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July - August 2005
Inside this edition:
The Temple of Heaven – "A World of its Own"
The first thing that struck me as we arrived at the park gates were the queues of old Beijingers -- there must have been over 200 -- some carrying their birds in old cages and others rolling old walnut shells in their hands and singing. It was a magnificent sight.
Grace from WLE told us it was the day they all come to pick up their free passes for the park which is where they all gather to play chess, exercise, and sing, among many other things. Parks in Beijing have such a community feel.
The park itself is huge, much larger than the Forbidden City at nearly 3 million square meters although slightly smaller than the Summer Palace which we had visited previously. The emperors dared not build their Forbidden City larger than the Temple of Heaven as this was a dwelling for heaven after all. Our guide would stop us at each historical place and fill us in on all this amazing history.
The most magnificent buildings within the central part of the park are the Circular Mound Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huangqiongyu) and Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest (Qiniandian). Each building had hundreds of years of history and all have been restored to their original beauty. After spending some time around these temples some of us wandered off in our own groups to explore the rest of the grounds. We stumbled across some ancient echo walls that are nearly 200m long. If you whisper against the wall at one end you can make conversation with you friend many meters down at the other end, we were quite taken back by just how clearly we could hear each other. Some local university students joined us and we managed to talk in Chinese to each other. It was almost surreal as we were talking into an ancient wall, and having great fun too. We joined these students for some tea near the north gate and talked a lot about our home countries.
We all got back together later that afternoon after spending about 4 hours wandering around the park and the temples. Some of us had bought tea and kites and other traditional goods in the park. One friend of mine had even bought a cricket that sung in the bus all the way back to home.
Thomas and Wendy in
the Temple of Heaven |
Iris and Madeline enjoying
the huge park
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Weekend Activity - "A Beautiful Day at the Zoo"
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The Beijing Zoo is located in Xi Cheng district very close to the Beijing exhibition centre which we passed en route. It’s a fascinating area with a lot of history -- the Zoo itself was first opened in 1908 but a long time before that in 1368 it was an imperial manor. During the Ming Dynasty, plants and animals were first raised at the Zoo and in 1644 during the Qing dynasty. With this length of a history with raising animals, it is most likely the oldest zoo in the world. Our tour guide was full of surprises -- she knew so much history and had an incredible amount of knowledge about many of the rare Chinese animals housed at the zoo.
Most of us were wanting to see the Pandas and it seemed that just about everyone who first arrives at the zoo wants to go and see the pandas right away. We could hear the Chinese children shouting “Da Xiong Mao” (which means Panda) and holding balloons in the shape of Pandas. There was a real air of excitement as we got closer -- not one of us in the WLE group had seen a panda before.
Once at the panda enclosure we had to be very patient in order to get a good glimpse at the bears. We all managed to get a clear view of one of the biggest males eating bamboo. It was truly unbelievable that we were so close to such a beautiful animal.
After the initial excitement of the pandas, we went on to see some of the other beautiful animals that can be found in China like the Golden Monkey. They had a huge enclosure and were making a lot of noise. After the monkeys, we took a nice walk around the zoo gardens which are huge, in fact the zoo covers over 50,000 square meters so despite spending a great 3 hours at the zoo we still didn’t manage to see it all. We learnt a lot about China and a lot of different animals’ names too.
Those of us with enough energy remaining went on to the exhibition hall afterwards which was fascinating.
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Julie, Frida, Jonas,Mary and
Herman outside the Zoo |
A Panda bear in the Beijing Zoo
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WLE Students checking
out the Monkeys |
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This is what one of the bird
cages looks like |
A beautiful waterfall
inside the Beijing Zoo
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The entrance to the
Lion and
Tiger pit looks kind of frightening |
Social Activity - Bowling
On a rainy Sunday evening in July, we got together for a bit of friendly competition to test each other’s bowling skills. We went to Beijing’s famous 100 Lanes Bowling Alley (Gongti 100) that as the name suggests has 100 bowling lanes! We were in awe when we walked in at how immense 100 bowling lanes look one after another.
On the bus ride over, we practiced our Chinese language skills by going over basic bowling words in Chinese. We were all hoping for a quan dao (strike) or at least
Bu quan dao (spare). We grouped ourselves in seven teams of four players to each team, all of us hoping that we would be the team to win the grand prize of gift certificates to the noodle restaurant next to our campus.
