From the November 23, 2009 issue of Time Magazine and Time.com.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938671,00.html
"One day this summer, Sean Maloney, an executive vice president at Intel, was bouncing from one appointment to another in northeastern China, speeding along in a van traversing newly built highways.
He gazed out at one of the world's biggest construction projects: a network of high-speed train lines — covering 10,000 miles (16,000 km) nationwide — that China is building. As far as the eye could see, there sat vast concrete support struts, one after another, exactly 246 ft. (75 m) apart. Each was full of steel cables and weighed about 800 tons.
"We used to build stuff too," Maloney mused, unprompted. "But now it's NIMBY [not in my backyard] every time you try to do something. Here,'' he joked, "it's more like IMBY. There's stuff happening here, everywhere and always."
For full text and photos: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938671,00.html
Showing posts with label chinese schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chinese schools. Show all posts
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Time Magazine: Immersion Mandarin
From November 23, 2009 issue of Time; Yinghua Academy creates immersion experience.
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1938815,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1938815,00.html
Friday, October 9, 2009
From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/look-east-why-chinese-lessons-are-booming-1799026.html
There is also an interesting blog and comments section beneath this article, on the web site link. Seems many believe the UK is suffering from many of the same issues the U.S. is: lack of understanding why Chinese is important, lack of certified teachers.
Look East: Why Chinese lessons are booming
Where Chinese was once an exotic subject to study, today it has taken off in many schools. Hilary Wilce finds it has won the ultimate accolade – its own GCSE textbook
Thursday, 8 October 2009
The Independent, London
Two East London schoolgirls are chattering animatedly about their families, but not in English, or in their home languages of Urdu or Bengali. Instead Shajedah Kayum and Johura Hasna are gassing confidently in Mandarin Chinese.
At Kingsford Community School, in Beckton, east London, every pupil studies Mandarin when they start at age 11, and growing numbers are now choosing it at GCSE. Last year, 15 students took the subject and 66 per cent of them achieved A or A* grades. In Year Nine, about 50 students have already embarked – one year early – on Mandarin GCSE.
Kingsford is not alone. Mandarin is fast going mainstream with about 500 schools – no one knows the precise figure – offering it as part of the curriculum, and many more in after-school clubs. The first GCSE Chinese textbook has just been published by Pearson Education, in conjunction with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, tailored to a new EdExcel exam.
The language that used to be seen as an exotic novelty is taking its place as a normal GCSE languages option.
Sceptics say that this is all just a gimmick and that classroom time could be better used to help pupils become competent in a more accessible language such as French or Spanish.
But according to school heads who offer Mandarin courses, which include language and culture, the subject opens pupils' eyes to the biggest country in the world, hones general language skills, engages boys – who relate to the visual and spatial aspects of the language – enhances students' resumes, and can be a subject in which pupils who struggle with other languages do well.
Twelve schools in Britain have now become Confucius Classrooms, receiving support from the Office of Chinese Language Council, known as Hanban, along with help from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, itself a Confucius Institute since 2006.
This allows them to grow as specialist hubs, helping other schools to bring in Chinese studies.
Kingsford, a language college for 11- to 16-year-olds, is a Confucius Classroom and believes Mandarin has brought many benefits to its pupils. The school is a new one and only moved into its current building in 2002. The original head asked colleagues to suggest innovative cross-curricular programmes and the current head, Joan Deslandes, who was then in charge of humanities, languages and technology, suggested doing something on China.
"China had just joined the World Trade Association, I was interested in Confucius and I thought it was a language which none of our children spoke, so this would be a level playing field," she says. In a school where the pupils speak 55 languages between them, finding such a language was no easy task. Even so, some governors were initially resistant.
But Mandarin triumphed and since then the school has won a national Mandarin-speaking competition, sent students regularly to visit China, and built a close link with Brighton College, an independent school in Sussex, where Mandarin is compulsory.
Three Kingsford students a year go on scholarships to Brighton College to do their A levels. Other pupils have this year moved to other independent schools, including Cheltenham Ladies College, with their applications bolstered by their Mandarin skills.
The Mandarin programme brings many national and international visitors to the school, where they listen to pupils talk and watch them perform a tai chi-based fan dance.
The whole programme has clearly given many pupils a feeling of confidence and achievement. "I really like it and I'm glad I chose it," says Johura Hasna, who is just embarking on her GCSE and says she might want to work as a lawyer using her Chinese.
