From April 3rd to April 4th, PHBS students from China Studies went to Sichuan province for a field investigation. Aimed at helping them understand China more deeply, this activity received help from Sichuan's local governments. During this trip, over 30 students from about 20 countries visited the historic Long Hua old town, taught in a middle school, picked fruit, climbed mountains, and more.

Teaching in Long Hua Middle School, communicating across cultures

   To help PHBS students learn about education in China's rural area and to help to broaden middle school students' horizons, our students visited classrooms to introduce their own countries' cultures. Additionally, to allow the middle school students to experience western-style teaching, PHBS students also prepared games and brought gifts for everyone. Through the 45-minute class, all of these students, both internationals and Chinese, exchanged friendship.

Hiking to Baxian Mountain, Undertaking the Green Mission

   After the teaching program, the group hiked up Baxian Mountain on a “Green Mission.” With the help of a local guide, the 30 students were divided into three groups to pick up rubbish left by other tourists. Regardless of the rugged mountain path, all students did their best to collect the waste and learned more about environmental protection.


Experiencing the ethnic minority culture—a camp-fire party

  To welcome the students, hospitable villagers prepared a camp-fire party just for the students. Usually such a party is held only once a year. International students borrowed some of the local minority costumes and danced with the Long Hua villagers around the bonfire. To express our gratitude, many of our members performed some songs. For instance, Professor Huang and Aleksandr Devyatkov from Russia sang “A Beautiful Night At Long Hua Town,” which was one of the highlights of the party.


Visiting historical sites

   The next visit was to Qing Cheng Mountain to learn about and enjoy the birthplace of Taoism culture. Later the group visited an expansive pear and tea growing region, with the beautiful pear trees in full bloom as far as the eye could see. Next, the group visited the Dujiang Dam, which was designed two thousand years ago to solve the problem of flooding and drought on the plain surrounding Cheng Du.


Gala Night with Peking University Alumni Association of Sichuan

   On the last night of the Sichuan tour, with the support of Xu Shuang (a Peking University alumnus), members of the Peking University Alumni Association of Sichuan had dinner with the students. Everyone enjoyed a brief Sichuan Opera performance complete with a traditional face-changing act. Alumni also shared their working, learning and life experience after graduation.


   Everyone on this four-day learning tour felt it was unforgettable. Priscilla Young, PHBS senior lecturer acting a faculty advisor on the trip, commented, “This trip provided us an extraordinary opportunity to explore the rich physical and spiritual landscapes that make up authentic Chinese culture.”