China Trip

Bea: On July 19th , twenty-five City girls, together with students from CLS and Croydon High School, arrived in China for a two-week stay. With the time difference we arrived at 9am and hit the ground running. We went straight from the airport to our Chinese counterpart, Bayi High School, where we would meet our host families.   

Lizzie and Yasi: Most of us had met our Chinese exchanges before, but there were a few of us that hadn’t. Either way, they made us feel incredibly welcome and went out of their way to make sure we were comfortable. They all attended Bayi High, a mixed school in the centre of Beijing. However, similar to CLSG, they came from all over the city. We stayed with our families for 5 nights and each day we visited somewhere new. We saw The Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square and the vast Forbidden City.

Ana: The Great Wall of China, possibly one of the most famous landmarks in the world, stretches 6000 km and was built in the 5th century BC. The wall is very, very steep in some places, to the point where you are trying to climb a vertical staircase. The views were impressive, almost a bird’s eye view of the surrounding countryside. The following morning we visited the zoo. It was amazing to see real live white tigers that are fast becoming extinct, not to mention the giant pandas and the many other exotic animals. We also went to a pearl factory and saw a pearl being extracted from an oyster. After that, there was a chance to haggle over already cheap jewellery.

Emily: In Xi’An we visited the Terracotta Warriors, some of which are now on display at the British museum. There are over eight thousand of these lifelike figures, some even mounted on horses and arranged in battle formation to guard Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China, who lived over 2000 years ago. The next day, we took a practically vertical cable car ride up to the HuaShan Mountain National Park. When we were safely on ground again near the top, we continued climbing for panoramic views of Xi’An’s landscape at an altitude of 1,997 metres. Mount Hua is one of China’s five holy mountains, known as the centre for traditional Chinese martial arts.

Lisa and Sarah: Chonquing is one of the biggest cities in China and a favourite for many of us, even though we only spent one day there. We had time to go shopping down a winding road called Old Asia Street, known for its beautiful silks. That evening we visited The People’s Square, a huge area set in front of the glittering People’s Hall. Hundreds of people were dancing and practising their   evening Tai Chi, lit up by beautiful fountains and colourful lights. For them this was just a usual evening but, like many things in China, it was something we had never experienced. We tried our best to join in the dancing but mostly failed due to lack of rhythm.

Becca and Zoe: We spent three nights on the yacht ‘The Oriental Emperor’ and in that time, passed through the famous Three Gorges. Qutand, Wu and Xiling are famous around the world for their stunning scenery and are culturally very important to China. These impossibly deep ravines cover a total distance of around 120 kilometres. Each day there were different activities to do on and off the boat. Along the way, we visited a ghost city in Fendu, where we climbed up hundreds of steps to see shrines to the gods.   

Tara and Sophia: Shanghai was our last stop. We spent the first night at an acrobatic circus and witnessed unbelievable body contortionists. During our last full day we visited Shanghai’s Pearl Tower, an incredible structure over 467m tall making it the 3rd tallest building in the world. There was an observation deck and a floor with 360 degree views of Shanghai. We then visited Yu Garden, a beautiful garden in the centre of Shanghai, and took a boat ride along the Bund River, enjoying the sunset over the city skyline.  

Ali: When we finally arrived back in Heathrow we collected our bags and everyone hung around, reluctant to leave. We had had such a fantastic time on the trip and had made friends both within our schools and in China. We had easily fulfilled the objective of the ‘cultural exchange’ and we did not want it to end.

 

Lizzie & Yasi, Year 8; Bea & Sarah, Year 9; Ali, Becca, Zoe, Lisa & Amy, Year 10; Tara, Sophia, Emily & Ana, Year 11; and Jemma, Year 12.