She was one student who won a trip to China "where, when you started talking people were, like, 'Wow'".
Osman Abdul-Moomin, another Year Nine pupil and who won the trip, says he was struck, in China, by how well everything was organised and how hard people worked. He is delighted he is doing the subject. "Speaking Mandarin – it's a trump card!"
The school has two permanent Mandarin teachers and is looking for a third. It also gets support from Hanban teachers who come on placement from China. Linying Liu is the school's Confucius classroom manager, who is helping to write the new Chinese textbooks. She says that she could easily find a job in an independent school, but is happy in the tougher conditions that Kingsford offers.
For the head teacher Joan Deslandes, the programme is just one aspect of an education of high expectations. Mandarin is in the top three languages that employers say they want, she says.
"But any school that wants to do it will have to have the full backing of the school leadership, and will need to make an investment in curriculum time. And it will have to recognise there are no quick wins here. It will not necessarily make your exam results look good." Even so, Kingsford students, despite coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, far exceed the national GCSE average.
Mandarin has now reached take-off point in British schools with the publication of the new textbook, according to Katharine Carruthers, the director for the SSAT Confucius Institute. "For the first time it is going to look like any other GCSE," she says. "Before it could be seen as something exotic and heads could get away with a bit of teaching after school, but now it's going viral and heads are starting to think, 'I'd better take a look at this because it's obviously changed.'" Textbooks for Key Stages 3 and 2 are also in the pipeline.
According to Andrew Hall, the head of Calday Grange Grammar School, in West Kirby, the home of another Confucius Classroom, the language "has gone from novelty to mainstream" in 10 years. His school works with five other secondary schools as well as with primaries and nurseries. "The students enjoy it and parents are very supportive," he says. "There's a great and growing awareness of China."
But just how proficient are students who have gained GCSE Chinese? In speaking and listening they are not far off the level they would be in, say, French, says Katherine Carruthers. Their reading and writing, however, takes longer, which means the passages that are set for them are shorter and easier. "But there is every sign that the subject is engaging children," she says. "They love learning about the culture and it is very motivating."
There is also an interesting blog and comments section beneath this article, on the web site link. Seems many believe the UK is suffering from many of the same issues the U.S. is: lack of understanding why Chinese is important, lack of certified teachers.
Look East: Why Chinese lessons are booming
Where Chinese was once an exotic subject to study, today it has taken off in many schools. Hilary Wilce finds it has won the ultimate accolade – its own GCSE textbook
Thursday, 8 October 2009
The Independent, London
Two East London schoolgirls are chattering animatedly about their families, but not in English, or in their home languages of Urdu or Bengali. Instead Shajedah Kayum and Johura Hasna are gassing confidently in Mandarin Chinese.
At Kingsford Community School, in Beckton, east London, every pupil studies Mandarin when they start at age 11, and growing numbers are now choosing it at GCSE. Last year, 15 students took the subject and 66 per cent of them achieved A or A* grades. In Year Nine, about 50 students have already embarked – one year early – on Mandarin GCSE.
Kingsford is not alone. Mandarin is fast going mainstream with about 500 schools – no one knows the precise figure – offering it as part of the curriculum, and many more in after-school clubs. The first GCSE Chinese textbook has just been published by Pearson Education, in conjunction with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, tailored to a new EdExcel exam.
The language that used to be seen as an exotic novelty is taking its place as a normal GCSE languages option.
Sceptics say that this is all just a gimmick and that classroom time could be better used to help pupils become competent in a more accessible language such as French or Spanish.
But according to school heads who offer Mandarin courses, which include language and culture, the subject opens pupils' eyes to the biggest country in the world, hones general language skills, engages boys – who relate to the visual and spatial aspects of the language – enhances students' resumes, and can be a subject in which pupils who struggle with other languages do well.
Twelve schools in Britain have now become Confucius Classrooms, receiving support from the Office of Chinese Language Council, known as Hanban, along with help from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, itself a Confucius Institute since 2006.
This allows them to grow as specialist hubs, helping other schools to bring in Chinese studies.
