma Tabakovic Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Physics Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Physics and Astronomy selmat@student.chalmers.se

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Want to study in Asia?

CHALMERS INTERNATIONAL TAIWAN OFFICE Part of the Chalmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; World Wide Programme Over the recent decades the economies of East Asia have shown a remarkable development. China and Japan are two of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest economies and many more show great promise. The region is vibrant, interesting, dynamic and somewhat challenging. Among those with a background in technical education professional contacts and cooperations with this region will continue to increase. Considering this, Chalmers has developed a unique exchange programme, based in Taiwan, giving students an opportunity to study in and gain experience from these economies.

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The programme is called The Asia Programme and is located at the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU). The university is among the foremost technical universities in Taiwan and is especially profiled towards electrical engineering and information technology. However, in collaboration with the neighbouring National Tsing Hua University, the exchange programme covers all engineering programmes at Chalmers. Courses held in both English and Mandarin Chinese can be chosen.

Contents of The Asia Programme • Intensive course in Mandarin, 4 weeks in July to August at NCTU in Hsinchu, Taiwan • Full academic year of engineering or architectural studies at NCTU • Maintenance of the Chalmers International Taiwan Office at NCTU • Company visits throughout East Asia Students of Chalmers operate the Chalmers International Taiwan Office (CITO). The operations of CITO include arranging events of representation for Taiwanese students at NCTU as well as visiting companies and representing Chalmers throughout East Asia.

HOW TO APPLY FOR WORLD WIDE You apply for nomination to NCTU and all of the other universities in Asia through the MoveOn-portal before the 1:st of December 2017. Attach a motivational cover letter in Swedish with your application. If you are student of Architecture or Architecture and Technology you also need to submit an additional portfolio.

Choose two universities but do not forget to find courses that match you master programme and check these with the coordinator of your master programme.

Main Requirements for World Wide • You have reached your third year of studies at an engineering or architecture programme.

• You have the minimum grade point average of 3.7 credits.

• You have finished at least 60 hp by the first of December.

The selection of students to be nominated for the universities within the World Wide programme is based on the grade point average and study pace of the applying students. The motivational cover letter is used to distinguish between students with the same average grade. In February you are informed whether or not you have been nominated for a university. If you are not nominated you still have a chance to study abroad by applying to the second selection for the universities that still have vacancies to fill.

Asia Magazine aims to be entertaining and informative regarding current topics of Asia as well as a source of inspiration for students curious about exchange studies. The magazine is a joint effort of Chalmers students in Asia.

Chalmers International Taiwan Office is the result of a bilateral exchange between Chalmers University of Technology and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.

The office is operated by Chalmers students and acts as a hub between Chalmers and East Asia.