2016 China Study Tour

On the 16th of April, thirteen boys from the senior school commenced their Chinese language study tour to

China, accompanied by their teachers, Ms Feng and Mr Chang. To the majority of this group, this is the first

time for them to travel to a country with completely different culture. All these boys have had some good

understanding of basic Chinese language and they were very excited to be able to apply what they have

learnt in class to real life situations.

After two stops and 16 hours flight, we arrived the city of Wuhan. Wuhan is located in the very centre of

China, although it is a big city with a population of 8.3 million, it has not been over-exposed to Western

culture. In other words, our students had to work very hard with their Chinese knowledge to adapt to a very

Chinese environment. We were hosted by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, which is also

hosting some other high school students from New Zealand at the same time; at the welcome ceremony our

boy Jack Walsh (Year 12) represented all the New Zealand students to make a speech; our boys then

performed singing a Chinese song and the school haka. The representatives from the host university were

very impressed by our boys’ performance.

The university provided us clean, comfortable accommodation. In addition, boys were given student

allowance to dine in the university student canteens. Boys were amazed by the variety of Chinese food

available for selection in these self-serviced student canteens and were very happy that they had a chance to

taste authentic Chinese cuisines.

Students spent two days attending intensive Chinese language course at the university – learning making

conversations with Chinese students, and most importantly, how to bargain in Chinese. Boys then had a

chance to visit a local market and shopping malls to apply the language knowledge they acquired.

In addition to learning Chinese language at the university, boys were able to visit local monuments, such as

the Yellow Crane Tower and the Yangtze River Bridge, where they had a chance to enjoy the magnificent

Chinese architectures and the great view of the city. Boys also had a chance to learn Chinese Kung-Fu in

the early evenings during their stay at the university and they have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to play

the nunchaku.

On the last day of the language course, boys visited a local high school. Jack Walsh delivered a speech on

behalf of all the New Zealand students again – this time in Chinese Mandarin! Boys then joined classes to

experience what an English lesson is like in a Chinese high school. Our boys talked about the culture of our

school and our country, they have done a fantastic job as ambassadors of CBHS and they have enjoyed the

interactions with the local students. After the visit to the local high school, all of our boys returned to the

university and took the Chinese HSK Level 2 exam and passed. It is worthy to mention that students from

other New Zealand high schools only took Level 1 exam, where because our students have had solid

Chinese foundation before they took the trip, they did not find Level 2 difficult.

After this four-day intensive language course in Wuhan, we moved to Huanggang, a “small” city near

Wuhan with 6.1 million inhabitants. Huanggang is closely linked to Su Dongpo - a great writer, poet and

calligrapher in Chinese literatures, boys visited the museum dedicated to him and had a chance to appreciate

traditional Chinese calligrapher. We then visited Huanggang High School, which ranked highly

academically nationwide in China. Boys had a chance to go to one of the “optional” lessons – such as choir

practice, practical arts, and driving lessons etc, then they had a chance to join the PE lesson and had a

basketball game with the local students. The next day, boys spent one whole day with their host families

and had a chance to experience authentic Chinese home cooking and to have a better understanding of the

daily life of a regular Chinese high school student.

After Huanggang, we then took the over-night train to Beijing, the capital of China. Boys had a chance to

visit the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas. The

group also stopped by at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing where the boys put up another impressive

performance of school haka and had their chances to speak to Kiwis who have had first-hand experience of

applying their Chinese language skill to their daily job situation.

We had also visited Hanban – the headquarters of the Confucius Institute, where our boys were able to try

different innovative education materials developed by Hanban, as well as playing traditional Chinese

musical instruments and putting on the costumes for Chinese opera. To most of the boys, the highlights of

our tour in Beijing would be the visit to the Great Wall – they raced each other to climb the wall as far as

they could and enjoyed a spectacular view from the guard towers on the wall. After visited all the famous

historical monument, boys had an unforgettable visit to the Silk Market and the Pearl Market, where the

boys managed to further enhance their bargaining skill using Chinese language and became experts in

getting good price for what they want.

We said our goodbye to Beijing and took an early flight to Shanghai – the most westernised city in China.

We started our tour in Shanghai with a visit to the Yu Garden in the centre of Shanghai, where the boys

could appreciate a traditional Chinese garden design. We then visited the huge market surrounding the Yu

Garden, where plenty of street food and souvenir shops exist. We also visited the Nanjing Road – a

shopping street with all the high end brands boutiques and department stores. In the evening, We had a

great dinner on a cruise boat where the boys could enjoy the beautiful night view of the Bund and Huangpu

River. The next morning we visit the Oriental Pearl Tower in Pudong area, where the boys could enjoyed

the bird’s-eye view of the Shanghai landscape. After the Oriental Pearl Tower, the boys got into full

shopping mode again as we went to the huge bazaar at the bottom of the Science and Technology Museum.

Once again, the bargaining skill they have developed in the last two weeks has been fully applied here as the

boys were busy doing the last minute shopping of souvenirs for their friends and families. At the end, the

boys had so many good deals that they had to repack their luggage at the airport! With a better

understanding of Chinese culture, food and language, we bid farewell to this big country and returned to

New Zealand with a great memory.