Students Explore China & Taiwan

On June 8, Chinese teachers Susan Kramer and her husband Jerry took 17 Blair students to the People’s Republic of China and to Taiwan. They report the following about their Asian adventure:

After an exhausting 19-hour flight from JFK Airport to Hong Kong, we transferred to a domestic airline for the flight to Shanghai, arriving around noon on Sunday, June 10. Our first day in Shanghai consisted of a quick tour of some famous sights, including the French Quarter, former foreign concession areas and the Bund. After supper we went on a Shanghai harbor boat ride.

On the second day, we went to the Shanghai museum and the Yu Gardens, which have now been surrounded by a new shopping mall – giving us all a chance to do what is central to all journeys: shopping!

Our third day saw us visiting the historic and beautiful city of Su-zhou, called the Venice of China, and also a center of silk production. A highlight of the trip to Su-zhou was a side visit to the ancient village called Zhou-Zhuang.

We flew to the ancient capital of China, Xi-an, on our fourth day. One exciting sidelight to that flight was the trip to the airport. Our group took the “Mag-Lev” – the fastest train in the world; it can travel at speeds up to 341 kilometers an hour. Xi-an is one of the few cities in China to still have a city wall. All of us, chaperones included, rented bicycles and took the journey around the city on top of the wall (a rather bumpy and slightly scary experience!) The city also has a Muslim quarter and a mosque. Of course, the focus of our trip to Xi-an was to visit the Terra Cotta warriors – an army of fired clay warriors who were set up to protect the first emperor of China, Chin Shi Huang, in the afterlife. They are a remarkable cultural and artistic achievement of the third century BC in China.

From Xi-an we went on to the capital, Bei-jing. The sights of this city are well known, and we went to many of them, including the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. Outside of a Bei-jing restaurant, Ryan had an opportunity to test his skill in Chinese chess with a local resident. (He lost, but we all had a great time watching.)
On June 18 we flew to Taipei, Taiwan. It was great having Alex’s parents meet us at the airport and bring us to our hotel. Without a doubt, the success of our visit to Taiwan was due to the planning and invaluable assistance of the parents of our Taiwan international students. Alex’s parents handled travel and hotel arrangements in Taipei. Margaret’s parents arranged for us to visit a famous wood carving town, San Yi, near their home in central Taiwan, and for our hotel in Tai Chung. Tommy’s parents set up a visit to a Buddhist monastery – where we all had a chance to meditate – and to a Taiwan aborigine area. These three families, along with the parents of Lynn and Kevin, invited our entire group to a fabulous buffet at one of the nicest hotels in Taipei. We cannot thank them enough!

One special feature of our trip was the opportunity to visit two high schools. The first was the Shang-hai-Singapore International School, which is a newly established school located just outside the city. Our second visit was to the Viator Middle High School in Taiwan, founded by a Roman Catholic priest in 1935 in mainland China and reestablished in Taiwan in 1954. The school has served the students of Taiwan for over 53 years.

From pickpockets in the Shang-hai subway, riding the Mag Lev, eating Peking duck, zooming to the top of the tallest building in the world (101 in Taipei), visiting a host of historic sites and two high schools, to washing their own clothes (by hand), this was a trip with many “firsts” for our students.

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Updated 8/17/07

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