Eaglebrook Trip to China

美国人喜欢中国!

Surrounding the Temple of Heaven in Beijing is a wonderful park where young people, families, and large groups of senior citizens gather together nearly every morning to sing songs and dance, perform Taiji, play hackey-sack, chess, and badminton, and do countless other youthful activities with both friends as well as strangers. This was the first stop on Eaglebrook’s 12 day tour through four of China’s major cities: Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. In total, we were 12 students and two teachers, eager to learn about and engage with Chinese culture, and happy to find such a happening spot full of lively energy and excitement to begin our journey.

Within minutes of entering the park we happened upon an elderly gentleman writing Chinese characters on the stone ground with a large brush, using water as his ink. If you stopped to admire his work, he would write your name for you, or perhaps a famous idiom or poem. It was a warm day, and the calligrapher’s work only lasted a few fleeting minutes before eventually evaporating, allowing him an infinite canvas upon which to please park-goers young and old. Eaglebrook students were quick to befriend the old scholar, who greeted us with a warm smile and three welcoming characters: 美国人, Americans. With a little encouragement, Nikhil Barnes, Matthew Kenvin, and Walter Ainsworth, three students of Chinese at Eaglebrook, gestured for the brush, and each took turns writing strokes in Chinese, showing off their budding knowledge of the world’s oldest written language. The boys responded in kind with two familiar characters from their Beginning Chinese classrooms: first中, Middle, and then 国, Kingdom, combining to form the word, 中国, China. Someone then had the idea to add in the verb, 喜欢, to like, another elementary word all students of Chinese will learn in their first year. Like building Legos, the boys had put it all together to form the sentiment 美国人喜欢中国, Americans like China, to the delight of our new friend, as well as a growing crowd of grinning bystanders. Teachers are always telling their students to “Write in complete sentences!” and this generous statement of friendship and solidarity deserved an A+. It was a special moment that signified good things to come throughout our trip.

The goal of our trip was to expose students to life in a foreign country, to stimulate their cross-cultural learning, to focus on being builders more so than tourists, and of course to have a little fun traveling during our long spring holiday. Our itinerary, facilitated by Education First, an international education and travel company serving us out of Boston, was fast-paced and rich with exciting sites and events. We visited the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing, viewed the first emperor’s Terracotta Army in Xi’an, admired the impressive Shanghai skyline while strolling the Bund in Shanghai, and enjoyed the Symphony of Lights show in Hong Kong. Awe-inspiring monuments and events such as these shed brilliant light into China’s past, present, and future, and gave us much to reflect upon and discuss. Students also connected intimately with Chinese people and their culture through hands-on activities such as practicing Taiji, playing games in a Chinese classroom, and basketball with local students after school. And of course we enjoyed lots of delicious food along the way. We learned that our assumptions about a uniform “Chinese Food,” were way off the mark, as Chinese food is in fact one of the world’s most wonderfully diverse cuisines. Throughout the trip, we were lucky enough to meet with Eaglebrook friends and families for meals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. We experienced tasty dishes ranging from Beijing Roast Duck to Hot Pot to Korean Barbecue to Dim Sum. To be able to share these special sit-down meals with warm and welcoming friends, eager to hear about our travels and to share their own knowledge and insights, made our trip all the more personal and meaningful. Many thanks to the families of Tom Liu, Richard Li, Jerry Tang, Chris Wang, Rocky Xia, Lucas Zhang, Joshua Roizen, Alex Leung, and Michael Chiang, for being able to greet us and for your hospitality!

All in all, it was a spectacular trip, and we certainly came home with more good questions than answers, which in many ways, was the point. We hope that these first-hand glimpses into China’s diverse landscapes and rich diversity, as well as strong, positive memories of the people we met, will provide students with a personal reference point to help inform their growing understanding of China and the world around them.