Sunday, August 03, 2014
Surya's China trip - Third update from his Group Leader Dr.Hemphill - July 17 - August 1, 2014
Here is another report on your kids’ activities in China. I hope you continue to find this sort of information interesting. These fine young people continue to be a source of joy and wonder to all four of us chaperones, as well as to our host colleagues and volunteers from Hunan University. The kids have formed an easy cohort bond and truly display warm positive regard, affection, and concern for one another. You would be so proud of them, as are we. They are giving a superb account of contemporary American youth.
Sunday, July 20
The day’s agenda involved a large dose of culture and history, followed by some traditional Chinese stress release therapy. In the morning we had a lecture by a Hunan University faculty member on the ten most significant folk arts of Hunan Province. As one who is deeply enamored of folk art, I found the lecture fascinating. The folk arts discussed ranged from folk opera to music, dance, silk embroidery, carving, and other indigenous forms. The presenter engaged the kids by asking lots of questions and awarding candy bars for correct answers. As always, the SF kids were the most vocal and garnered the most honors.
In the afternoon we were taken to two important historical museums. At the first museum we saw important relics recovered from an ancient Changsha burial site from the Han Dynasty (around 206 BC-220 AD), including some of the silk tapestries that we learned about in the morning. At the second museum, called the “Bamboo Museum,” we learned about the importance of bamboo as a medium for recording vital textual information prior to the invention of paper in China. Again, around the time of the Han Dynasty, important data for running local government (military records, taxation data, household information, etc.) were all recorded on small bamboo staves around a foot in length that were bound together with strings into “books.” These were discovered in 1996 during excavation of a local building site. The museum also had some impressive Shang dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) bronze pieces on display that had been unearthed locally. It reminds one that Chinese cultural history in this region goes back very, very far.
In the evening two of our local Hunan University student volunteers offered to lead the kids and chaperones on an expedition to get foot massages, for which Hunan is famous. Since the foot has more nerves than any other part of the body, there is a long tradition in China of therapeutic, acupressure-based foot massage practice to relieve stress. 25 of the 28 students decided to go along, so we went off on a bus ride to a nearby shopping street. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it, and afterwards we stopped for shopping (snacks and knickknacks) and then headed back to campus to turn in.
Monday, July 21
This was a class day. In the morning there were 3 hours of Chinese language instruction. The kids were divided into 4 levels of proficiency based upon a placement test that had been given on the day of our arrival. I reviewed the test and took it myself, and found it to be a reasonably well-constructed assessment tool for placement purposes. The other chaperones and I circulated among the different classes to observe instruction. The kids appeared to be responding well. We were offered the opportunity to make comments at noontime, so we suggested that there be expanded opportunities for our kids to practice their Chinese more in the 2 hours of afternoon class. There remains in China the tendency for teachers to lecture more than might be desirable from a US language learning perspective. Fortunately, the teachers and their coordinator welcomed our collegial input, and adjustments were made.
In the evening the kids returned to class for a presentation on Chinese folk songs. The purpose was to offer them options for songs that they could prepare for the final performance at the closing session of the camp. They were encouraged to select a traditional Hunanese courting song, which several of them will perform in special authentic folk art costumes that will be personally tailored for them by local artisans.
Food note. There has been ample and high quality food available for the kids in Hunan. Each of the three daily meals is taken at the hotel dining room buffet. It consists of easily 15 to 20 dishes at each sitting, with separate additional small tables of salads and meats (e.g. duck, steamed chicken). There are always numerous vegetable preparations (turnips, Chinese broccoli, Napa cabbage, tofu) and fish, in addition to pork, other meat dishes, rice, and noodles. There is mild spiciness to some of the dishes, though not as much as I expected. In the morning in addition to the buffet there is a “noodle bar” where one can order the local rice noodle specialty as a soup from a chef in two widths (wide or narrow), and then season it with a range of local condiments. There are also multiple forms of steamed breads (man tou) to take from a steamer in the morning. It turns out that Hunanese cuisine is quite excellent. Many of the kids have also discovered local ice cream shops and many other tasty Chinese junk foods along the way. C’est la vie.
Laundry note. At first we thought laundry here would be free. Then we learned otherwise, but assumed the cost would still be reasonable. However, upon arrival it turned out that the hotel’s prices were on the order of a 5-star hotel in a major city. That was untenable, so with Lois Gao’s clever initiation, our local program coordinator Dr. Zhou negotiated a uniquely Chinese solution to our conundrum. He arranged with the lady who is the caretaker of one of the women’s dorms a few blocks away to take in our students’ laundry at a reasonable price, wash it in the dorm washing machines, hang it out to dry, fold it (sort of), and have it ready for pickup the same day. All for the price of 10 yuan (just under 2 bucks) for a full bag of dirty clothes. I tried the system out today and it works. So, laundry problem solved: dorm caretaker lady makes extra money; students get clothes washed dirt cheap (pun intended); students get to practice Chinese when dropping off and picking up clothes.
Tuesday, July 22
A field trip day. In the morning we went to Orange Island. It is a large built-up sandbar in the middle of the Xiang River, the major river of Hunan province eventually feeding into the Yangtze. The key attraction at one end of Orange Island is a massive 105-foot tall sculpture of the head of a young Mao Zedong (at 32) constructed in 1996. Mao in this iteration has a flowing mane of hair reminiscent of Mozart. Mao is originally from Hunan and apparently used to swim in the river this area and wrote a famous poem about Orange Island. The stature is rather impressive in person—kind of like a Chinese Mt. Rushmore.
Following this we went to a traditional teahouse for a presentation on Chinese tea culture. It was delivered in a lovely setting by a Chinese tea master, who lectured the kids (via translator) on the 5 kinds of Chinese tea, the growing regions, history, and functions of tea in Chinese culture. Then we witnessed a tea ceremony, after which we had a chance to sample a local black tea (hei cha) and a red tea (hong cha). Both were excellent. This was followed by a bit of time for shopping on a nearby market street.
For lunch we were taken to our first meal outside the university, to a nice hotel in downtown Changsha. There were easily 20+ dishes on a buffet, including: duck, spicy fried rabbit on skewers, braised fish with chilis, jiaozi, cucumbers and lettuce, watermelon (ever-present) and bananas, shrimp balls, turnips, Chinese broccoli, rice, noodles, sweet and sour pork, pork and bell peppers, mung bean soup, another soup, several other stir fried vegetable dishes, fried chicken pieces, etc. You get the idea. It was our best meal to date, quite well prepared.
In the afternoon we went for a tour of the Yue Lu Academy, which is close by our hotel on the Hunan University campus. It was founded in 976 AD, periodically destroyed, and rebuilt throughout multiple Chinese dynasties, educating multiple succeeding generations of scholars in Confucian and Neo-Confucian thought. Today’s Hunan University was formed out of the Academy. It has beautiful grounds and numerous lovely historic pavilions and gardens. The Academy’s continuing presence for over a millennium attests to the historic Chinese respect for learning and cultivation of the mind. The day was extremely hot and humid, and we began to learn why this region is sometimes referred to as the “furnace of China.” Not having brought water, a hat, or comfortable shoes with me for this outing, I learned an uncomfortable lesson about the power of the sun and high temperature; take them seriously. Fortunately, cold water and ice cream were available for rapid revival.
In the evening our kids had the opportunity to try out to perform as dancers and singers in closing ceremonies here and in Beijing. It was reminiscent of the Broadway show “Chorus Line” as they learned their steps to a Chinese traditional folk dance and were then selected for the final performance. Our group from SF will have the largest number of participants.
That’s it for now. Best wishes from Changsha,