Kingsford, a language college for 11- to 16-year-olds, is a Confucius Classroom and believes Mandarin has brought many benefits to its pupils. The school is a new one and only moved into its current building in 2002. The original head asked colleagues to suggest innovative cross-curricular programmes and the current head, Joan Deslandes, who was then in charge of humanities, languages and technology, suggested doing something on China.
"China had just joined the World Trade Association, I was interested in Confucius and I thought it was a language which none of our children spoke, so this would be a level playing field," she says. In a school where the pupils speak 55 languages between them, finding such a language was no easy task. Even so, some governors were initially resistant.
But Mandarin triumphed and since then the school has won a national Mandarin-speaking competition, sent students regularly to visit China, and built a close link with Brighton College, an independent school in Sussex, where Mandarin is compulsory.
Three Kingsford students a year go on scholarships to Brighton College to do their A levels. Other pupils have this year moved to other independent schools, including Cheltenham Ladies College, with their applications bolstered by their Mandarin skills.
The Mandarin programme brings many national and international visitors to the school, where they listen to pupils talk and watch them perform a tai chi-based fan dance.
The whole programme has clearly given many pupils a feeling of confidence and achievement. "I really like it and I'm glad I chose it," says Johura Hasna, who is just embarking on her GCSE and says she might want to work as a lawyer using her Chinese.
She was one student who won a trip to China "where, when you started talking people were, like, 'Wow'".
Osman Abdul-Moomin, another Year Nine pupil and who won the trip, says he was struck, in China, by how well everything was organised and how hard people worked. He is delighted he is doing the subject. "Speaking Mandarin – it's a trump card!"
The school has two permanent Mandarin teachers and is looking for a third. It also gets support from Hanban teachers who come on placement from China. Linying Liu is the school's Confucius classroom manager, who is helping to write the new Chinese textbooks. She says that she could easily find a job in an independent school, but is happy in the tougher conditions that Kingsford offers.
For the head teacher Joan Deslandes, the programme is just one aspect of an education of high expectations. Mandarin is in the top three languages that employers say they want, she says.
"But any school that wants to do it will have to have the full backing of the school leadership, and will need to make an investment in curriculum time. And it will have to recognise there are no quick wins here. It will not necessarily make your exam results look good." Even so, Kingsford students, despite coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, far exceed the national GCSE average.
Mandarin has now reached take-off point in British schools with the publication of the new textbook, according to Katharine Carruthers, the director for the SSAT Confucius Institute. "For the first time it is going to look like any other GCSE," she says. "Before it could be seen as something exotic and heads could get away with a bit of teaching after school, but now it's going viral and heads are starting to think, 'I'd better take a look at this because it's obviously changed.'" Textbooks for Key Stages 3 and 2 are also in the pipeline.
According to Andrew Hall, the head of Calday Grange Grammar School, in West Kirby, the home of another Confucius Classroom, the language "has gone from novelty to mainstream" in 10 years. His school works with five other secondary schools as well as with primaries and nurseries. "The students enjoy it and parents are very supportive," he says. "There's a great and growing awareness of China."
But just how proficient are students who have gained GCSE Chinese? In speaking and listening they are not far off the level they would be in, say, French, says Katherine Carruthers. Their reading and writing, however, takes longer, which means the passages that are set for them are shorter and easier. "But there is every sign that the subject is engaging children," she says. "They love learning about the culture and it is very motivating."
Monday, July 13, 2009
Travelling to China!
We recently returned from a wonderful twelve day trip to China (Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou and Shanghai) with our two children, ages 9 and 13. The trip was arranged by China Connections, and was very professionally organized, terrific guides, wonderful sites, extemely courteous attention, very well organized. I would receive a reply to every email within 24 hours. http://www.china-tour.cn/
June 26
We arrived in Beijing’s sparkling new international airport, and made it thru security and the H1N1 flu check. Security came on board the plane to do a temperature scan; technicians were wearing all white, surgical masks and visor-helmets. Sort of techno-scary, but very interesting way to start our trip. Very few crowds, so easy to get thru security and immigration was a snap.
June 27
Tianammen Square and Forbidden City were amazing so historical. Lots of people, mainly tourists from Korea, Japan and around Chinese. Very few Americans or Europeans.
In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace and rode the Dragon Boat (a ferry across the lake to the exit, definitely worth doing. Then a visit to a
pearl factory.
