Six Piedmont High School students and four parents visited China during the school’s Spring Break, April 4-13, led by Mandarin teacher Xinjia Xia and Havens 1st grade teacher Hofsa Shurbaji. The trip included stops in Chengdu, Xi’an, and Beijing, allowing the group to soak up all the culture of ancient and modern China along the way.
This was the first trip to China organized by a Piedmont teacher in 10 years, and Xia started planning and preparing one year in advance. The stop in Beijing included a school exchange visit at Beijing Etown Academy, and sightseeing in the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.
Local transportation on bikes, buses and taxis was arranged by a cultural exchange company, and the group slept in hotels. Beijing is 1,100 miles northeast of Chengdu, with Xi’an in between. For long trips between cities, the students rode high-speed trains.
“Students not only had the opportunity to learn the language in an immersive environment, but they were also able to experience Chinese culture and gain a deeper understanding of both ancient and modern China,” said Xia, who teaches Mandarin at both Piedmont High and Piedmont Middle School.
Zofi Tinkoff, a 9th grad Mandarin student, noted that the people of China were very friendly and helpful everywhere they went, even in the big cities.
“[I appreciate] how devoted they are to preserving places and things important to their cultural identity – even pandas” said Tinkoff. “Paying for things was a lot easier than I expected. Walking around the cities was harder than I expected because they are so busy,” added Tinkoff.
An abundance of delicious dishes fueled the adventure along the way, including Sichuan hot pot, Xi’an’s roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), Peking duck, and dumplings.
“Students practiced speaking Chinese to varying degrees, but more importantly, being in an immersive environment helped them overcome psychological barriers. They became more confident and willing to speak,” said Xia.
Highlights of the trip included a visit to a panda sanctuary in Chengdu, and the Terracotta Warriors exhibit in Xi’an. The group took a gondola to a small teahouse atop Mt. Qingcheng, a birthplace of Taoism in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, with a sensational view.
“They experienced a different culture firsthand, which helped them become more open-minded and culturally inclusive, laying a solid foundation for becoming global citizens in the modern world,” said Xia.