Return to Singapore 1995

My classmate Pan Zhenming once told Li Xiaofan that the glasses frames in Wenzhou are very cheap. Wenzhou is listed as one of the four major international glasses production cities and export bases, along with Belluno, Italy, Sabae, Japan, and Daegu, South Korea. Before rebirth, about 90% of the products of Wenzhou's glasses industry were sold to more than 100 countries and regions in Europe and the United States, and it was the main supply area for the world's top ten glasses brands...

Li Xiaofan's intuition: If you open a glasses store in Tampines or Bedok, where the population is densely concentrated nearby, it would be a good business.

A good memory is not as good as a bad pen. Li Xiaofan took out a pen and recorded all the business opportunities he thought of in the morning.

1. On February 9, he had already invested 100 Singapore dollars in the lottery for the lottery tonight on Sunday. He didn't dare to invest more, for fear of memory errors and fear of attracting too much attention and unnecessary trouble.

2. Current optional investments: optometry industry related to ophthalmic health, investment in Singapore public housing.

3. Forward: Reverse trading of oil futures in the China Aviation Oil incident in 2004...

Then Li Xiaofan went to visit the only Chinese bookstore in Singapore: Popular Holdings. This is a listed company in Singapore that publishes, distributes and retails books. It has subsidiaries in Canada, mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan.

There are many original books from Taiwan and Hong Kong in Popular Holdings, which are expensive. Li Xiaofan picked a few books on investment.

After a simple lunch, Li Xiaofan went to the Tampines National Library to enjoy the free air conditioning.

In Li Xiaofan's impression of that year, in addition to cleanliness, the biggest highlight of Singapore was the library.

In Singapore, a small place, more than 20 libraries have been established on the island. Although the scale of each library cannot be compared with that in China, it is extremely convenient. No matter which district you are in, there must be a public library near the nearest subway station or community center. People can choose a convenient library to check information, read books and newspapers. It is also a very pleasant thing to come in and take a break and read books in the air conditioning after shopping.

Li Xiaofan remembered that in his previous life, he also had his first experience of "touching the Internet" here. At the end of 1997, the library suddenly had several computers that could access the Internet, and readers could surf the Internet for free for half an hour each. At that time, Li Xiaofan didn't know what the Internet was, and watching people in the library surfing the Internet freely opened his eyes...

Li Xiaofan is still in the old Tampines National Library. When he came to Singapore on a business trip in the summer of 2017, the new Tampines National Library in Tampines Hub opened, which impressed him. The luxury of the decoration inside is comparable to that of a five-star hotel.

The area of ​​the new library has increased from the original 6,000 square meters to more than 10,000 square meters, and the library's collection of books has also increased to more than 400,000 books. After the opening of the new library, it became a famous Internet celebrity library in Singapore, and it went viral on the entire Internet on the opening day.

In the Tampines National Library, Li Xiaofan actually found the English book "no money no honey" that Ah TAN mentioned, and simply borrowed it to read.

In Singapore, there is no discrimination in encouraging reading. Li Xiaofan and his colleagues can easily apply for library cards with their WP work permits, and then they can borrow five books at a time.

In the previous life, what Li Xiaofan and his mainland co-workers complained about most was that 98% of the books in the library were English books, and there were very few Chinese books.

However, for Li Xiaofan now, understanding English books is no longer a big problem.

After leaving the library, Li Xiaofan's backpack was full of books.

His last stop was: 2 Tampines Street 92.

This is the Tampines campus of the Institute of Technical Education, ITE.

The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) was established in 1992 and is a government public school directly under the Ministry of Education of Singapore.

Although ITE has the word "college" in its name, in fact, compared with the education system in mainland China, the Institute of Technical Education, ITE, is equivalent to a national technical school in Singapore.

The education system in Singapore is a bit complicated, but it is not the college entrance examination that determines the fate of most people, but the examination at the end of Form 4.

After graduating from Form 4, students will first take the Cambridge N-level exam. Those who pass can continue to study for one year and then take the Cambridge O-level exam. Those with excellent results can choose to continue their studies at a junior college (high school education) or a polytechnic (college).

Junior college graduates will take the Cambridge "A" level exam (college entrance exam) to assess their qualifications for entering university. Graduates who pass the "A-level" will continue their studies at local higher education institutions such as the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University based on their results, or they can directly enter well-known universities in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Most of those who do not perform well after graduating from Form 4 will receive vocational and technical education or directly find employment after completing academic general courses.

Most of them will choose to study at the Singapore Institute of Technical Education ITE to acquire a skill to make a living.

The certificate obtained by graduating from the Singapore Institute of Technical Education ITE is called: "CERTIFICATE"

The diploma obtained by graduating from the five polytechnics of Singapore POLY is called: "DIPLOMA"

At that time, there were only two universities in Singapore, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. The diplomas they graduated from were called "Bachelor Degree".

So Singapore's vocational education is a three-tier system:

Technical school certificate → college diploma → university bachelor's degree.

The treatment for Singaporeans holding a diploma from the Singapore Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to come to the Westwood Electronics Factory is: Level 2 technician, with a basic salary of 800 Singapore dollars.

The treatment for college graduates who graduated from Singapore Polytechnic is: Assistant Engineer, with a basic salary of 1,200 Singapore dollars.

The treatment for undergraduate graduates from local universities in Singapore is: Engineer, with a basic salary of 1,500 Singapore dollars.

The treatment for undergraduate graduates from domestic universities, no matter what prestigious university you are from, to come to the Westwood Electronics Factory is: Level 2 technician. Enjoy the treatment of local technical school students in Singapore! In his previous life, Li Xiaofan also met several master's students who came to work at the Westwood Factory and were also treated as Level 2 technicians.

This was the general situation in Singapore at that time.

The reason why domestic college students came to Singapore to work is not because they are not smart enough or not capable enough. The biggest disadvantage is: English. At that time, domestic college students who came to Singapore generally knew English poorly, they could read but not speak, so they suffered a "dumb loss".

Li Xiaofan came to the Tampines campus of the Institute of Industrial Education ITE today for the purpose of signing up for the on-the-job electronic engineering certificate course.

At that time, the Singapore government strongly encouraged local residents and foreign workers to participate in various on-the-job training courses, and the government provided high subsidies.

The on-the-job junior electronic engineering certificate course has a total of four courses, and you can get a junior electronic engineering certificate after passing the four courses.

Then you can continue to study the "NATIONAL National Electronic Engineering Certificate Course", which is also four courses. After passing the four courses, you can get a NATIONAL National Electronic Engineering Certificate.

With this NATIONAL National Electronic Engineering Certificate, you can go to the factory personnel department to ask for a promotion and salary increase, and enjoy the treatment of domestic university undergraduates.

"What, young man, you want to sign up for four courses of the junior electronic engineering certificate at the same time?" The old lady at the registration office of the Institute of Industrial Education ITE was surprised when she heard this. In the past, some people only signed up for two courses at the same time, and no one had ever studied four courses at the same time.