Dinner was at this very upscale restaurant, Baizha Da Zhai Men - costumed actors in Qing dynasty wear, it was like a courtyard home, meticulously maintained; very expensive / exclusive. Most tourists, I've heard, do not know about this restaurant - definitely worth a visit!
Our hotel is good, not as upscale as 4 star would be in the States, but very good for us, because almost no one speaks English, so Em, Becky and I have to really make an effort to speak Chinese (and sometimes we draw pictures!).
We didn’t have cold water the first morning, but they fixed it fairly quickly after I called a couple times and finally went downstairs (at 6 AM).
Emily’s Ipod with Chinese app is coming in handy to look up all kinds of words (it gives Chinese, pinyin, English, with tones).
Food is great, we found the chef will make fresh Beijing noodles right in
Front of you, for breakfast.
Our guide, Robert Huang, is warm, funny, delightful, his English is great. If you travel to China and use China Connection Tours, I would recommend you ask for Robert. (info@ChinaConnectionTours.com, ask for Michael Xu.)
June 28
Yesterday we went to the Jade Factory then on to the Great Wall, Juyonguong Pass (this is a section of the Wall I did about 3 years ago, but I did it in April, 70 degrees, not end of June, 100 degrees…)
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/scene/beijing/juyongguan.htm
We had lunch at the friendship store / cloisonne factory (I've been to this
Factory before, but they’ve renovated it, so they no longer have glass separating most of the workers which meant we were able to get up close to them while they worked, it was great.
We went to the Olympic Village, went inside the water cube,
and then went to a tea house and then to the Hard Rock for dinner (had to do it).
June 29
Today we visited the hutong area of Beijing, amazing, wonderful, in rickshaws, it covers a much larger area than I thought it would. You cannot skip this if you are in Beijing.
Then we visited Wangfujing Street, like Rodeo Drive, gorgeous, new, then on to the Temple of Heaven, a beautiful, big park, was where the royal families worshipped.
Then to dinner and to a gongfu show. It was great, very crowded, this is where all the tourists go. When we left someone managed to get into my bag and steal my wallet. (There were a lot of crowds, buses, chaotic.) You have to remember to watch your children, bags, when traveling, a good reminder.
June 30
The next day we went to the bank to get $$ from American Express and
turned out we were the first of anyone ever to try to do that, so took
1.5 >> hours, (we cancelled our field trip for the day, which was supposed to
be a 3 hour bus drive to an even more ancient hutong area, Cuandixia Village http://www.china.org.cn/travel/gallery/2008-11/13/content_16759910.htm but that was okay...our guide Robert Huang said we still had time, and could go, but we wanted to be sure we had cancelled credit cards, called insurance, etc.
Miraculously, though, after getting $$ from bank, Robert got a call, a car park attendant at the Crowne Plaza found my wallet - everything intact except cash, credit cards and ring, so we went over to pick it up. The car parking lot attendant said the wallet had been thrown under a car, so most likely what happened was that a gang of professional thieves scoped out the most tourist-y area they could find, found someone distracted (me) to accost, then within 30 minutes went to Wangfujing Street (Rodeo Drive) to charge about $12K worth of items, (including about $4K woth of clothes from Zara!) tossing my wallet with things they didn’t need out, along the way.
Surprisingly, everything left in my wallet was scrupulously in order, so the thief was very neat.
We made a trip to the Beijing Zoo, which wasn’t on our itinerary, but which China Connections graciously substituted since we had to cancel Cuandixia Village. This is another “don’t miss” in Beijing, especially if you have children. The pandas, of course, were the biggest hit, and I was surprised at the extent of the panda exhibit; I expected 2 or 3 pandas, but there were at least 6 or 8, many outside, climbing trees.
July 1
Today got up at 6, and took a walk to this great park we found, where Olympic baseball was played. People were doing tai chi, Chinese yoyo, walking dogs,
sitting outside with their birds in cages, wonderful.No matter how much you may want to sleep in, it’s worth it to set the alarm and get up to see some tai chi in the early, cool AM.
We went to Hong Qiao Flea Market, a large indoor market where you can pretty much buy anything you’d want. My children thought it was hysterical that shop girls would accost me in the aisles, sometimes grabbing me, four or six at a time, trying to get us to buy things.
Had a Beijing Roast Duck dinner, then on to the very clean, new-ish train station for the overnight soft sleeper train to Xian. We had 4 berths in a very small cabin, but very new, clean, air conditioned, so we actually all slept well.
