What we did:
The second city we visited was Xian. Xian is the capital of the Shaanxi
providence. Its one of the oldest cities in China. Xian is much different
than Shanghai. Shanghai was a large city with big buildings and a lot of
people. Xian also has a lot of people, but it is very rural. The buildings
are much smaller. It looks much poorer than Shanghai. Out of the three
cities that we visited, Xian was my favorite.
On our first day we visited a school. Our trip was partially sponsored by
Chinas government. The woman that organized the trip, a local high school
Chinese teacher, was able to cut the costs of the trip by contacting the
Chinese government. Because this was an educational trip, we were given a
small amount of funding. One of the things we had to do (order from the
Chinese government) was to visit a school for a day and interact with the
children. This would help improve not only our speaking skills, but theirs
too.
When we arrived to the school, the group of fourth grade girls greeted us.
They were beyond excited to have visitors. When we got off of the bus,
they had a song prepared for us. After their song, they brought us to
their classroom. When I saw where they learn, I was extremely surprised.
Their classroom was a single room with one blackboard, desks, and chairs
nothing more. It made me realize how spoiled we are. These children have
the bare minimum, yet they are full of joy.
The girls did another performance for us when we were in their classroom.
This time they did a dance. After their dance we introduced ourselves in
Chinese to them. We then split up into groups of two or three to talk to
the students. I was paired with a young girl. For a fourth grader, she
spoke almost perfect English. She told me that she wanted to get good
grades so she could become a doctor and help her family. I found this very
touching.
After our time with the girls, we were taken to the classroom where the
boys were. They were practicing their tones. The Chinese language is a
tonal language. There are four different tones in mandarin. If you do not
get the tone correct, you will end up saying the wrong word. Each syllable
in Chinese has four tones, or four different words. The sound ma can mean
mother, horse, scold, or it can indicate a question depending on which
tone is used. Tones have to be studied in order to prevent the mixing up
or words.
After we went to the school, we walked to a local artists house. She
taught us how to do paper cutting and taught us step by step how to paint
a picture of a panda. She let us into her studio where we were able to see
all of her artwork. After we learned about calligraphy and painting, we
went to dinner at one of the teachers houses. One of the teachers from the
school we went to earlier invited our group to her home for a traditional
farmers meal. She cooked us a variety of foods with the help of her
mother. Ill admit I did not like all of the foods we tried, but many of
them were delicious.
On our second day in Xian, we went to see the Terracotta Warriors. This
was one of the most amazing sites Ive ever seen. The Terracotta Warriors
are an army of underground warriors built in front of Emperor Qinshihuangs
tomb. They were built to protect him. Each of the statues has a different
face. This is what I find most amazing. If you want to learn more about
the history of the Terracotta Warriors, click here.
After we visited the Terracotta Warriors, we went to the City Wall. The
City Wall was built as a result of the wall-building campaign ordered by
Zhu Yuanzhang. He was the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The wall is
40 feet tall, 40-46 feet across the top, and 8.5 miles long. Moats
surround it. It is the most complete city wall to survive in China. The
wall separates old Xian and new Xian. We got there close to closing time,
but we were able to walk a good portion of the wall. After we walked on
the City Wall we had to head to the train station to get on another
overnight train to Beijing.
Click here to read about what we did in
Beijing.