School Lunches

My grandson wondered what Chinese students had for school lunches, so here is what I found out. Students may bring lunch from home, purchase lunch in the dining hall or go home for lunch if they are within walking distance. If they bring their lunches from home, common items include pot stickers, rice noodles with vegetables such as eggplant, lotus stems, broccoli, and carrots. They would usually have fresh fruit such as watermelon, dragon fruit, bananas, papaya. Common school lunches would include fired rice, or rice and a meat such as pork or duck, rice noodles, and fruit. 

Visit to Middle School & High School

Outside the school, which was built in 2001 with only a couple hundred students

Signage to remind students of important school values. 

These signs were placed throughout the campus.

This morning we visited Guilin Experiemental School Affiliated to Capital Normal University in the city of Guilin. This was our first time to visit a middle school and high school setting. The school is in a beautiful natural setting and serves 2100 students in grades 7-12. They have 42 classes and 140 teachers. We heard the principal speak about their philosophy which I found very interesting. They seem to emphasize things like manners and the responsibility to take care of themselves, their families, their society and nature. They believe students should have a good command of knowledge so that the knowledge can be applied in real life. It is important to them that their students represent the school in a positive manner and that they develop as a world citizen. I have noted that there is significant emphasis on the affective in the schools we have visited. I guess I expected the emphasis to be more on content and knowledge development.  The faculty at this school seemed concerned about the students’ mental health. The students are very stressed as there is a great deal of pressure on them to do well.  They go to school 5 days, but most students take additional special classes in the evenings and weekends to  be competitive. Many teachers supplement their income by teaching these special classes. The scores they earn on the college entrance exams determine which schools they can attend.  This was a private boarding school, so parents pay all expenses to send their children here. If students come from a distance they stay in dorms for many weeks without going home. Guilin students go home on the weekends. Teachers have living quarters on campus.  

Students were very welcoming and wanted to interact with us. They seemed very much like our teenagers. They want us to take their pictures. Even at this level, they take about a 10 minute exercise outdoors between classes.

One of the high school boys showing us his basketball moves.
His friends were off to the side and giving him a bit of good-hearted teasing. 

Xia Yan School

We also made a short school visit. We visited Xia Yan School on the way back to Guilin. This is a school sponsored by People to People. It is in a very poor area attended mostly by one of the Chinese minorities. This was a very different experience from the previous school we visited in Beijing. Classes were large, 40-45, and resources few. The kids were expecting us and VERY excited to have visitors. They all wanted their pictures taken. See photos!

Yangshou

Fishing Boats in Yangshou

Fisherman with his trained fisher cormorants; fisherman have trained the cormorants to fish for them.

Root system of Banyon tree

River Cruise

Sunday, October 17

Today we were again on a cultural day. That means we behave like tourists!.  We got up early, had a Western style breakfast and headed to the bus for a 30 minute ride to the Li River for a 4-5 hour cruise on one of the most scenic rivers in the world. Guilin to Yangshou – 52 miles. The shallow river winds through a mystical landscape with tall karst peaks on both sides of the river. The limestone formations have been weathered into very spectacular shapes. This is the area that inspired the set of Avatar and you can really see the similarity.  The cruise included a buffet lunch, but I stuck to rice and noodles. I have been healthy thus far and didn’t want to test myself with the boat food.

By the way, they openly charge more for the cruise to foreign tourists. They even have different boats for foreign and domestic tourists. The weather was a bit steamy. It is a rather tropical feel here compared to the weather in Beijing which was much like Iowa fall. We disembarked in Yangshou, which was a very interesting resort/fishing village. The area is changing very fast and what used to be a rather primitive fishing village is now developing as a tourist attraction.

Fisherman float on river using bamboo rafts.

Water buffalo "grazing" from the river

Phoenix bamboo trees - there are thousands of varieties of bamboo - this is only one

Arrived in Guilin

Sunday, October 17

We traveled from Beijing to Guilin. (See photo boarding Air China) I have included a photo frm the plane of my roommate, Peggy on the right and Mo from Monterey, CA on the right. We are having fun and it is great to meet so many great people! Also a photo of the Guilin Airport.  Guilin is in a rural area so very different from Beijing. I am looking forward to an all day cruise on the Li River tomorrow and a visit to Xia Yan School which is sponsored by People to People. More on that tomorrow!

Tian’anmen Square

Saturday was a day of seeing some  of the sites that Beijing is so famous for: Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City and The Great Wall. It was a picture perfect day weather wise. It can, at times, be hazy due to smog and pollution, but this day was cool temperatures and blue skies. There is very high security at Tian’anmen Square and thousands of people everywhere. Tian’anmen Square is the largest public square in the world. I suspect there is not a close second!  We were told not to take photos of protestors if there were any, but we did not see any. Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (see photo) is there along with several other important public buildings.  One thing I was not prepared for was the line of thousands of Chinese people in line to view the remains of Chairman Mao.  Our guide said that there is this line every day and they are not allowed to stop the line at any time. The line is to move forward continuously at a steady pace. Even with that rule, the line is continuous all day every day. (See photo although it is hard to capture the long snaking line.) He died in 1976 and it is amazing to me to see this level of devotion among people of younger generations. See little boy in photo. His young parents were about to get in line. His parents may not even have been alive in 1976, but the respect is there. We learned at the school the other day that many children wear red scarves denoting the Young Pioneer, then become Young Cadets if they are nominated as good students. Then eventually Communist Party Members are selected from this group of Young Cadets. It seems there are many advantages and privileges to becoming a Communist Party Member in this society.