By Cao Yuhan (24S03M) and Jessica Zhu Yunjie (24A01E)
So, you’ve just started your journey in RI. Having heard so many good things about our unique gap day, we’re sure you’ve been dying to experience it yourself! Before you spend the whole day catching up on sleep, however, us writers are here to assure you that the Raffles Bicultural (China) Programme is definitely worth dedicating your Wednesday afternoons to.
What exactly is BCP? BCP是啥？
The Raffles Bicultural (China) Programme serves as a platform for Year 5 students to understand China’s culture, history, and contemporary developments. With China rising as a regional and global power in recent years, it has become increasingly valuable to understand current affairs regarding China.
However, this doesn’t mean that BCP sessions repeat information that you can easily gather on your own by reading news articles which are readily available online. The various topics related to China are instead analysed from a Singaporean perspective, hence providing further contextualised insights which you may find handy when writing your GP essays!
Weekly Sessions
Now, for those who still wish to sleep in, you’ll be relieved to hear that sessions are held every Wednesday afternoon, from 1pm to 3pm.
They are typically structured to consist of a 1.5h long sharing, which is then followed up by a 30min Q&A segment for BCP students to pose further questions. Readings are also sent ahead of time to ensure that everyone gains a basic understanding of the topic before attending the session.
If anything, you can certainly be assured of the diversity of guest speakers and their various fields of expertise. Both local and Chinese national speakers hailing from backgrounds such as distinguished academics or industry professionals have been invited to join us, either in-person or online.
To list just a few examples, the 2023 programme featured talks covering China-Taiwan relations, China’s unique business culture, its climate politics and many more.
Beyond touching upon current affairs, this year’s programme also included a session where Singaporean students who have studied abroad in Tsinghua University and Peking University were brought on to share their experiences.
These alumni gave us plenty of much-appreciated advice on the unique university application process, as well as their personal takeaways from adapting to life in China.
For RI Year 5s interested in furthering their education in China, BCP would be a good opportunity for you to learn more from students with firsthand experience.
Capstone Presentation
Amidst the hectic JC schedule and heavy academic workload, the commitment required for BCP is relatively light. The only deliverable required for the entire programme is a 10-15 min presentation focusing on any research topic of your choice, which grants you a great deal of freedom to explore anything you’re interested in.
Of course, there’s still a few restrictions: it certainly has to be related to China, and you should arrive at your own analysis of how it can be applied to Singapore’s context.
Upon deciding on the general scope of your interest, like-minded students will be grouped together in teams of 2-3 to work on the presentation together. The timeline for this project spans across Term 2 to Term 3, which guarantees plenty of time for your group to conduct comprehensive research and prepare a cohesive deck of slides.
Do note that every group will also have to handle their own personal Q&A segment, so you definitely don’t want to be left drawing blanks! On the bright side, you can always treat it like additional practice for that unavoidable PW presentation at the end of the year…
(Hopefully) Overseas Trip!
Unfortunately, we were unable to physically travel to China in 2023 due to scheduling complications with the COVID-19 regulations and visa application system in place. This resulted in our year-end trip being replaced with a local learning journey to Alibaba Cloud Singapore instead.
Nonetheless, it was still an extremely fruitful experience and we got the chance to better understand the workplace culture from leading industry professionals (who even gave us plenty of souvenirs as keepsakes!)
With the new visa-free arrangement between Singapore and China established, the logistics of planning an overseas immersion programme for future batches will be much easier. For an idea of what to look forward to, previous BCP batches have visited cities such as Xiamen, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Who should join?
If you are yet to have plans for the November holidays in 2024 and are intrigued by the lessons BCP has to offer, consider joining this WEP! We are certain that if you have strong interest and great enthusiasm in gaining knowledge about China, you will thoroughly enjoy this programme.
As a large portion of the programme will be conducted in Chinese, applicants should be comfortable conversing fluently in both English and Chinese.
Our Final Words of Advice
To apply, you will have to upload a written statement of 300 words or less (in English or Chinese) on the topic: What are some areas or issues you are interested in in contemporary China? 你对当代中国的哪些课题最感兴趣/最为关注？
After, the teachers-in-charge will be contacting shortlisted applicants via email to confirm group interview sessions. We assure you that the interview is not as intimidating as it sounds, but be prepared to answer a few questions about your interests in current affairs and be honest so our teachers can plan activities that you will enjoy!
BCP Batch of 2023 wishes you all the best in your applications! We hope you’ll be able to attend an overseas trip in the upcoming year.
Some glimpses into the life of a BCP student:
