A Teacher’s Travels In China

our ITInerAry

The following is a documentation of my first trip to China dur-ing the summer of 2012. I went with a friend of mine, Maya Wang, who was born in Yingkou, China. It is a seaside city located in the northeast, a 6 hour bus ride from Beijing. She is currently a teacher of Mandarin to middle school students at the Calhoun School in New York City. The purpose of the trip was to create video and still imagery that could then be used as instructional tools in her classroom. I very much ap-preciated and respected her desire to expend her time and energy into creating a more effective curriculum for her stu-dents.

Of course, a certain amount of memorization and repetitive exercises must be performed in order to learn a language, but the inspiration to learn a language comes from teachers like Maya. This comes from both her natural effervecence and her comittment to organizing her lessons so that the main focus is not simply learning by rote. She understands language is a cultural identity. And seeing as suchmeans that the learning of a language is the sharing cultures, embracing the many differences and similarites.

The initial idea of the trip was that we would travel to Guizhou, a province in the southwest. The population of Guizhou is one of China’s most diverse. More than 37% of the pop-ulation are part of a minority tribe. The region has a long history of rebellion, and many of the ethnic minorities are in a constant battle for autonomy. These minorities are, also, well-known for their embroidery and silversmithing. Maya felt that interviewing the artisans in these minority tribes would be a culturally fascinating introduction of this people to her students. Although, we did do many interviews what became more inspiring and central in our purpose was interviewing kids throughout our travels. In each new place we visited, and in the journey to get to each place, Maya spoke to kids of all ages.

Maya is a natural teacher and children fall in love with her instantly. In a few villages we went to the local schools and Maya was able to give an english/ culture lesson to a class. In other villages we would go to playgrounds and she would, after some convincing at times, have mini lessons in which she explained what we were doing and teach them a few en-glish words or phrases. She asked them to share with their American counterparts something about themselves. All that I can hope is that this documentation of our travels correctly portrays the passion of Maya as an educator, and the influ-ence she seemed to have on the children we came into con-tact with in Guizhou.

on the road to Xi Jiang.

XI JIAng vIllAge

In Xi Jiang we met the Yang family. The Yang’s owned our favorite food stand. After our first wonderful meal there Maya asked the mother, Sijie, about other villages near Xi Jiang, as Xi Jiang was much more touristic than we had imagined. She told us about a small village nearby where her brother lived, Kai Jue. She, also, offered to cook us dinner that night at her house.

Xi Jiang is a Miao tribe village. Miao is, actually, a term given to a group of indigineous tribes by the Chinese government. So many who are considered to be Miao do not share the same language or culture with others who are considered Miao. The majority of people considered Miao live in southern China (9 million out of 10-12 million). They are known especially for their embroidery, silversmithing techniques, and exquisite hair-dos. Maya very much wanted one of these hair-dos. Sijie offered to give her one that afternoon.

Later that night we ate hot pot with the Yangs. Hot pot is a dish that is prevalent throughout China. It varies quite a bit from region to region depending on the local spices, meats, and vege-tables. The broths range from mild to spicey to sour. All different types of meats, poultry, and vegetables are used. Sijie made one with fish.

Because our itinerary was free form a lot depended on Maya asking locals for advice on interesting places to go and people to interview. This opened us up to many surprises. Usually pleasant

XI JIAng elemenTAry sChool

In Xi Jiang we decided to go into a school we had passed by, which was an elementary school, to see if we could do interviews with the children. School had just ended, and the children were running out quickly, screaming and shouting. Finally, some little boys stopped and gave us directions to the main office. The middle school english teacher just happened to be there in the office, and said Maya could teach his 8th grade class at 7:30AM the next day. The teacher was very excited for us to be there, and we were quite elated to have this opportunity.

XI JIAng mIddle sChool

That morning was the highlight of the trip for me. At first, the stu-dents were shy, but Maya was immediately able to bring them out of their shells. The openness and energy in the classroom was in-spiring. Maya spoke about herself. Then I spoke about myself, and Maya translated. After this, she taught them some phrases and spoke more about her students Calhoun. One of the phrases Maya taught them was ‘I love you.’ The quickness with which the students embraced this was amazing to me. It was very truly felt. This safety allows children to learn and grow with smiles on their faces. After the lesson each student came up to the camera and spoke about themselves, addressing Maya’s students in New York City. Quite beautiful. Whereas, we enetered a room of quiet, still students we barely could escape at the end from the barrage of random questions!

on the road to Kai Jue.

KAI Jue vIllAge

Here we stayed with the brother of Sijie. This was by far the poorest village we were to visit. There was only one store, which did not sell very much, one stand for soup, and the outdoor mar-ket consisted of green tomatoes and chickens.

Sijie’s little brother was very welcoming to us. He took us into the mountains above the village to a gorgeous waterfall where we went swimming. The picturesque surroundings contrasted with the disheveled environs of the village. This extreme con-trast was a theme throughout our trip.

Back in the village, we met this gang of young boys. Every time we would walk towards them they would run away. But then they would wait for us to follow them. This continue d for quite sometime, as we ran through the dark and windy alleys of Kai Jue. They began running up a path to the waterfall. This is when we stopped, and turned around. Of course, within a minute they had come back and were running past us in the narrow alleyway. They, obviously, wished the game to continue. Finally, they stopped at this dirt pile, and Maya had a conversation with them

on the road to Kong Bai.

Kong BAI vIllAge

In Kong Bai we met and interviewed Jin Tai Long, a silversmith. He told us how, in the past, this village was known for its’ many silver-smiths. However, in the last decade almost all of them have moved to the nearby cities. He, too, moved to the city to work but returned to Kong Bai. He said he realized that if he did not return, this cul-ture and trade would no longer exist in his village. As it is now, it is only him and another that carry on the tradition. The rest are gone, and he is watching his home disappear. At the end he asked if he could speak to the camera. As he looked directly into the camera, he made a plea to all of his fellow villagers to return to Kong Bai so that their tradition and culture can remain.

on the road to Basha.

Basha is is a Miao village known as ‘the last tribe of gunmen.’ The village lies along the southern border of Guizhou in the mountains near the city of Conjiang. It is the only tribe which is allowed to legally carry guns in China. Basha is a popular destination for Chi-nese tourists. The women who owned the house we stayed in told us that the guns were really only used in ceremonies for tourists now.

BAshA vIllAge

In the local schoolyard we interrupted a game of basketball. The boys were not really interested in stopping their game to hear what Maya had to say, but they ended up having fun anyway. They de-clined our offer for ice cream so that they could continue their game.

This hairstyle is done with a sickle (and no shaving cream). The hair in the middle is coiled into a bun. The shaving ceremony is done by the leader of the tribe and is considered a rite of passage for the boy (usually taking place sometime between the ages of 7-15).

Through speaking with locals we found out about the Lao Ren vil-lage, or senior village. The village is 1/2 hour away from Basha in this 3 wheeled mobile if conditions are good.

Lao Ren is a village comprised solely of seniors. Whatever their family situations are, has caused them to move to this isolated vil-lage. We were told to bring gifts of pasta and salt because these were goods they could not grow themselves.

The seniors walk 5 hours to the nearest city for supplies. Basha is closer, but more expensive. Visitors are infrequent here. We had a guide take us there because many of the seniors do not speak Mandarin.

on the road to Zhao Xing.

ZhAo XIng vIllAge

Zhao Xing is a Dong tribe village. The Dong are a minority tribe well-known for their rich tradition of singing, which they use as an oral literature and history. Song is prevalent in all aspects of the Dong culture. They are, also, known for their architecture.

Here we met Tian Mei, who said she would take us to the local middle school on top of the hill. The school was having final ex-ams, but some students volunteered to stay for a class with Maya. Although, they were quite rambunctious they were still interested and present.

TAng’ An vIllAge

This Dong village lies high above Zhao Xing amongst a multitude of rice paddy terraces. The village is China’s first ecological museum, meaning that the entire village is considered a museum. It is a time capsule of Dong culture.

The architecture here was exquisite, and the environs more well-taken care of than in any other village we had been to on this trip. The drum towers below in Zhao Xing showed many signs of their age and were inpainted. The air was fresh in Tang’an, and the lack of chaos was greatly welcomed.

on the road to Zhao Xing.

on the road to san Jiang.

on the road to san Jiang (from the other side).

on the road to guilin.

on the road to the guilin airport...

In the airport at Guilin, Guangxi. Our flight here was delayed 7 hours. No fun at all. But we did have this in-airport entertainment for awhile. The breadth of his gesticulations was fascinating!

Our last day together in Beijing. We went to the Lama Temple, “Palace of Peace and Harmony.”

If one prays for something there and it comes to pass, one is supposed to return to give thanks.

We returned so Maya could give thanks for a prayer answered.