Day 15, 170309!

We went to Wuhan Gang Tie Qi Ye (武汉钢铁企业). It is the third largest steel making factory in China. There are about 30 000-40 000 people living at the factory. It's the addition of the factory workers and their family members. Basically we went to the factory and walked the aisle and watched how steel was made. The processes were rather engrossing.

Firstly, they made use of iron ore to melt with limestone at 2000 degree celsius. But iron ore is too soft so we need to add alloy such as carbon to harden it. After that, there was the quenching process to harden the steel. At this point in time, the steel is still considered brittle and from belt to belt, the steel gets heated up and then cool down again. The material gets transported from conveyor to conveyor and during which, the conveyor requires oil to lubricate the steel movement and water was used to wash off the oil and impurities (throughout the processes and the temperature held is about 800-900 degree celsius). Everytime water was used, smoke could be seen. Oh the iron block is about 1.7m wide and 350mm thick (I think). Right from the start, the iron ore was heated up so it red in color and at then, it was still considered soft so the machine was able to compress the material and shape it. As the material under went each conveyor, the material moulds to become thinner. And at the end of the process, it will become black in color and very thin, thin enough to roll it into coil form.

The Chinese are very proud of this steel making because in other countries, they would require high usage of manpower and in the factory, the sound was extremely deafening (what with the quenching nosies and all) and when the iron ore passed by us, woah the heat was strong enough to make us perspire for the first time since we arrived. So companies elsewhere other than China would have to spend a lot just to make steel but in China, they gained in productivity because they decreased their manpower from 1000+ to 100+ people but making use of conveyor belts and machines to operate the processes. The production cost is cheap and even the steel gets exported to Japan! They produce approximately 300 blocks a day. Hopefully I've managed to get all this information right when Mr Wong was elaborating.

This is the highlight of the day. Direct translation: "Come on, you will love me forever!" This is really a rare sighting and I found it quite amusing in fact. Imagine this sign in Singapore!

Our bus was supposedly to take thereabout twenty to reach the site but somehow ended up close to 45 minutes instead. Something cropped up but I didn't know what.
The teachers standing around discussing??
This is Xiang Yu. I wanted to offer him some marshmallow so I asked Seok Hui to pass the packet to him. Then he took it from us. But the thing was .. He held the packet and started to meditate. Or maybe as according to him, he was stoning. Ha! Then Seok Hui kept calling his name "Xiang Yu, come back COME BACK!" Until I really shook him then he came back to reality. It happened literally out of nowhere. HURHUR.
Another snack, Winny Koh got this for me. Strawberry biscuit.

It tastes a little like Hello Panda.

Focus is on eeyore yo!

We had to stop the bus in front of a "train track" for quite a while. I added inverted comas because it's actually cargo moving along the track instead of a train. The cargo carriage was carrying goods from place to place. The construction site is extremely huge.

The tiny words at the bottom reads "WUHAN IRON AND STEEL (GROUP) CORP"

I suppose this discribes the organization and its employees? They are strict, serious, loyal and giving. Perhaps towards the company and to product quality. Having undertaken this course, my perspective would always consider the quality of the products or services. Quality quality quality! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, QUALITY NEVER SLEEPS! Yes, everything about life is quality. We were not allowed to take pictures in the factory.

Ain't our helmets matching with our OIP shirt?

We bring our banner EVERYWHERE!

You know what Stephanie thinks? I think this sign means adult can cross.

While this sign means ONLY kids can cross. Because the human stick here looks smaller in size. Really!

We still had our afternoon class. However, we only had theory and not practical. So chapter six it was, Product and Service Delivery. We have a test this Friday. AND I have something interesting to reveal with regard to Friday. Continue to read (hehe)

I bought my daddy a belt after dinner (MacDonald's). Well, I'm not "sua ku" (naive in a nice way) okay but this belt in direct translation is automatic. It does not have a buckle but you just slip the belt into the hook and the button will fasten but its own. Okay, you may not understand BUT IT'S OKAY! My daddy understand can already. Winson says I'm scary at shopping because I don't know how to buy belt. I didn't even know how to operate the belt.

The underside of it. Okay, a bit blur.

Looks like chocolate right?!

To my brother or Irene, if this helps, the university is located here. Wuhan University of Science and Technology.

Okay yes, I was talking about my elder brother. He will be flighting down from Beijing on Friday to look for me here in Wuhan! Because I told him I missed home so he said "Okay, I'll bring home to you. I'll be your one day home." Okay I know I have a very good brother. Don't envy me, haha! So if all goes well, he will be down on Friday. Hmm, test in the morning.. Although it's open book , I doubt it will be easy. Oh yeah. I'm planning of attaching myself to a company that I've work with before last time. But it's still early for me to plan now since my attachment is in the second semester. Will take things slow.

TIME TO WASH UP!! So late already. GOODNIGHT!