On 12 April, 19 boys headed to China for their two-week Chinese Language Study Tour with two teachers. For the majority of the students in the group, this would be the very first time for them to visit this grand ancient country. The group would visit the main cities of the Yangtze River Delta - Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, the ancient Chinese water town WuZhen, the Yellow Mountain (Huangshan), completing the journey in Beijing.

After a 12-hour flight, the boys arrived in Shanghai. In addition to visiting the usual landmarks such as the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Yu Garden market and the Nanjing Road Shopping District, the highlight of the boys Shanghai experience would be their visit to the newly inaugurated Shanghai Disneyland. To the boys surprise, even though it is Disneyland, the majority of the theme park staff do not speak English, and the boys had to use their Chinese skill to order their meals or to buy the souvenirs at Disneyland. It was a very cold day in Shanghai the boys had to spend a long time in the queue to take rides, but they enjoyed the experience a lot and had a great time.

After an exciting day at Shanghai Disneyland, the group visited Suzhou to learn about the traditional Chinese garden landscaping with the composed scenes in the garden and the harmony between the garden and the surroundings. The group then visited the silk factory in Suzhou to learn about the process of turning the silkworm cocoons into expensive silk. The trip was very educational and the boys were fascinated by the process.

The visit to WuZhen provided another unique experience as they walked through narrow alleyways and crossed many little bridges over the canals to admire the traditional Chinese architectures and the ways of life in a typical water town along the Yangtze River. The boys discovered the simple, quiet lifestyle in a traditional Chinese village and learnt to appreciate the effort of the villagers trying to preserve their ways of life.

The highlight of the trip for the group would be the visit to the Yellow Mountain region. We started with an evening stroll through Tunxi Laojie (Old Street), an ancient shopping street that sells traditional food and handicrafts from the Anhui province. The students were forced to use Chinese to communicate with the local businessmen as this is an area that you do not normally see European tourists. Most local people speak no English so when the boys saw something interesting that they wanted to try or taste, they had to use their Chinese skills to achieve their goals.

The next day the boys went up to the Yellow Mountain. The landscape of the Yellow Mountain is unique to China and is breathtaking. It is usually foggy up in the mountain, but we were very lucky that the weather was fine and the boys had a chance to see the full panorama. The group then visited Hongcun village, where the movie Crunching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed. The boys learned a different kind of architecture style from the Anhui province compared to the houses they saw earlier in WuZhen. They also learnt about the Chinese ways of decorating their homes, i.e. Feng Shui, they were fascinated by the implied meanings behind the way Chinese people decorate their houses.

The group then travelled 8 hours from the Yellow Mountain back to Shanghai to catch the overnight train to Beijing. Our sister school, Beijing No. 4 High School, hosted us when we were in Beijing. Boys spent time in the classrooms to experience the Chinese school life, which is very different to the one we have here in New Zealand. The students at Beijing No. 4 High School work very hard due to the pressure from the university entrance exam, but they were also encouraged to do extra-curricular activities. Our students had a chance to join the Chinese students in their student cafeteria for lunch, where hot, fresh Chinese meals are served every day. The boys then spent a day with their assigned student partners from our sister school. They enjoyed the experience very much as their student partners took them to museums and monuments that are not on the usual tourist track, as well as the traditional restaurants to enjoy authentic Beijing cuisine. The next day all our boys and their partners joined together to climb The Great Wall, which provided another highlight of this trip. Our boys enjoyed the physical challenge of climbing the wall, and it was an amazing display for our boys to perform a Haka at the top.

Our sister school then arranged some cultural activities for our boys. The boys learnt how to make a traditional button that the tailors put on qipao (the mandarin gown) in the art craft class, then the boys were taken to a tea museum to learn about the Chinese tea culture and taste different types of Chinese tea. At the end of the visit, each boy was given a pack of Chinese “tea cake” by our sister school as a parting gift.

On the last day of our trip, we went to visit the Temple of Heaven to admire the grand architecture. The boys then spent the afternoon at the Pearl market practising their bargaining skills in the Chinese language. They bought many electronic gadgets, souvenirs and gifts for their families before the group left for Beijing Airport.

The 2018 China Study Tour concluded with great success, all the boys on the trip managed to have a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and language, as well as a unique travel experience that they will cherish forever.