Last thoughts on my China trip . . .

One last post on China, though I am putting together some photos that I will be asking Christine for help in getting on the blog at a later time. Nothing big, just some random thoughts and a few photos.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but being invited to and having a banquet in our honor at the Hall of the People was a BIG deal. When one of the speakers, a high ranking official in the education department was near tears as he addressed us from the stage it started to sink in, but it wasn’t until later in sharing with our guide that we realized the significance of the event. The speaker had never been in the building for an event and could not believe that he was on the stage addressing us.

The Great Wall was truly impressive. Seeing it from the air showed its expanse, but being on it and seeing it up close was an experience I won’t soon forget. I was happy that I made it to the top though I felt it the next day with stiff and painful legs. In fact, on the way down my legs were actually shaking at times.

Everywhere we went in Beijing there were people selling things and many in our group were impressed with variety of shopping opportunities. Jewelry, especially pearls was high on everyone’s list. Shopping ranged from high end boutiques to shops stuck in corners. Because we were on a tourist bus, we were targeted by street hawkers on many occasions. It was a different experience for me as shopping has never been high on my list of things to do.

Beijing is a huge city unlike any I have seen in our country. It has an area of 16,800 square meters that spreads over 16 districts and 2 counties. From the top floor of our hotel in every direction all you see are buildings, a mix of old, new, and under construction. Though there are tall buildings, I didn’t see what we call skyscrapers. The tallest seemed to be in the twenty story range. Eighteen million people live in this city with four million labeled by our guide as flowing in and out. That means that there is migration in and out of four million people from the provinces seeking better lives. Many, however, discover that the menial jobs they find are not better than their previous live so they return to the provinces only to be replaced by others seeking a better existence. As I watched those cleaning the streets I can understand why this migration would take place.

In Beijing there are six million cars, none appearing to be older than five years. The government buys the older cars. The only older vehicles are minivans. The most popular models include Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Buick, Audi, and BMW. Though they continue to only allow driving every other day based on license plate numbers, it doesn’t stop traffic jams. I would be remiss if I didn’t share what appeared to be the most popular form of transportation, bicycles and scooters. They were everywhere as was the vast public bus and subway system.

My understanding of China’s need for new power sources and search for cheap and efficient fuel was reinforced. I saw new coal fired power plants in development and use as well as wind farms, solar panels on street lights, and other roof top energy devices both in the city and in the province. I fear that if we don’t create a sense of urgency in our country around the need for discovering and creating new sources of cheap and efficient energy the Chinese and European nations will. In the future those countries that move in this direction will be better positioned for success than are those dependent on fossil fuels.

There were guards in uniforms everywhere we went, on street corners, in shopping areas, at tourist attractions, in the streets, and on the roads. The uniforms were slightly different and I don’t know what each signified, but they were similar right down to the hat. They were usually young, perhaps in their twenties, though some appeared younger, and they rarely spoke to or acknowledged us. They were not armed, they were just present. I believe this presence has an influence on what people say and do in public.

I’ll close with one last piece of information on the public schools. Formal schooling in the primary school starts at age seven. All children, however, go to preschool for two years where they learn to read making the starting age of seven a little misleading.

I have had fun sharing my experiences in these last few posts and hope that they have provided you with some information and a feeling for travel in China.

The old mixed into the new . . .

I have much more I could share, but I think I’ll share tonight my experiences in Jianjing (I think this is the name) the place we moved to from the government hotel in Zhangjiakou. On the next post I’ll share a little more about Beijing and my last thoughts.

Life in the province was significantly different than what we saw in Beijing. Zhangjiakou was an established city with some signs of growth, but nowhere near the pace of change in Jianjing. This was a city in complete transformation. Old buildings were being torn down and replaced by new high rises, hotels, and a new business section. In every direction there are multiple cranes visible, more than I have seen in any one place in my life. It is an example of the new China with the roads and power being provided by the government and the private sector financing the new construction. I am told that China recently achieved the distinction of having the second most millionaires per capita after our country. Observing the changes here and in Beijing I can see where some of these millionaires are making their money.

