The Summer Palace and a trip to Xi'an

Today I visited the Summer Palace which is a sprawling oasis. In fact, once inside it is easy to forget where Beijing is. The park is filled with buildings and park space as well as temples. The park was built in 1750 making it one of the "newest" sights that I had seen in China, and shows a great example of imperial garden style. The whole park is quite large and I spent the better part of 4 hours there before it was time for me to get back into the city to get ready to leave for Xi'An.

After I returned to my hotel I went out to the Beijing West Station, which is the largest in Beijing. There were quite literally thousands of people at the station and after finally getting into the station I found my way to the waiting room where I would wait until my train was called. I travelled on China's newest type of overnight train which was a Z-class train. The majority of the train was filled with tourists, including a large group of teenagers from the UK on an exchange. The journey lasted about 12 hours. I was in a rather nice compartment that included 2 beds and a bathroom. I arrived rested and refreshed in Xi'an ready to start exploring.

A Visit to the Temple of Heaven

Today was a rather low-key day. I started off in the morning by going to the Temple of Heaven in the southern part of Beijing. After doing a little research I found out that the temple is one of 4 great temples in Beijing and is associated with Taoism. The temple grounds are huge and include massive amounts of park space that quite a few people used to just sit and relax or to practice playing classical Chinese instruments and singing.

My Second Day in Beijing

I just arrived yesterday in Beijing and met up with a couple of high school friends who are also studying in China this summer. Today we went together to visit the Forbidden City and get a glimpse at Tian'anmen Square. After walking through the large gates with Chairman Mao looking over us we walked around several courtyards until we came to the entrance of the Forbidden City. After stepping inside the walls, it felt much larger than I had ever imagined. It truly was a city in itself (as overly simplistic and redundant this sounds) and I remarked to my friends that I thought it would be so easy to get lost. The whole city is laid out symmetrically with hundreds of buildings, as well as courtyards and gardens, each displaying quite well traditional Chinese architechture. In many of the buildings, the space had been converted into gallery space highlighting everything from calligraphy to dress and weapons from throughout Chinese history. It took us about 4 hours to walk around it, and even after that we only left because our feet were getting tired, not because we had seen it all. We had thought about going to another site, but I decided that I would see it tomorrow.

Dong Fang Mountain and Temple

After a short bus ride and hike up Dong Fang Mountain today we arrived at a Buddist Temple. The temple is over 1000 years old and is currently inhabited by about 100 monks. Despite its age, it is very much in use and that was easily seen by the new buildings everywhere as well as the construction workers walking around. It was quite an impressive sight and the area contained many buildings, each more interesting the the previous. Although I wish I could write more, I know so little about the temple or the history and most of the time we were all just walking around. I was pretty amazed at what I was seeing and the amount of work and history exhibited by the temple.

A visit to a dorm

The very first visit we had in Huangshi was a visit to the girls' dorm. Today was my first time to catch a glimpse of the boys' dorm, a huge complex housing about 2000 people. It was very surprising to see this many people living together as it's almost twice as big as Haverford. As I passed by each doorway I saw people either sleeping or playing computer games. This week is exam week, so most students don't have very much to do. Those who were sleeping were doing on the floor where it was much cooler than on the bunked beds. Each room houses 4 people along with a bathroom at the end. The room I was in was quite roomy compared to the other room I had been into previously and seemed that each student had their own personal space. One observation that I have made however is that students are very neat and clean and organized. Then again...all the rooms I've been in have been pointed out because of their cleanliness.

A visit to the Jing Jiu factory and an iron mine

Today was a day off from everything. We headed off with some teachers from the English Department to the Jing Jiu factory. While the company produces everything from red wine to water, what they are most known for is an alcoholic beverage made with traditional Chinese herbal medicines. According to our teachers and guides, this medicine is often used by men and older people. Our visit consisted of a short tour around the various parts of the plant where we saw step by step how they made the famous spirit. The process starts out with tons of herbs that are brought in and cut and crushed. From there we weren't able to see clearly, but a liquor is made that sits in large vats for about 5 months before it is ready to be bottled and sold on the market. The drink is then bottled and shipped all over China.

The second visit of the day was to a local mine. The mine is not used very much anymore and much of it serves as a tourist destination to view how mining was carried out. The area around Huangshi had many mines for coal, iron, copper, and gold. The mine that we visited had been used for iron mainly during the Qing Dynasty. The mine was also used by the Japanese while they occupied the area and there are still buildings standing that date from that period.

A Small Calligraphy Lesson

Today we visted Professor Zhang at his house where he taught us a little bit about Chinese calligraphy going over the history and many different styles. We were able to try our hand at it, but I have to say that mine did not come out very well. Writing in ink made me horribly nervous and next to his writing, mine looked like that of a 4-year old. After all of that Professor Zhang wrote each of our names in the style that we wished. I asked for Kaishu style, which is one of the most common forms of script and is still used frequently today. After writing our names, Professor Zhang gave each of us a bit of his own work that I've displayed here.

Calm at HIT

The past few days have been very quiet here at HIT. Students are now full swing into their exams. Today we led a short lecture on tons of aspects of American life such as rural/urban settings, fashion, customs, transportation, etc. This came after our Friday lecture on American stereotypes and the influence they exert on society. In the coming weeks we expect to have a light workload, however we will be giving informal lectures on American culture. Tomorrow we are headed off to mining sites as well as to a local factory specializing in a regional spirit.