July 2
Arrived in Xian at 8:30AM, this was tricky, at first we couldn’t find the way out / correct exit, and had to meet our guide outside the exit…but we managed, after paying someone much too much to help with bags (er shi liang kwai for oone or two large bags on wheels, 22 kwai RMB, about $3.50).
Our guide was Elsie, very knowledgable, very nice, she had a bit of a tendency to get short tempered with our questions, though!
Very hot, hotter than Beijing (if anyone has a chance to travel to China, but can make the trip in October or April, I’d recommend doing that, even if it means pulling your children out of school).
On to hotel to check in (lovely hotel, Arum International, beautiful, connected rooms, sophisticated staff, many people spoke English, easy to get an internet connection, great breakfast).
After breakfast went to Shaanxi History Museum (first capital of China in 220 BC, emperor Qin unified China, standardized currency, connected various walls to form the Great Wall). Xi'an was the center for international trade in the Tang Dynasty period - this was before the Silk Road / Marco Polo / Kubla Khan.
Then went to the Huaxian Peasant Painters Village (very famous, they came to
Greenwich a couple years ago), one woman, Mrs. Pan, who was a local crafts person when much younger, got local artists together to help promote their way of painting, and it's gotten international awards. Saw paper cutting, then back to hotel, had dumpling banquet and show (Tang Dynasty music and dance).
July 3
Today got up early, went to Terra Cotta Warriors museum, where we saw the
pottery area, kiln, a demonstration of how the warriors were made, how lacquer and pottery is made, and how the smaller (souvenirs) ones are made now, very similar, except now they use molds, back then they did not (220 BC). The Terra Cotta Warriors were part of the Emperor (Emperor Qin, above) tomb, to act as guards.
On to the actual excavation site, unbelievable and amazing, they 're still
excavating more. Met the farmer who discovered the stone warriors; he is in his 80s now, Mr. Yang.
Then on to the Big Goose Pagoda (buddhist monastery) and to the ancient
Xi'an City Wall, where we rode bikes on the wall, a great thing to do. Dinner was Szechuan hot pot, we walked through the city of Xian to get to the restaurant, much like parts of NYC. Older children would love this, you get to cook your own food.
July 4
We took an early flight to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a very upscale, famous, water resort town, lots of BMWs,Mercedes (and with import taxes, they pay about 4X what we'd pay for the same car...).
Saw the West Lake, went boating on the lake, went to Ling Yin Temple and a
silk factory (supposedly the biggest in China), as well as a tea
plantation. Really beautiful.
Had dinner at Lou Wai Lou restaurant on the West Lake. Would definitely recommend this for the experience and views of the lake, except we seem to keep getting chicken and fish with bones, hard to eat…think about requesting “nothing with bones” when you are planning your trip, especially if you have children. (I’ll eat anything, but the bones get to me…)
Next AM took the van to Shanghai, checked in, and went to see the Yuyuan Gardens (with ancient bazaar; this market with buildings and zig zag bridge has been around for centuries), the Cheng Huang Temple (passed by, didn't go in), did Nanjing Road, then shopping, dinner, then acrobats at the gorgeous performing arts center. Puts anyhing in NYC to shame.
The next day we did the Shanghai Museum (I've been there before, we loved it), the Children's Palace (which was really a community center, strange naming), a wonderful Jade Museum, and then to the Pudong district, the Bund, TV Pearl Tower, and dinner at the top of the Pearl Tower's spinning restaurant. Again, this is something that might not make it to your itinerary unless you ask, and it's definitely worth it!
We finished up with a boat tour on the Huangpu River, which is amazing, All lights at night. This is another “must do” in Shanghai.
The next day took the maglev bullet train to the Pudong Airport and headed home!
A fantastic trip.
For more information on Chinese programs (especially Chinese language classes for children and adults, Chinese preschool classes, culture, history) please contact www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org or email us at info@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.
June 26
We arrived in Beijing’s sparkling new international airport, and made it thru security and the H1N1 flu check. Security came on board the plane to do a temperature scan; technicians were wearing all white, surgical masks and visor-helmets. Sort of techno-scary, but very interesting way to start our trip. Very few crowds, so easy to get thru security and immigration was a snap.