Along with the change there is still the old. Every morning outside my window starting at about 6:00 am hundreds of people came to the town square for morning exercise. The activities included the traditional martial arts, badminton mostly without nets, ballroom dancing, a marching band, hacky sack, and plenty of swords. What was interesting was the age of the participants. There were very few youth even on a non school day with most participants I would say being 30 and older. When I asked some of the kids about this they said their parents participate, but they are too busy and get their exercise in school. It will be interesting to see if this tradition prevails with the many changes currently planned and in place.

Every morning there is also the market that is a very busy place. Though not large, it had a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with some fish. There are also multiple places to buy prepared food including pastry like items, stir fry, and noodles. During market and exercise was the only time that I saw garbage on the street. Before seeing this I thought the people were throwing it away though there are very few garbage cans visible. They don’t, the streets are physically swept by people and then the garbage is picked up by push cart. It was amazing how clean the cities were including Beijing.

I’ll also share a picture of the hotel’s lobby where people smoke freely. It truly is a beautiful place with mahogany paneling throughout. Though new with modern conveniences I did notice two things. The finish work is not to the same standard that we have. This was most visible in molding, the grout work, and the uneven closet doors. This may have been just my room and also because we were the first to use these rooms. The second observation was here and also in Beijing. The standard of cleaning is also not what we see in our country. The room was cleaned, but not as thoroughly as we are used to. I share these because I think it shows some of the differences in our cultures, not to be negative. This was a wonderful place and the people were most gracious and warm. They went out of their way to make us feel like royalty.

I’ll share one last picture. This is a man that I observed from my room at 6:00 am. He is shoveling sand into a cart and then emptying it over a screen to remove the rocks. He then takes the sand over to the cement mixer that I did not see operating. What was most interesting is that he was still doing this when I returned to the room after 6:00 pm and also on the next day.

Seeking learning partners . . .

The meeting with principals and English teachers after the school visits was informative and gave me an opportunity to pursue a relationship with a Chinese school and one or more of our schools. It was an opportunity to share in more detail the packet we produced with two principals and one vice principal.

As always there were a number of people in the room not from an individual school who represented the Bureau of Education in Zhangjiakou City and others from the Hebei Province Educational Department. They were with us at all times preceding the bus with multiple black cars with flashers on and directing school staff on what to do. What changed at this meeting was a directive to us to speak openly and to the Chinese school staff to also speak openly and ask any questions that they wished. From my conversations I believe that at least some of the principals or headmasters took this to heart and the tone of the conversations changed from polite to inquisitive with a focus on instructional practice. I left that meeting feeling good about the potential to establish a relationship with primary and middle schools.

Before I share some thoughts about the conversations at each level I want to share how hard it was for the Chinese to understand what a superintendent is and does. They continually wanted to know who the principals were in our group because they perceived this as the most important person to speak with. I can’t dispute this, but we had no principals in our group. We had superintendents, teachers, and other central office staff who seemed to not command the same respect as what would be given a principal. It was only after we found a way to show the place of a superintendent that this changed. Interestingly, it was not an organizational chart that created this change, it was by describing the superintendent job as the boss of the principals and that there were many principals that reported to one boss.

Elementary School: I met with the Headmaster and English Director of Dongfeng Primary School who were interested in our packet and the potential to establish a relationship with one of our schools. I believe that there is a good chance that we will be able to connect with them. In addition there was interest expressed for collaboration to establish video exchanges from the Headmaster of XiaDongYing Primary School. This came from her after hearing about our packet from another school. This too, could become a partner of one of our elementary schools.

Middle School: My conversation with the President of No. Seven Middle School of Zhangjiakou City was the most informative. He was open in telling me that the decisions to visit what rooms were based on impressing us and not in his control. He shared that the lessons were not what you would see if you dropped in and could go where you wished. He asked questions and wanted straight feedback from us, not what we would say to make him feel good. I was impressed with this young man and believe that he will follow-up on any request for collaboration in the future.

High School: As I shared in an earlier post I was able to visit Zhangjiakou No. 1 Senior Middle School where I started a conversation with the vice principal and an English teacher. I found their website (in Chinese) if you would like to visit. The vice principal seemed very interested and actually spent much time with me later at dinner. I don’t know, however, that I feel as good about this school as I did the middle school. Not having an opportunity to speak at length with the principal I fear may be a problem because of the anxiety I observed earlier in trying to share our information packet without the “responsible” person being present. We will, however, pursue this relationship.

