Day 6 - Suzhou Industrial Park

Day 6 - Suzhou Industrial Park

The Miniature “SINGAPORE”

In 1994, Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) was build, many jobs was created for the locals, and would have made some changes to their live. The land where Suzhou Industrial Park is now, was once a farm land, but now that land have changed into a very developed place. The late Mr Deng Xiaoping once said “Singapore enjoys good social order and is well managed. We should tap on their experience, and learn how to manage better than them."

When we were in the Suzhou Industrial Park gallery, we could see the changes of the piece of land, when it is like in 1994 till now 2016, even though it has been 22 years, but Suzhou Industrial Park is still improving. In the lobby of the SIP gallery, there are orchid flowers used as decoration, which the species is our Singapore National flower - Vanda 'Miss Joaquim'. This shows that Suzhou really respects Singapore, which causes them to put our national flower as a decoration.

Suzhou Industrial Park is around one-third the size of Singapore, not the building structure is the, they are also trying to manage SIP similar or even better than Singapore. The buildings in the Suzhou Industrial Park- CBD area looks similar to the buildings in our CBD area (Orchard road), the outer design of dark colour, grey and white, with glass panel. There’s a shopping centre in Suzhou Industrial Park called “LINK City”, not only the name is similar to Singapore’s “VIVO City”, but also the fronts of the name.

The development of the Suzhou Industrial Park would have affect the livelihood of many people, the once was a farm land have changed 360 degree to a technology place. An unattractive place in 1994, is now a famous tourist attraction which many people would want to visit, to know about the changes. Because late Mr Deng Xiao Ping and late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s perseverance, then only Suzhou Industrial Park would have been a successful one.

Lim Tong Xin

From a Spark to a Park

In 1992, the idea of developing a modern industrial township with Singapore experience was broached by China’s late leader Deng Xiaoping. He admired Singapore’s good social order and management, and wanted to tap on the experience that we had. Thus, in 1994, after rounds of discussions and site surveys, the governments of Singapore and China decided to join hands in developing a modern industrial park in the east of Suzhou, which I just had the opportunity to visit, and it is truly a magnificent place to behold.

I am thoroughly amazed at what the combined efforts of two governments can bring forth. With the experience of Singapore, and the manpower and land in China, along with a lot of brainstorming and hard work, such magnificent project could have been born. Imagine what it would be like if all the leaders of the world would work together for the greater good of mankind…Alas, it may be wishful thinking, but I really feel that this Suzhou Industrial Park proves to us that by combining efforts, great things can come forth. Not only that, but even though Singapore is a small country, this has shown us that we should not feel discouraged at any time as we’ll always have something to bring to the table, and all of us should work hard to make our nation proud.

Peggy Tang

Collaboration between 2 countries that has changed people’s life

The development of Suzhou Industrial Park has shown us that a collaboration of two countries would have a great impact on the lives of the people. Back in the 1990s, the place was unattractive and there were not many visitors. However, the development has caused many tourists to come and visit to find out the history and to experience a place that has a mixed culture of Singapore and China. Suzhou Industrial Park has created many good jobs from tourism for the people which include tour guide, selling souvenirs, restaurants and many more. Despite many setbacks, perseverance was shown by two countries to sustain the economy here. Therefore, perseverance is an important value for people who wish to improve the lives of people and make a positive change towards their countries.

Jinie Agilia

Suzhou Industrial Park – The child of cooperation

When I came to Suzhou Industrial Park, I was impressed about how it has developed in just 22 years. I was thrilled when I saw the technology they presented in the exhibition. As a person who is interested in technology development, I was totally mesmerized when I saw the presentation boards, nano chips, the screwdrivers, the interactive tables… Some of them I hadn’t had the chance to see before I came there because those are the kind of products that even some countries that have a longer history than SIP still have yet to reach. Although I could not understand Chinese, but just by visualizing the models in the exhibition, I can still know that technologies used in SIP are the most modernized ones. When we came to SIP, we were totally attracted to the technologies they use. We came from this surprise to another as we did not expected that SIP could be so modernized, It is such an inspiring place to visit and learn from.

Around 22 years ago, the representatives of Singapore and China came to SIP and started to develop ideas and make plans. Those plans, ideas and dreams now have come true, the development of SIP is remarkable. It shows that when the innovative people cooperate together, they can do things even themselves cannot imagine. Who knew that such an area can turn into one of the world famous technologies developing park in just a short period of time. Imagine after 50 years, how modern more can SIP become? To me, this developed park symbolizes the hard works, the ambitions, plans, ideas and dreams, the spirit of never giving up, the relationship and cooperation between countries. This journey to Suzhou Industrial Park is a motivation for us to study hard, keep trying and never give up to pursue our dreams.

Chia Ming Cat