Twelve Year 7-12 students and two teachers from KICS visited China during the summer holiday (May 23rd-June 6th). This was a wonderful opportunity to visit the cities of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai and to spend three days on a Yangtze River cruise. Throughout the trip the group visited a variety of ancient and contemporary historical, geographical and cultural sites.

The richness of China’s history was amazing to see in Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China and The Temple of Heaven in Beijing and The Terracotta Warriors and the Great Mosque and Muslim Quarter in Xi’an. Geographically the group saw the wonders of the Yangtze River limestone gorge landscape and visited the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydro electric power engineering project in the world

This was also a fascinating cultural experience. The group spent half a day at the Beijing Opera School watching rehearsals and joining a dance class. They also watched a Kong Fu show in Beijing, a Tang District Dynasty show in Xi’an and an acrobatic show in Shanghai. They learned calligraphy at the provincial museum in Xi’an, participated in a tea ceremony at the Laoshe Tea House in Beijing and in the park at the Temple of Heaven, visited the Shanghai National Museum and experienced modern Chinese art in Beijing’s 798 Dashanzi Art and Cultural District.  In Shanghai the group experienced modern China at the World Expo and some retail therapy in the shopping malls at night.

The group enjoyed a variety of Chinese food from different parts of the country including Beijing duck and dumplings served to them during the Tang Dynasty Show in Xi’an. The group traveled using a variety of modes of transport – a canal tour in the water town of Zhouzhuang, a three day River Yangtze Cruise, internal flights between Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, a commuter train journey between Shanghai and Suzhou and Shanghai taxis at night.

Below are some of the student and teacher highlights of the trip:-

“Even though the entire trip was fantastic I would have to say that my favourite part was the Great Wall of China, the three day cruise where we got to see the Three Gorges Dam, the Beijing Opera house and the acrobatic show in Shanghai”

“Our guides provided us with an invaluable insight into the history, economics, politics, culture and geography of China whilst at the same time teaching us to speak Chinese”

“China was a very interesting culture to experience. The language was very challenging but we all managed to learn some basic Chinese. My favourite part of the whole trip was the Yangtze River cruise on which we enjoyed the beautiful landscape as we passed through many locks on the way to the Three Gorges Dam. On the last night on the cruise we participated in a talent show. Preparing for, and performing in, this show was an experience to remember!”

“My favourite moments of the trip were running down The Great Wall, the talent show on the Yangtze River Cruise and experiencing the wide variety of Chinese food”

“China was a great experience. We met a lot of very friendly people who wanted to take photographs with us, ate different varieties of Chinese food, saw amazing views but the highlight for me was running down the Great Wall of China”

“Without a doubt the highlight for me was seeing Expo in Shanghai”

“This was a once in a lifetime experience to see so many fascinating sites in such a short period of time and to experience the ancient history and traditions of China alongside this rapidly changing and modern country”

“Even though the whole tri was really fun my highlights were running down the Great Wall of China, visiting various art galleries, tasting different teas and going to the Science Museum in Beijing. To be honest, it was all amazing. The group was really great too and it was nice to get to know everyone better”

“For me a highlight was to visiting the beautiful Chinese parks and seeing so many elderly people enjoying spending time together in the parks exercising and playing musical instruments and chess together”