There will be considerable hurdles to climb for any relationship to sustain over time. Those include the 15 hour time difference, language issues, technology, and finding the focus for the collaboration that will result in each party seeing this not as another thing to do, but as an important component of their educational program. Access will also be a problem in our elementary schools and in the Chinese schools because the main point of access is in a computer lab. We are beginning to address this in our elementary schools, but I know of no plan in the short term to increase access in the potential partner schools.

If you controlled the content of the collaboration, what would you want the students and adults to focus on so that it becomes something that all can’t wait to take place each day and not something that must happen because the superintendent and principal decide that it is important?

The need for creativity . . .

I am finally home and it feels great. I will share more of my China experience in the next few days.

On the visit to the No. 1 Zhangjiakou Senior Middle School (no web page) I was asked if I thought the students were being creative on multiple occasions. They are very focused on trying to make the shift from simply learning and acquiring information to being able to apply that information in creative ways to solve problems and create new products and ways of living. They realize that for all the recognition they get for high test scores, those scores are not resulting in increasing the number of patents that are issued annually. They are learning that this shift is not easy.

I honestly don’t have enough information to know if they are making strides in this area. As with the primary school, the visit was very structured and limited. The No. 1 high school is just that. For the first time here and in other places in China, they take the students scoring highest on the middle school tests and place them in a boarding high school for three years with the best rated teachers. Yes, teachers as well as students are rated. In our country there is a reverse trend with an intentional attempt to attract “better” teachers to work in inner city schools that have some of the greatest needs. Of course, in our country there is also no process for rating teachers.

No. 1 High School has 4000 of Hebei’s gifted students in three grades. It is a boarding school with even those that live in the city spending six nights a week at the school. The purpose of the school is to prepare these students for university where most aspire to qualify for Peking University, the most prestigious school in China. The school has a new section with one grade level and an older section housing the upper two grades. We visited the new section.

Classes range in size from 40 to sixty students in hot and humid classrooms. Unfortunately, we only saw two classrooms so I know very little about what it really looks and sounds like in their schools. The hallways were huge, yet I didn’t see one student in them during my visit. The students go to school for about four hours in the morning, have a two hour lunch/nap break, and then another afternoon session. They use continuous placement with the teachers staying with the same students for their three high school years. The students also stay in a room and the teachers move from classroom to classroom.

From a student I sat with on our return to Beijing it was verified by her that they study until about 11:00 pm every evening. Her parents are both teachers at her school and she feels great pressure to achieve at a high level so that she can achieve her goals and please her parents. Her aspiration is to become a translator and she believes that this requires four years of university work. I actually learned more from her about the school than I did on the visit. As an aside, she really likes McDonald's strawberry shakes and French fries, but her parents thought she was gaining too much weight so they made her stop going. She was very thin by our standards.

At the school we were greeted with students doing their daily “exercise” session. Since the building is new and the track area is not complete (I forgot to include at the primary school they have a synthetic track) they all trotted around the school in groups for about fifteen minutes. They did this in formations and with chants to keep them in step. It was not to military precision, but it was impressive. They do this every day regardless of the weather. On this day I was sweating just watching and they return to class directly from the activity.

We then were given a short concert by this grade’s choir. They are an award winning group and it was easy to see why. They were wonderful. They are also among the best in the province. What was different than in our schools was the inclusion of three teachers in the performance. They each sang long solo parts. The performance was followed by an English class that took the rest of the time before closure with food and conversation with the principal and the English teachers.

The English class was similar to what I described in the primary school visit except that the lesson had a group work component. Only English was used during the entire lesson for these students who were in their sixth year of learning English. Textbooks are used and in this lesson one of the goals was for the students to create a theme park. The teacher gave them ten minutes to work in groups to create their park before each group would meet with us and then present their park to the class.

When we met with a group it was clear that they had already spent time as the park had been designed. We were shown the design and asked to assist them in naming the park. The group included ten students. In the conversation with us, three students engaged at a high level. The others could not follow the conversation if it deviated from the theme and the vocabulary words used in the lesson. Our questions would be repeated by a peer in Chinese and even then they had difficulty contributing. The groups presented their park using the Elmo to show their drawings. Again, two to three students did the talking for the group, no questions were taken.