June 27
Tianammen Square and Forbidden City were amazing so historical. Lots of people, mainly tourists from Korea, Japan and around Chinese. Very few Americans or Europeans.
In the afternoon we went to the Summer Palace and rode the Dragon Boat (a ferry across the lake to the exit, definitely worth doing. Then a visit to a
pearl factory.
Dinner was at this very upscale restaurant, Baizha Da Zhai Men - costumed actors in Qing dynasty wear, it was like a courtyard home, meticulously maintained; very expensive / exclusive. Most tourists, I've heard, do not know about this restaurant - definitely worth a visit!
Our hotel is good, not as upscale as 4 star would be in the States, but very good for us, because almost no one speaks English, so Em, Becky and I have to really make an effort to speak Chinese (and sometimes we draw pictures!).
We didn’t have cold water the first morning, but they fixed it fairly quickly after I called a couple times and finally went downstairs (at 6 AM).
Emily’s Ipod with Chinese app is coming in handy to look up all kinds of words (it gives Chinese, pinyin, English, with tones).
Food is great, we found the chef will make fresh Beijing noodles right in
Front of you, for breakfast.
Our guide, Robert Huang, is warm, funny, delightful, his English is great. If you travel to China and use China Connection Tours, I would recommend you ask for Robert. (info@ChinaConnectionTours.com, ask for Michael Xu.)
June 28
Yesterday we went to the Jade Factory then on to the Great Wall, Juyonguong Pass (this is a section of the Wall I did about 3 years ago, but I did it in April, 70 degrees, not end of June, 100 degrees…)
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/scene/beijing/juyongguan.htm
We had lunch at the friendship store / cloisonne factory (I've been to this
Factory before, but they’ve renovated it, so they no longer have glass separating most of the workers which meant we were able to get up close to them while they worked, it was great.
We went to the Olympic Village, went inside the water cube,
and then went to a tea house and then to the Hard Rock for dinner (had to do it).
June 29
Today we visited the hutong area of Beijing, amazing, wonderful, in rickshaws, it covers a much larger area than I thought it would. You cannot skip this if you are in Beijing.
Then we visited Wangfujing Street, like Rodeo Drive, gorgeous, new, then on to the Temple of Heaven, a beautiful, big park, was where the royal families worshipped.
Then to dinner and to a gongfu show. It was great, very crowded, this is where all the tourists go. When we left someone managed to get into my bag and steal my wallet. (There were a lot of crowds, buses, chaotic.) You have to remember to watch your children, bags, when traveling, a good reminder.
June 30
The next day we went to the bank to get $$ from American Express and
turned out we were the first of anyone ever to try to do that, so took
1.5 >> hours, (we cancelled our field trip for the day, which was supposed to
be a 3 hour bus drive to an even more ancient hutong area, Cuandixia Village http://www.china.org.cn/travel/gallery/2008-11/13/content_16759910.htm but that was okay...our guide Robert Huang said we still had time, and could go, but we wanted to be sure we had cancelled credit cards, called insurance, etc.
Miraculously, though, after getting $$ from bank, Robert got a call, a car park attendant at the Crowne Plaza found my wallet - everything intact except cash, credit cards and ring, so we went over to pick it up. The car parking lot attendant said the wallet had been thrown under a car, so most likely what happened was that a gang of professional thieves scoped out the most tourist-y area they could find, found someone distracted (me) to accost, then within 30 minutes went to Wangfujing Street (Rodeo Drive) to charge about $12K worth of items, (including about $4K woth of clothes from Zara!) tossing my wallet with things they didn’t need out, along the way.
Surprisingly, everything left in my wallet was scrupulously in order, so the thief was very neat.
We made a trip to the Beijing Zoo, which wasn’t on our itinerary, but which China Connections graciously substituted since we had to cancel Cuandixia Village. This is another “don’t miss” in Beijing, especially if you have children. The pandas, of course, were the biggest hit, and I was surprised at the extent of the panda exhibit; I expected 2 or 3 pandas, but there were at least 6 or 8, many outside, climbing trees.
July 1
Today got up at 6, and took a walk to this great park we found, where Olympic baseball was played. People were doing tai chi, Chinese yoyo, walking dogs,
sitting outside with their birds in cages, wonderful.No matter how much you may want to sleep in, it’s worth it to set the alarm and get up to see some tai chi in the early, cool AM.
