Fourteen Commerce and Chinese Language students explored the old, the new and the business world of China during a two-week tour through the April holidays.
Accompanied by Commerce teachers Ms Sarah Hayes and Mr Stuart Halstead, and Chinese Language teacher Ms Eva Liu, the group visited Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. Ms Hayes wrote the following account:
In Beijing we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Bell tower and saw a Kungfu show and participated in a tea ceremony. The highlights from Beijing were a visit to the Hutongs, complete with a Ricksaw ride, and a walk along the Great Wall. The overwhelming size of this structure and its dramatic history made us all stop and think about how was it built, how many lives were lost in the process, and how many people over the years had walked where we stood.
From Beijing we caught the fast train to Xi’an. With a top speed of just over 300kph, the 1200km distance was completed in just under six hours. Xi’an became the favourite destination of the trip for a number of people. Here we visited the Terracotta Warriors, cycled the city wall, tried our hand at calligraphy, visited the markets (where we were treated to a number of weird and wonderful sights and smells) and spent a day in a local secondary school – New Zealand schooling did not seem to bad once the MAGS students learned the Chinese students went to school six days a week from 7.30am to 6.00pm.
From Xi’an we visited the garden cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou and saw the UNESCO sight of the West Lake, which is also featured on the 1 Yuan Note. We climbed to the top of the Six Harmonies Pagoda (a Buddhist temple) and visited private gardens.
The last stop of the trip was Shanghai. This city was a total contrast to the rest of China – here the influence of Europe was noticeable and the skyline was dominated by high rise buildings, including the second highest building in the world, which we travelled up. The Bund at night is the Chinese equivalent of Times Square. In Shanghai some of the group did their best to boost the Chinese economy at the markets, where we practiced our Chinese to haggle for the best deal.
In Shanghai we visited the New Zealand Consulate, Westpac, and Future Cuisine, a Kiwi aquaculture company exporting to China. Here we heard about the importance of China as a trading partner of New Zealand and how New Zealand is doing exceptionally well in selling quality products into China. We also spent a day at Shanghai Disneyland, which has been open for less than a year. The fireworks and light show at the end of the evening was a highlight.
Over the two weeks we saw many astonishing things, experienced heavy smog, sat in traffic jams that made rush hour on the Southern Motorway a non-event, and travelled through rush hour on the Shanghai subway. The students took every opportunity to practice speaking Chinese and saw first hand the culture and history of China they had studied in class.
The students adapted well to the different environment and were great ambassadors for the school and New Zealand. Thanks to Eva Liu and Stuart Halstead for giving up their holidays to travel with the group, and to everyone else that helped us along the way.
Sarah Hayes, Commerce Teacher