A couple of the groups showed creativity in the theme they picked to design their park, but the layouts were similar and consisted of rides, toilets, and restaurants. I also think that the structure of the lesson provided considerable guidance and parameters within which the designs were created. I answered the creativity questions with diplomacy, but not with the same positive language used by some of my colleagues. It was clear that our hosts wanted positive affirmation that the kids were being creative.

I would have preferred the opportunity to visit more classrooms to see how other core content areas are taught and to watch the interaction between teachers and students. It was obvious that these English lessons were staged for show. This was confirmed for me the next day through a middle school principal. With ours being the first school visit by any delegation to Zhangjiakou they wanted to impress us and to have us leave feeling positive about our experience with them. Since they are very open about these being the best and brightest students and the best teachers it could have been much more informative. The closing conversations with the principal and English teachers were actually the best part of each visit.

In the English class I kept asking myself what it would be like in our schools with students in their sixth or seventh year of Chinese. Though I have no experience or context for comparison, I believe that more students would be able to actively engage than was my experience in these classrooms. I base this on just a few observations in third year Spanish classes over time. Would this be because our program is elective and theirs is required? I don’t have the answer, but believe that this would be a part of the difference. With 250 million Chinese youth taking English lessons even if only 20% end up being literate that puts 50 million young and very competent Chinese youth in the world ready and eager to influence the stature and position of their country. It is certainly something to think about. Will knowing our language and our culture place them in an advantageous position? If we can duplicate this on the same level will it influence our ability to work collaboratively with them?

So many questions with perhaps the most important being; should we be looking at establishing a Chinese language program in our schools? Your thoughts?

Visiting a grassland?

I wrote this post in Beijing two days ago.

We just returned to Beijing and I’m in my old room with phone service so I can text to family and work. Over the last few days I’ve completely lost track of time and the day of the week. I had to look it up to see that it is Sunday here and Saturday back home. Though delayed, I will share my experiences in order. It will take a few days as there have been many.

Our days are very structured, full, and laden with food and gifts from our hosts. I think I’ve gained ten pounds and I know I have at least 25 pounds of gifts to add to my already heavy bags. The gifts might put me over the limit for baggage on the way home.

One of the trips we took in Hebei Province was to what our hosts called a grasslands. We thought it was a nature preserve with animals similar to what you would see at a zoo with a natural setting. The reality is far from this. We travelled a couple hours north to the Mongolian border climbing to a height of about 4200 feet.

The trip was enlightening. Small, medium, and large plots of land devoted to farming were visible on both sides of the road. All the vegetables served at the Olympics came from this area. During the entire drive I only saw three tractors, all three being very small. I saw more donkey and mule driven carts than I did modern machinery, but what was most visible was the large number of people working the farms by hand. In between the planting were small sheep herds tended by one herder.

On this trip I also observed the old and the new China, coal powered plants spewing forth their black emissions and solar powered street lights. Though China has replaced us as the number one country for carbon emissions they are also spending billions to find new and cheaper sources of energy. These include solar and wind sources.

When we came out of the mountains, we were greeted by an unbelievable site; a plateau that was so vast you could see nothing but flat grasslands on three sides. On the fourth were low mountains. It was then that we were told that we were near Mongolia and that we were going to visit Zhangbei Zhongdu Grassland, a vacation destination. Upon entering the area we were greeted by a group of riders on Mongolian ponies. In the picture you will also see three black cars in front of the bus. I’ll talk more about this in a later post.

We were then taken into a yurt where we were treated like royalty. Traditional foods were awaiting us in the yurt. There were goat cheeses, a dry meat of some kind, a spicy vegetable, and a drink was poured that appeared to be warmed milk, but with a different taste. When I added toasted seeds of some kind it was drinkable. Oh, there was also a pastry that was quite good and small, hard cookies that were also good. They performed traditional dances, played music on traditional instruments, and sang Mongolian songs. They also gave each one of us a beautiful white scarf after we blessed the heavens, the earth, crossed our hand on our forehead and drank a shot glass of a very fiery local liquor.

