More from our Chinese Correspondents
Cycling Along the Xi’an City Walls
A hermit named Zhu Sheng advised the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang (1368-1644), that he should 'build high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor'. Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and the Xian City Wall is now the most complete city wall in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. It impressively stands 12 metres tall, 12-14 metres wide and 8.5 miles long. In Xian, the city wall includes four gates respectively named as Changle (eternal joy) in the east, Anding (harmony peace) in the west, Yongning (eternal peace) in the south and Anyuan (forever harmony) in the north.
With the heat of the afternoon dissipated, Belvedere Academy replaced this peace and harmony with fits of giggles and out of tune singing of an adapted version of Katie Melua’s song - There are 9 million bicycles in Xi’an. The rusting bicycles squeaked and wobbled along the worn out bricks that constitute the top of the wall on what can best be described as elliptical wheels. Tandem proved particularly tough!
We took our time cycling along the wall and enjoyed the commanding views of the amazing Bell Tower, Drum Tower and the ancient centre of the city. The dramatic diversity in neighbourhoods and streets outside the city walls was fascinating. Some of the dwellings exhibited that classic Chinese architectural design with the curved and tiled roofs. Other homes were constructed of unadorned brick and appeared dilapidated and almost shanty town.
Xi’an City Wall is large and beautiful, almost romantic with its lanterns and tranquil feel high above the hustle and bustle of the roads below. For the first time, we truly appreciated a real sense of history in Xi’an and felt energised by the magical atmosphere created by the mixture of ancient China with what is a fast growing, modern city.
Gillian Hammond
Eden Jacobs 10T
Food is a big part in someone’s life. Well, everyone was excited about the Chinese food; we were thinking lovely fried rice, noodles and sweet and sour chicken. Far from it! Most of the restaurants we went to were huge with about 4 floors and smelled of every type of meat you could possibly think of! It was not what any of us expected. We seemed to eat a lot of rice with chicken and unknown sauces accompanying. About a week into the trip we found that whatever restaurant we went to had a set menu to what us westerners enjoyed to eat! When one of the Year 12s asked for soy sauce the people working in the restaurant didn’t understand why she had asked for it… to put on the rice of course! In Chinese culture you have three big meals and if you don’t eat during meal times, then tough luck, there is no snacking! Then there were the chopsticks. I personally had never used chopsticks until going to China, but some people may have had the brains to practice before hand! At first it was rather difficult but then after a couple of days of not having any western cutlery we all adapted to it. When we were on the coach every day our tour guides would teach us a few Chinese words, such as hello, goodbye and thank you. This was helpful as not many Chinese people know the English language!
How did China differ from my expectations?
Emily Casey 11P
Chanel, Starbucks and a McDonalds? In China? Before I went, I actually did expect to see those things, with them being multi-national businesses and all, but I didn't expect to be so elated when we discovered them; just as I didn't expect having to trudge through backstreets and experience the horror that is indeed poverty.
China was full of surprises. From finding out that you could haggle for food (FOOD?!) to unearthing a 'gentlemen's club' on the third floor of actually, the nicest hotel we had stayed in (says a lot!)
Back at home, there were taunts of 'they're going to serve you dog to eat', which not only seems to be an unfair and generic statement, but also quite possibly true. Well, due to the collaboration of the China-savvy teachers and our tour guide Mei, we went to nice places to eat where they (hopefully) only served what they said: like chicken...or was it pork?...or was it turtle...? Yes, there were turtles floating in a fish tank in one place, mmmm. Who knows? At least it wasn't dog. Although if Tom, our second tour guide who ‘made things more expensive than they actually were’, was in charge of the food-choosing, he probably would have served us household pets if they were cheaper!
In my opinion, the best day that we had during our trip to China was when we climbed the Great Wall. It was nothing at all like I expected it to be, and I was absolutely amazed at how high it actually was. A group of us made it to the highest point on the wall which is an incredible achievement, and the experience was totally indescribable. Not many teenagers can say that they have accomplished such a thing, so we were all thrilled when we finally made it to the top. In addition to this we had wonderful weather which overall made the experience a lot more enjoyable.
The day that we visited the Terracotta Army was just as remarkable. It was thoroughly interesting to find out the history behind these great Terracotta Warriors, but it was something else to actually be seeing them right before our eyes. We were all astonished at the sheer size of the warriors.
The day was brought to its end with an extremely fun and exciting bike ride along the city walls, and the weather also acted in our favour, giving us clear skies and bright sunshine again. Everything was more than wonderful and we were all extremely grateful on account of being given such amazing opportunities. I would love to return to China, and I would definitely encourage anybody who hasn’t been to visit.
Heather McDonald 11ES
China was an amazing trip! I didn't really know what to expect from visiting a county so far away but I certainly hadn't expected to enjoy it so much.
In China, we all had the opportunity to embrace their culture and were able to become involved with the people and how they lived. I loved every minute and it seemed the Chinese people were as eager as I was to learn about a different culture.
One night in Starbucks (yes, there are Starbucks in China!) I met four new friends: Justin, Coral, Frances and Charles. I started to talk to them off-hand as they were intrigued by the large troop of English people, stampeding into their local coffee shop, to get their fix of Western society. I was greeted with smiles and polite conversation that lasted for over two hours. Everyone also made lots of friends at the link school in Xi'an. I keep in contact with the friends I have made; it helps to remind me of some truly fantastic memories and heightens my understanding of their culture.
The greatest experience of the trip, for me personally, was meeting up with my Dad's best friend Zhoushuxin, fondly known as 'Joe'. I had not been able to see Joe since I was eight years old so when the China trip arose I was enthralled.
I had learnt some Chinese from the Mandarin Enrichment classes but I was still rather dis-jointed which made we worry about how I would talk to Joe. However, our conversation flowed surprisingly well and it was easy to forget about the language barrier. I was able to meet Joe's wife and daughter. It was amazing to think I was actually there with them when for the last eight years it had seemed he lived billions of miles away. It seemed that my childhood fantasies of seeing Joe again had actually came true.
I have been invited by Joe to do my university degree in Beijing and live with his family during the course-an opportunity I am seriously considering. The continuation of the Mandarin Enrichment sessions should help to prepare me for my future plans. I loved China and can't wait to return.
Belvedere has given me such a great opportunity and is opening it's students’ minds and career paths to education abroad. This edifies that modern foreign languages are a speciality at the Academy and hopefully in the future will make us a credited educational system with graduates across the world.
Sophie Dodd 11ES