We cheered each other on, Jia You! and helped those who had never bowled before try to position themselves to get just the right zhu pao dao (approach). For the others of us, we worked on our gou qiu (hook ball) and qu qiu (hook ball). The winning team ended up blowing the rest of us away after two rounds. In the end though, it wasn’t about who won, but that we were able to practice our Chinese in a social environment. |
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| Kerry going for a Strike... |
And it looks like she got it!
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Anna, Merritt, Naomi and Matt
looking like they're doing ok. |
World Vision Seminar
Over the summer, two WLE business courses too place. We heard from speakers that talked about the IT industry, Marketing, Real Estate, Telecommunications, and Entrepreneurs. The one seminar that struck many of us as the most memorable was the presentation given by Horace Ling from World Vision.
This distinct seminar was particularly interesting. It was regarding NGO’s (Non Governmental Organizations) in China and the environment which faces them in China. The speaker, Horace Ling, was very knowledgeable and open about what was being discussed. The term NGO is not one hears very often in China given the poor and heavily “controlled” environment in which they operate. The discussion was focused on the remarkable work undertaken by World Vision and its volunteers and detail was given about the difficulties faced by such organizations in providing their services to the people. The seminar was fascinating from the point of view that one in the world of business only thinks about PROFIT but this is not the case of World Vision. They think of the well being and development of people’s living standards. Possibly the most memorable and yet disturbing truth of the seminar was “reality.” Sitting and studying in Beijing one can not begin to imagine the difficulties people in the country side face. China still has a long way to come! by Filiberto Secchi |
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| Students listening to World Vision's Horace Ling |
Horace explaining about Non Governmental Organizations |
WLE Business Students
discussing for many a new topic |
Student Interview: Merritt Wilson
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 Name: Merritt Wilson
Country of Residence: United States
Citizenship: American
Profession: Student
Educational Background: Completing final year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a BA in Chinese Language
Brief Work History: Worked part-time as a waitress since the age of 15
Languages Spoken: English, Spanish, Chinese, a little Norwegian
Hobbies: Playing the piano, listening to music, volunteering at the Humane Society
Is this your first time in China?
No, I studied Chinese at Nankai University in Tianjin last summer
Why did you decide to participate in the Chinese Language and Internship Program?
I’m interested in finding a job related to China and business after graduation from college this December, and thought it would be a wise move to gain some practical work experience in China first.
How are you finding your studies in China?
My speaking and listening abilities have greatly increased in the 2 months I’ve been here so far.
Have they been what you expected them to be?
They’ve exceeded my expectations.
How do you like Beijing?
I love Beijing; it’s an international city with a Chinese twist. It’s possible to be immersed in Chinese culture but also get a milkshake if one misses Western food.
What do you find most interesting in Beijing?
The way that Chinese people interact with each other and with foreigners.
Tell us a few memorable experiences in Beijing/China?
One weekend, a group of students in the WLE program went together to climb the Great Wall; however, we did not realize that we would actually be scaling small cliffs and treading on treacherous footing. However, it was a fun and interesting experience.
How has your experience in China changed you?
I’ve grown both as a person and as a student. Many of my original views of China have changed, as well as my view of Chinese people in general. I think I’ve matured, both intellectually and emotionally.
What is the thing you like best about Beijing/China?
The opportunity to learn something new whenever one walks out the door.
Will you come to China/Beijing again?
Without a doubt.
What advice/tips would you give to others who plan to come and study in China?
Come with an open mind. Don’t dismiss something just because it seems strange or unfamiliar. Be willing to be spontaneous; most of the great adventures occur as a result of spontaneity.
After graduating university, what do you plan on doing?
Coming back to China.
Tell us about your internship and how you hope it will help you in the future.
I’m working for a grassroots organization called Our Chinese Daughters Foundation (OCDF). We organize cultural tours around China for Chinese girls who have been adopted, are living in the United States, and are coming back to China with their adoptive families to see their native province and the orphanage they are from. We also handle the Chinese end of international adoptions, as well as organize care packages and school sponsorship programs to help the children still in the orphanage. I think it’s invaluable work experience, both at a basic administrative level, and also in the sense of gaining a glimpse into the Chinese working world. It has helped me to determine that I do want to return to China in the very near future. |
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