Like most of our activities in China, there was too little time devoted to this visit. The people were warm and truly interested in learning about us as we were them, but there just wasn’t the time. All too soon we had to leave, driving by the feisty, tethered ponies, saddled camels, and grasslands with grass that grows to be four feet tall in the fall.

Next I will share my visit to a high school since I was able to switch groups.

Finally, a school visit!

It seems that the stories from last night were not accurate. It is safe to be out at night and there is some confusion as to whether they enforce the written curfew. There are, however, some in the group that will not stay another night in the current hotel. This offended some high-ranking hosts that led to some serious discussions, hurt feelings, and emotion. The net result is that we are packing up to try a newer hotel about 30 minutes away. I fear the smoke and other things cited as needing to move may not be much better.
Not having Internet and not being able to use the phone are troubling me. I had my cell phone set up for international calls, but it won’t work and all the numbers I was given if there was a problem result in “Sorry, you didn’t apply for this service” and no operator intercept. It is difficult because of not being able to communicate with family and work through texting as I have been or Skype which I have not been able to do even in Beijing. Someone out there might actually be concerned with what is happening in China for me.
I visited a primary school (grades 1-5) this morning that made everything else seem less important. The teachers and students were wonderful to see and engage with. Everything we have heard and read about the Chinese system was shown to be true. The students are motivated and participate. We spent about 3 hours in the school seeing the following activities.
· Art class where we were given student work.
· A presentation by six girls on a Chinese instrument followed by being tutored on the Olympic song with the instrument.
· Watching and participating in the daily exercise program in the courtyard where we worked up quite a sweat in ten minutes.
· A physical education class where girls were doing gymnastics.
· A unicycle demonstration.
· A fourth-grade English class. The teacher was using a PowerPoint in the lesson focused on vocabulary around a bus trip to the zoo to visit the animals. The teacher used choral response to practice vocabulary, question and response to check for understanding, a guessing game to practice numbers, and then engaged us in question and answers. As long as we stayed on the words they were practicing they did a wonderful job in answering questions such as what is your favorite animal. When we deviated, such as asking what pandas ate, they struggled to understand the question.
I was struck by the focus on art and physical education with English being the only core class we observed. I don’t believe if we had visiting teachers that we would focus on observations in these content areas. As with everything else the visit was structured and we each had a teacher or other adult moving us from one place to another. It was over much too quickly.
The visit ended with an opportunity to share with the principal and teachers. It was here that I was reminded about hierarchy. I brought along packets in an attempt to invite collaboration between our schools and theirs. I first tried to share it with a teacher who quickly said no you need to speak to the principal. I then was successful in sharing the packet and a gift. Shortly after, she came back with someone higher on the hierarchy who I again shared with our desire for collaboration. As time was running out a new individual was introduced to me, but I was not able to share with him. I believe that there is a good chance to hear back from them.
Tomorrow is another visit, unfortunately for me the last and our group will be visiting a vocational school so I will not be able to visit a middle or high school.
Well the hotel issue is behind us. We are in a new hotel 30 minutes south of the old hotel. I am actually the first person to occupy room 807 as all of us are in new rooms. This is five star far better even than the Beijing Hotel. It is located in a community under unbelievable construction. Old buildings are being torn down and replaced by modern high rises on a magnitude I have never witnessed. The hotel we were previously in is government owned and the new on is privately financed. As part of the Chinese stimulus package the government is putting in the infrastructure such as roads and power and private enterprise is putting up the buildings. I’ll send a picture of the entrance to the two hotels and see if Kevin can include them in this post.

Beijing and beyond: banquet, bus rides and a no-star hotel

I have much more to share about Beijing, but I need to share with you the bus ride to Zhangjiakou. It took over three and one-half hours to go about 100 miles into the mountains north of Beijing. That included a stop to check what was making noise and leaking from the bus and a ten minute stop at of what was like a rest stop with a public bathroom and a couple small grocery stores. The driver used his wrenches on the bus and I had a popsicle. It is still very humid and hot even in the mountains.

There was also very good news at this stop. I found Coca Cola Light, the closest thing to diet I had seen in a store since we arrived in China. At the hotel in Beijing you can get a glass for about $7 U.S., cooled, but not cold. This was in a refrigerated case and really hit the spot.