We went to Hong Qiao Flea Market, a large indoor market where you can pretty much buy anything you’d want. My children thought it was hysterical that shop girls would accost me in the aisles, sometimes grabbing me, four or six at a time, trying to get us to buy things.
Had a Beijing Roast Duck dinner, then on to the very clean, new-ish train station for the overnight soft sleeper train to Xian. We had 4 berths in a very small cabin, but very new, clean, air conditioned, so we actually all slept well.
July 2
Arrived in Xian at 8:30AM, this was tricky, at first we couldn’t find the way out / correct exit, and had to meet our guide outside the exit…but we managed, after paying someone much too much to help with bags (er shi liang kwai for oone or two large bags on wheels, 22 kwai RMB, about $3.50).
Our guide was Elsie, very knowledgable, very nice, she had a bit of a tendency to get short tempered with our questions, though!
Very hot, hotter than Beijing (if anyone has a chance to travel to China, but can make the trip in October or April, I’d recommend doing that, even if it means pulling your children out of school).
On to hotel to check in (lovely hotel, Arum International, beautiful, connected rooms, sophisticated staff, many people spoke English, easy to get an internet connection, great breakfast).
After breakfast went to Shaanxi History Museum (first capital of China in 220 BC, emperor Qin unified China, standardized currency, connected various walls to form the Great Wall). Xi'an was the center for international trade in the Tang Dynasty period - this was before the Silk Road / Marco Polo / Kubla Khan.
Then went to the Huaxian Peasant Painters Village (very famous, they came to
Greenwich a couple years ago), one woman, Mrs. Pan, who was a local crafts person when much younger, got local artists together to help promote their way of painting, and it's gotten international awards. Saw paper cutting, then back to hotel, had dumpling banquet and show (Tang Dynasty music and dance).
July 3
Today got up early, went to Terra Cotta Warriors museum, where we saw the
pottery area, kiln, a demonstration of how the warriors were made, how lacquer and pottery is made, and how the smaller (souvenirs) ones are made now, very similar, except now they use molds, back then they did not (220 BC). The Terra Cotta Warriors were part of the Emperor (Emperor Qin, above) tomb, to act as guards.
On to the actual excavation site, unbelievable and amazing, they 're still
excavating more. Met the farmer who discovered the stone warriors; he is in his 80s now, Mr. Yang.
Then on to the Big Goose Pagoda (buddhist monastery) and to the ancient
Xi'an City Wall, where we rode bikes on the wall, a great thing to do. Dinner was Szechuan hot pot, we walked through the city of Xian to get to the restaurant, much like parts of NYC. Older children would love this, you get to cook your own food.
July 4
We took an early flight to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a very upscale, famous, water resort town, lots of BMWs,Mercedes (and with import taxes, they pay about 4X what we'd pay for the same car...).
Saw the West Lake, went boating on the lake, went to Ling Yin Temple and a
silk factory (supposedly the biggest in China), as well as a tea
plantation. Really beautiful.
Had dinner at Lou Wai Lou restaurant on the West Lake. Would definitely recommend this for the experience and views of the lake, except we seem to keep getting chicken and fish with bones, hard to eat…think about requesting “nothing with bones” when you are planning your trip, especially if you have children. (I’ll eat anything, but the bones get to me…)
Next AM took the van to Shanghai, checked in, and went to see the Yuyuan Gardens (with ancient bazaar; this market with buildings and zig zag bridge has been around for centuries), the Cheng Huang Temple (passed by, didn't go in), did Nanjing Road, then shopping, dinner, then acrobats at the gorgeous performing arts center. Puts anyhing in NYC to shame.
The next day we did the Shanghai Museum (I've been there before, we loved it), the Children's Palace (which was really a community center, strange naming), a wonderful Jade Museum, and then to the Pudong district, the Bund, TV Pearl Tower, and dinner at the top of the Pearl Tower's spinning restaurant. Again, this is something that might not make it to your itinerary unless you ask, and it's definitely worth it!
We finished up with a boat tour on the Huangpu River, which is amazing, All lights at night. This is another “must do” in Shanghai.
The next day took the maglev bullet train to the Pudong Airport and headed home!
A fantastic trip.
For more information on Chinese programs (especially Chinese language classes for children and adults, Chinese preschool classes, culture, history) please contact www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org or email us at info@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.
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