Principals' delegation to China

Recently I was fortunate to be invited on a Principals’ Delegation to China for two weeks. Twelve of us travelled to Beijing, Shandan, Dunhuang, Langzhou and Shanghai. “Unravelling the legacy of Rewi Alley” was our tour theme: “explore the essence of Rewi Alley, unearth China’s historical treasures and embrace its modern marvels”. Our tour was organised and largely funded by the Chinese government and Beijing Language and Culture University.

Rewi Alley was a Springfield-born Cantabrian, who initially helped bring in safer working conditions for factory workers in the cities, and then organised large scale cooperatives in rural areas to help the Chinese to defend themselves against the attacking Japanese. He then took these skills into education and set up schools with a theme of “learn with hands and mind - create and analyse”. Rewi Alley became revered by the Chinese people last century. He isn’t forgotten today, with numerous statues, galleries and - most importantly - schools using his educational philosophy.

The Beijing Language and Culture University (BCLU) provided a perfect start to our tour: firstly teaching us some basic Chinese language to get us going, followed by calligraphy, our first banquet, tea tasting and etiquette, and traditional painting lessons. BLCU students roamed around their lush grounds on bikes and we enjoyed the feeling of academia and hospitality. Our two amazing Chinese bilingual guides who we called Cynthia and James took us for a walk around the Beijing Olympic park on the way back to our hotel, where we were again blown away by the scale of cutting-edge buildings such as the Birds Nest and the Cube. Exercise is commonly done in public places in China and we witnessed lessons for young athletes in speed skating - so serious, so diligent and so talented, there’s no doubt that China will continue to grow in international sporting status.

Our first symposium was with the Chinese Ministry of Education where we exchanged speeches about language, cooperation and Rewi Alley via interpreters. We visited an incredible museum of Chinese history, using super technology to bring a vastly rich 2,000 year timeline to life. The New Zealand Embassy in Beijing took us for a tour and hosted a meeting about international students and exchanges. What a stunning place, with a beautifully carved whare including a pounamu touch-stone from Arahura on our West Coast. None of us were missing home yet, but this visit was a special and proud connection with our own land. I was delighted to meet with OGHS ex-girl Lisa Futschek from Education New Zealand there.

Some more sightseeing took us to the Beijing CBD, where brands such as Apple and Nike have massive stores alongside luxury EVs and some traditional food outlets (I’m sure it was a novelty for locals too, but one stocked a range of insects - including scorpions - for consumption by the brave which didn’t include me). Walking in the beautiful parks in the morning was a treat and I was amazed at the number of locals engaging in outdoor exercise.

“I’m standing on the Great Wall of China” isn’t something I’d ever expected to say, but there we were. One of the great wonders of the world, and an incredible experience for all of us, we climbed steep and ancient stairs and learnt about the role of the wall in keeping out enemy horsemen. Each of the 2,000 or so stairs we climbed was a different height so that enemies were likely to trip over in the event of attack. The view of Beijing from the top showed the vast scale of this city of 25 million people, covering 140,000 square kilometres.

The historical treasures continued with a guided tour of the Emperor's Summer Palace. Suzie, our guide, had an encyclopaedic knowledge to share: guides here are trained and assessed before they can be licensed. This ensures that history is shared respectfully and tourists get a high quality experience. As well as awe at the size and beauty of the Summer Palace, I felt a bit of a sense of injustice for the common Chinese people who had been displaced by the dynasty for such a creation. This was long before Rewi Alley’s time but his work had all been about supporting working Chinese people to have better lives and in the long history of China prior to the 20th century it is clear that there had been massive inequalities between rich and poor.

After more feasting on beautiful Chinese food, we attended an opening ceremony with BCLU and a video link to the Chinese consulate in Christchurch who had supported our journey. Christchurch Boys’ High School also had a touring group and joined us (Rewi Alley had attended CBHS). Harry Romana of Mairehau High School gave our formal address in te reo Māori, a challenge for our interpreters but well appreciated by the hosts, followed by waiata from us, a further speech setting out our connections by Allison Rosanowski, a speech in Chinese and a haka from CBHS students. The genuine warmth and respect from our Chinese hosts was palpable and consistent throughout our tour.

Our education continued with visits to the Chinese Museum of Natural History, which houses massive dinosaur fossils, a moa skeleton from our own Aotearoa, and graphic human evolution sections. Tiananmen Square next, in searing heat, and no words or photos can convey the scale of this place. The buildings around the square are vast - The Hall of the People for example, with 56 columns to represent the 56 Chinese ethnicities, and seating for 10,000 people. Just over the road, we entered the Forbidden City (along with thousands of Chinese domestic tourists). We were in awe again as we witnessed the absolute wealth of former emperors, in stunning buildings with amazing details. This vast palace had been built exclusively for one emperor, at a time when peasants would have been doing it tough. Although this was before Alley’s time, it was inequalities like this that drove the Chinese cultural revolution that he supported.