I would insert a hyperlink for Zhangjiakou, but there is no Internet service so I will need to wait until I get back to Beijing in three days to post. Not only is there no Internet, but the mobile phone service has been turned off. There are many disgruntled members in our group, upset with the accommodations and the lack of this service. We are told that the local dignitaries supporting us are negotiating with the government to get it turned back on.

On the bus trip we were told that the hotel was not like the Five Star Beijing hotel, it was more like a four star. Well, in the U.S. it might not qualify for any stars. Peeling wall paper, torn curtains, one English speaking TV station (CCTV), worn/torn dirty carpeting, and cigarette smoke and burns. Smoking is much more prevalent here than I saw in Beijing, including being on a slow elevator with someone smoking. Some of the ladies from the New York/New Jersey area are particularly upset with these accommodations. Though of lower quality, the room may have actually been cleaner than my room in Beijing.

The first thing upon arrival was another banquet that included 26 courses. Thankfully, each course is small, but it still adds up. I can feel my waist expanding and my clothes tightening up. I tried EVERYTHING, including fish maw in a handless cup, fish balls and egg white, conch, and even “delicious” donkey meat. It wasn’t bad except there was more than meat on the plate, as at least two organs from some part of the donkey were also on the plate. Suffice it to say, I can say I tasted donkey meat, but it was one plate that I did not finish. What strikes me most about the food is that it is not spicy often to the point of being bland. The dishes with a sauce are usually the best, with any of the seafood dishes being at the top of my list. And yes, there was toast after toast with some type of hard liquor and wine always in your glass. I made it through with no problems, though there are some odd tastes in my mouth now as I find myself with some minor burps. Thank goodness for another coke light.

I forgot to share the other thing that is causing some to be upset: We have a 10:00 p.m. curfew. Yes, in our room by 10. We are told that there is not much to do In Zhangjiakou after this time. Looking out my window would suggest otherwise as there are many cars and people moving on the streets. Through all this, the people that we meet continue to amaze me. They are courteous and eager to please and support us. The hotel staff, most of whom do not speak English, are very helpful. I got a half roll of toilet paper and batteries for the remote control delivered using sign language, gestures and a few words.

Tomorrow we finally start the school visitations. Things have changed to include only two visits instead of four. I am randomly scheduled tomorrow for a technical school so I am trying to find someone to switch with me so I can visit an elementary school, the only other choice.

What I am learning is that this trip is much more about promoting Hanban’s language program to expand the number of schools in our country teaching Chinese language and culture. It is more about experiencing Chinese culture through visiting prominent sites and natural areas than visiting the schools. Though I am enjoying and learning thus far, I was hoping to experience more of the schools than we will have the opportunity to do. I am also intrigued and eager to learn more about the language program and ability through Hanban to implement it with exchange teachers. A number of the districts here already are using the program and give it good ratings, both the teachers and the program they teach.

I am hopeful that we will have phone service tomorrow so that I can get something on my blog about the lack of Internet; and if there is a way to use my phone I have no clue or the time to learn it here. Our days are packed with little opportunity for reflection, reading, or relaxation. It’s 11:30 pm and I’m ready to call it a day.

NEWS ALERT: At midnight I had a knock on my door from a member of our team. He informed me that we would be leaving in the morning after the first school visit. It seems like I actually have one of the better, cleaner rooms, others are in much worse shape than mine. Hanban did not actually visit the hotel because we were moved from the place they planned for us when a high-ranking member of the government decided to visit that city at the same time. And, the real reason for the curfew is that it would not be safe for us to be on the streets in the evening.

This means we get to bus back to Beijing in the morning (3.5 hours) and then go to a city in southern Hebei Province that could be another 3+ hours on the bus. This is one more chapter in my adventure. I am meeting people from my country and from China and acquiring new information that is allowing me to be reflective about our district’s journey from an entirely new context.

My main concern continues to be the lack of access to schools and the people in them, both kids and adults. Because we are out in the province away from Beijing I am also concerned that there will not be student access to technology. The packet that we have prepared to introduce ourselves and to invite collaboration is around becoming e-pals. I will know more about this after the school visit this morning.