Cultural Difference in Counting

Culture is a set of patterns of behaviors and beliefs that is usually formed within a geographical region. Even within China, there are big cultural differences in the southern and the northern parts. For example, in north China, during the first month of the Chinese New Year, those people whose mother has bothers are not allowed to have their hair cut, as it is believed that doing so will bring bad luck or illness to their mothers’ brothers, while people in the south China never believe in this.

It is no surprise that the people from different countries have different ways of expressing themselves. Recall how we count numbers by hand. From the first day of my primary school, I was taught how to count from one to ten using one hand. At the beginning, I thought such counting method was common through out the world. However, I learnt later that European people count using two hands and in some Asian counties people use one hand but in different ways. Interestingly, what the European people mean by two is what Chinese mean by eight and is what Singaporeans mean by seven.

I cannot help laughing when reminiscing about the bargain experience of my Chinese teacher in London. He could not speak English, and used fingers to bargain for a pot with a seller. The seller, using his fingers as well, asked for twenty pounds with the thumb and the index finger. My teacher thought it was eighty pounds and bid for fifty in return, using all five fingers. The seller was quite honest and insisted on twenty pounds. At last, my teacher became very impatient. He just threw fifty pounds to the seller and took away the pot proudly.





Chinese Counting for 1-10

Japanese Counting for 7

European Counting for 7

Application Letter

Job Description

State Street Bank Trust and Company


Internship – Quantitative Research Analyst

This position entails immediate responsibilities for producing research for our clients worldwide. The successful candidate will make useful suggestions, take initiatives, can be relied upon, and will show accurate quantitative skills. The person will report to the Vice President, State Street Associates.

The candidate will get familiarized with the research State Street Associates produced. As soon as possible, the candidate must be able to produce research reports for our clients worldwide. The candidate must understand basic finance (portfolio construction, e.g. some exposure to constrained optimization theory), computer programming (e.g. Matlab, VBA or C++ for instance, and office software suite is necessary).

The second step will be for the candidate to get involved in customized research projects, and contribute research innovations. Therefore, the candidate should have an interest in learning the latest finance research and understanding how it might be useful to clients. The candidate must be able to read an academic research paper and will be given the opportunity to present his research contribution directly to clients.

Overall, the job will provide substantial possibilities for on-the-job training and will prove quite valuable to a career in finance.



168 Robinson Road
#33-01 Capital Tower
Singapore 068912
Dear Mr Lee Yow Fee

Internship – Quantitative Research Analyst

I am writing to express my interest in the part-time internship offered by State Street Bank as a quantitative research analyst. I knew this position from NUS Career Center. Having graduated from NUS with first class honours and now a graduate student in Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, NUS, I have strong interest in learning financial research and quick learning ability. I believe that there would be a good fit between my skills and your needs.

My undergraduate study and the Chartered Financial Analyst level 1 course have given me valuable insights in the financial markets and have developed my accurate quantitative skills. As one of the four students getting A+ in the module Nonlinear Programming, I have a solid understanding of constrained optimization theory. Being trained as a graduate student, I am able to read and understand the academic research paper quickly and to produce research reports for the clients. Furthermore, my computer programming skills in Matlab, Excel-VBA and R will enable me to finish every research task effectively.

I am most willing to learn and to take up every research project assigned to me. My strong will to strive for excellence will put me in a good stead to take up this internship. My resume is enclosed here. You can contact me by emailing to wangchen_2351@hotmail.com. I look forward to discussing the specific contributions I could make to State Street Bank with you.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,



Wang Chen

Interpersonal Conflict

This is what happened to me during my last summer holidays in China.

My friend asked me to give tuitions to his sister, who is going to take O-level next year. As I had tuition experience for JC students and was well recognized, I agreed without hesitation. Because of our friendship, it was free.

After a few lessons, I spotted many cumbersome methods she used in her homework. When I seriously pointed these out and asked her to adapt for the efficient methods, she became impatient and non-cooperative, saying “It is fine as long as my answer is correct. You are too harsh.”

Her words angered me and I told her that it was her not me that would suffer. I was here not to be harsh to her but to help her make progress. I was not her enemy but her comrade and O-level was our common enemy.

After saying so much, I left and told my friend that I would not come any more.

Having calmed myself down, I tried to put myself in her shoes. My standard might be too high for her. Maybe it was her first attempt at the questions and she was quite satisfied for the correct answer. At the age of 16, she might need more praise than blame.

It was a painful experience not because I did not get money but because what I did was not recognized. Fortunately, the friendship is still there.

It is unlikely that I would give tuitions again, but there are lessons I can learn from this experience. What do you think?