First Impressions
William Ellis School Summer School trip to China, 2005
Fuller account of school trip to China
View China pictures and diary | Read introduction
A week before the end of the summer term a group of eleven William Ellis students (Years 10-13) set off on a 3 week visit to China. The group consisted of 3 girls and 8 boys, some with minimal knowledge of Mandarin and others with up to 3 years of twilight study behind them. The visit was organised by the British Council, with HSBC sponsorship. In all approximately 400 students, from up to 10 schools, attended each summer school in Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Hangzhou and Xiamen.
Our students undertook a sponsored walk through Central London, linking 10 places with a Chinese connection, to raise some of the funds themselves for the trip. Numerous large companies with known trading links with China were approached for sponsorship but only Lonely Planet responded with a generous donation of guide and phrase books.
We were allocated to the Summer School in Kunming, in Yunnan province, in south-west China. To give students the opportunity to see more of China and some of the most significant historical sites a 3 day stopover in Beijing was arranged. A hectic schedule in stifling humidity, took us to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tianeman Square, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall and the heart of the shopping district. The architecture of the historical buildings was beautiful and impressive. The Forbidden City is huge and once the extensive renovations for the 2008 Olympics are complete it will be even more spectacular especially the cobalt blue, emerald, scarlet and gold facades.
The Great Wall visit began with a near vertical climb to a guard post. By the third guard post the more energetic pupils had become lost in the descending mist. There was no doubt that to all of us it was extremely impressive, both in terms of the quality of its construction, its length and position straddling steep sided ridges.
We then took a 3 hour flight to Kunming and were immediately impressed to be greeted with red roses from the British Council staff and a friendly wave from several pedestrians as we drove through the city suburbs. We were accommodated in the University guest house adjoining the campus.
Yunnan province contains more ethnic minority groups than any other province in China. The features of many of the people reflect the different ethnic cultures. On the second evening we were treated to a delicious banquet at a luxury hotel with music and dances performed by local ethnic groups. The food throughout the trip was excellent and plentiful, though quite spicy. Each meal consisted of at least 10 dishes though we resisted mixing the desserts with the savoury ones, which appeared to be the local custom, and visits to western food outlets.
Over the next 2 weeks students studied Mandarin for 3 hours each morning and then participated in a variety of organised activities in the afternoons. These included calligraphy and Chinese painting classes, Chinese martial arts and Tai chi instruction, a Chinese cooking lesson and some sports activities. Despite a significant height disadvantage the Chinese students excelled at basketball and won every match.
Our school was paired with Yunnan principal Nationalities High School in Kunming where we are establishing a whole school link with them. Most evenings a group of partner students would arrive at the hotel to escort our students to see some new sights or to go shopping. With prices at least five times cheaper than in London there were many bargains to be found. A highlight another evening was a visit to a Karaoke club, far more luxurious than anywhere in London, we had the most fabulous suite to ourselves.
There were also several excellent trips organised out of the city. The most spectacular was to see the karst caves at Jiuxiang. A 2 hour journey through rolling countryside took us deep in to rural China. The 1500 metre cave system included several underground waterfalls and lakes, illuminated passageways, vast caverns and precipitous walkways. On re-emerging to the surface we discovered that the only way back to the entrance was by cable car.
At Western Hills just outside Kunming we struggled up flights of stone stairs cut in to a sheer rock face rising from Lake Dian to visit a series of small but magnificent temples. It was single file up and down as we mixed with local day trippers. On the way down pupils stopped off at stalls selling everything from Chairman Mao’s little red book, to pickled cucumbers, to jade necklaces.
On the final day we visited the Stone Forest Park, 100kms from Kunming. A series of monolithic limestone crags rise from the surrounding plain and assume anthropomorphic forms. Many of them were hard to recognise but the zig-zagging paths amongst the rocky labyrinth were great fun to follow. After resting in a luxury hotel, our accommodation that night, we left for the farewell party. This was held outside in a nature reserve adjoining a beautiful lake. We were joined at a huge bonfire by members of the Yi local ethnic minority, many in traditional dress, for an evening of singing and dancing. After harmonious and synchronised performances from the Yi, we treated them to renditions of songs by Oasis and R Kelly! The evening ended with almost everyone joining hands and dancing around the bonfire in several concentric circles to Yi rhythms.
The students had a fantastic time, excelled themselves in the mandarin speaking contest and socialised amazingly well with the Chinese partner students.
JOHN FORREST
Head of Geography
William Ellis School,
Highgate Road,
London
26 September 2005