Next we visited iFLYTEK, an AI (that’s artificial intelligence) specialist, who showed us around their exhibition space. This offered a tempting glimpse of positive applications far beyond what we experience now. The CBHS students entered into a board game against the AI ‘arm’ and were swiftly defeated.

Education has a high priority in China and our visit to Beijing No.101 Middle School revealed an attitude from teachers, backed by resourcing, that really made our group of principals think: we entered a huge, round, teaching space which had an open classroom at the centre/front and theatre seats all around, with cameras and microphones set up to record the class. Teachers take turns to teach in this space - the lesson is recorded and used for reflection, while colleagues use their non-contacts to attend, observe and provide feedback. A culture of striving for improvement, and hard work, is ingrained in China. This applies to students, too, who work huge hours to ensure they get grades for their choice of university. Our guides spoke of the pressure and fatigue that this produces in children.

Back to the airport and we flew 2.5 hours out west, to Zhangye in Gansu. Local government and education VIPs hosted a beautiful banquet and speeches. Rewi Alley, and his friend/colleague George Hogg, are remembered with an impressive mausoleum and garden here. We joined our Chinese colleagues in placing flowers on each tomb and in acknowledging their contribution to Chinese society and the New Zealand-China relationship.

We were then taken around a serene modern library, with scripts going back over a thousand years and Saturday classes for students. Our next two stops were a replica of a house he used to live in here, filled with original furniture and photos, and a huge museum dedicated to his life which was fronted with a larger-than-life statue and filled with just some of the Chinese artefacts he’d been gifted which he donated.

From there we visited a local school in Shandan where there were many students on site on a Saturday - many of whom had come because we were visiting. Ceramics, paper-cutting and calligraphy are traditional art-forms these young students were diligently pursuing and sharing with us. This was a mid-sized school of about 3,500 students!

We moved on to the Bailey Vocational College, a sister school of Darfield High School. The scale of the buildings was amazing and the respect they pay to Rewi Alley, as founder, says a lot about their culture. The school has an impressive display about their history and Rewi Alley.

We moved on to another amazing visit to a senior school campus where we were mobbed by smiling students excited to see foreigners,and we took part in a large meeting between many school and government officials.

We were treated to more sightseeing, with the rainbow rocks of Danxia landforms, then another flight to Dunhuang where we saw 2,000 year old caves containing art work and Buddhist sculptures. These had survived the Chinese Cultural Revolution, thankfully, which saw many religious relics destroyed in an attempt to purge the past. Understandable, in the context of the huge wealth and poverty we’d learnt about, but a shame that such a rich past had been destroyed in many places. Not here though, and we were once again in awe of things like a 35.5m high Buddha built inside a cave carved from sandstone 1300 years ago and a Buddha lying down with 76 disciples all displaying different emotions.

We squeezed in a Buddhist temple, an incredible dance/play show - Encore - which told the story of the caves with modern technology in a purpose-built theatre, and ended the day with sunset at massive dunes around a famous oasis. While some of our team took the camel ride, I enjoyed climbing the 100m high dunes with friends.

Another flight and it was back to business at Lanzhou with a further symposium at Lanzhou City University exploring more of our connections with Rewi Alley and we learnt that Alley had spent 10 years in Lanzhou where he is also highly revered. We saw many specialist ceramics, lacquer painting, looming, textiles, printmaking and other hands-on workshop spaces here, crammed with students making incredible art. Leaving the city, we passed building sites where a million apartments were being constructed, by the government, for private sale. One million apartments! These were snapped up by many families as investments for their children, so they often stood empty for years.

An evening flight took us to Shanghai for the last leg of our tour. We walked “The Bund”, a floodwall for a trading river, and marvelled at the active lights on skyscrapers all around us creating video scenes and advertising. Despite being such a busy place, and having Chinese tourists wanting to have their photo taken with us, we always felt safe wherever we went in China.

Our last day was a Shanghai experience of an ancient ‘water city’ where houses were built around canals. School students flocked to practise pencil drawing and watercolour painting of famous bridge scenes. It was 30C and humid. We visited a former residence of Rewi Alley, lovingly preserved, and an affluent international school. Bidding emotional farewells to our wonderful guides, especially James who had stayed the whole way with us, we boarded the bus to the airport and headed home.

The whole journey was an amazing experience and we’re deeply grateful to the Chinese government and consulate staff in Christchurch, BCLU and Tian Xin especially. The vision and support of Allison Rosanowski was really appreciated. Our guides - James, Cynthia, Suzie and Linda especially - offered greater insight and understanding as well as great professionalism.

Immersing yourself in a different culture, especially one as different to ours as that of China, is an experience we should all have in our lives. It challenges our thinking in ways we wouldn’t have expected. The Chinese people’s joy and manaakitanga on meeting us, their patience with and interest in us, has reset my approach to foreign tourists here.

Despite China’s mixed reputation in the West, I certainly felt that the friendship was genuine and it is important that NZ keeps our relationship with China open and we can only learn from each other. It is only through understanding each other that we can truly understand.

Finally, my thanks to our Board and staff for allowing me this opportunity. I look forward to ongoing exchanges.

Ngā manaakitanga (with respect/care)