Dragon Boat Festival

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival also known as Duan Wu Jie. Most people, either today or this past weekend, went home or to a relative or friend's house in order to celebrate. We were invited this past weekend to an English teacher's house where we enjoyed a great meal cooked by her father. We also ate zongzi, the traditional dish of the holiday.

Today we went to one of our friend's aunt's house. There we were able to learn how to make zongzi and realized that it really was a difficult task despite the relative ease that her aunt had with preparation. Zongzi are made using bamboo leaves, glutenous rice (luo mi) and a number of different fillings. For our zongzi we used meat, raisins or peanuts. For her aunt the process was relatively straightforward with folding the bamboo leaf, filling it with rice and then quickly wrapping it and tying it without having the leaf break. We were not so successful, but the end result was a delicious dish that we ate all the way back to school.

Karaoke

nk Today we went out with a few of the students that we met here at HIT to sing Karaoke. Unfortunately they actually sing pretty well and we just sing as if we were alone in our rooms belting our lungs out. It was a lot of fun though and we even tried our hand at a Chinese song...and failed miserably. We then all went together to eat and then we got a chance to visit a student's home and meet her parents. The weekends have been pretty low key for us. We generally just relax with maybe a few visits to people's houses or just a walk around town.

Our First Day Teaching

Today we had our first opportunity to actually teach a class. We started in the morning in a Cross Cultural Communication class where we gave a lecture on American family life and taking care of the elderly. We all had different perspectives and the Chinese students were very eager and curious to know about American life. After our presentation, we invited them to ask questions and they were all across the board including:

"If parents get divorced, does this have a negative impact on the children?"
"How common is it for people to have a second marriage?"
"Why do Americans travel more by car than by train?"
"If American students are so independent, don't you depend on your parents for anything?"
"Who pays your tuition?"

In the evening we gave a talk on the American higher educational system. We started with high school and the necessary preparation to get into college from both a domestic and international student. This was followed by topics such as getting used to college, having a dean, selecting a major, study abroad, and writing a thesis. We then touched on graduate school in the United States and the increasing number of students who are attending. We also talked about the job market in the US and the current difficulties that many American college graduates are facing immediately following graduation and the increasing need to pursue graduate education.

We then listened as students explained the Chinese higher educational system which is characterized by a single college entrance exam that can be taken twice and typically only allows 50% of the test-takers to go to college. The rest, we were told, find work. Their major is then selected for them before their freshman year and this results in a lot of problems. We have been told that many students in the English department are not very happy with their major because they did not select it. The Chinese students also explained to us the problem in China of finding a job as well and that it is very difficult, particularly for students to find a part-time job during the school year. This was then followed by a Q&A session and we were asked a lot about American students and how independent they were, the high price of American higher education, our future career plans, and many more questions.

English Contest

Today we were invited to attend an English speaking contest focusing on American and British culture. I really enjoyed it ended up singing the national anthem and watching some pretty funny competitions and games as well as amusing answers to questions such as our famed "President Jefferson-Lincoln". These competitions will go on periodically throughout the year and always feature a host and hostess as well as 16 contestants who rotate each time. The event was very well attended with about 100 people in the audience consisting of mainly students from the English department. The half-time show was a rendition of a Shania Twain song and the singer even managed to get a southern accent and twang in there.

Visit to the Three Gorges

Following our first week at HSIT, we were invited to come along on a trip to the Three Gorges where we would raft on the Yangze River and do some hiking as well. We left at 6 AM on Saturday morning along with about 30 other teachers, mainly from the English department. We stopped in the afternoon for some lunch. Many participants on the trip chose to drink very strong alcohol in order to "survive" the cold water of the river. We opted for the more conventional approach of just dealing with it.

We started the afternoon by rafting on what looked like very calm water, but by the end of the day we had all capsized in the river at one time. Despite this, we all found it extremely fun and a great opportunity to get away from the urban setting we were so used to. The evening culminated with a dinner together overlooking the river and a night at a nearby hotel.

The next morning we started out bright and early in order to see the Three Gorges Dam. We listened (although didn't really understand) as the guides outlined the project and the future of the dam. We also visited quite a few spots of interest meant to give tourists a feel of the dam and the huge undertaking that it was. I had a great time on the whole trip and I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.

International Children's Day

We were invited to the YingCai school to view part of the International Children's Day festivities. The theme of much of the day was English and many stories and songs were sung in English. It was easy to tell that the school put a lot of work into the day's performance and we were all wowed by it. The performance was followed by us getting to talk to a bunch of the students there who were studying English...and they speak really well.

Arrival in Huangshi

We have just been in Huangshi for a couple of days, but we are already meeting a ton of people. Today we went to meet some students and we were able to see their dorm living and talk with them about their lives and share experiences. The Chinese dorms are quite a bit different from ours. There are female and male dorms and the warden of the building closes it at 10:30 PM and there are no parties that go on. Girls typically have rooms where 6 people sleep and the boys usually have rooms for 4 people. Each room also has a bathroom. However, that's not the most important part. The best part is that we got to talk with some students.