Tour to China

In September, 30 music and science students had the opportunity to go to China to experience Chinese culture. We visited four cities on the tour: Shanghai, Chengdu, Huaibei and Beijing (in that order). The tour was very non-stop, with a very action-packed itinerary, so this article only includes some of the highlights.

We spent two full days in Shanghai, the highlight of which was spending the second day visiting the International School of BANZ for our first music performance. The students and teachers at BANZ were so wonderful and welcoming. Shanghai is a very modern city, and it is so massive! The population is almost the same as the entirety of Australia, and it took many long drives (up to three hours at one point) to get across the city.

We then flew to Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan province, and is a much older city. We spent some time in beautiful ancient style streets shopping, In Chengdu we also visited the nearby Wolong panda sanctuary and Leshan giant Buddha, both of which were located outside of the city. Wolong in particular is located in gorgeous mountains. The pandas in the sanctuary were so incredible, as well!

The best part of the trip, for me (and I think the majority of us) was visiting our incredible friends at Huaibei No.1 High School. Each student stayed with one of the lovely Huaibei students and their family, who were all incredibly kind and looked after us all so well. We received many thoughtful gifts from them, and were also treated to wonderful food, including several of us being taken out to dinner by our friends. The general student body were also very interested in us; they were all so friendly and happy to have us visiting, and were a wonderful audience at our “Friendship Concerts” I know that I miss my homestay and her family already.

After leaving Huaibei by bullet train to Beijing, China’s capital and another old, traditional city, we spent our last days visiting the iconic Tiananmen square, Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. The Great Wall in particular was incredibly breath-taking. It is one of those places that looks just as incredible in real life as it does in pictures.

Overall, the trip was a wonderful, eye-opening experience for everyone. Even though some people, including me, have been to China before, there were still so many new and exciting things to see and experience. I would like to thank our guides Berlin, Lulu and Lisa, and the students and staff of Huaibei No.1 high school, especially Ms Ma Yin and Ms Su Han for making us feel welcome. And to our teachers, Ms Brogan, Ms Frost, Mr Zhu and Mr Tucker for putting up with us throughout the trip.

-Niamh Kenny, 10F