Blog

By Fatehganj Singh
The India China Alliance for Cooperation (ICAC) facilitated the participation of middle school students from India's prestigious Modern School, New Delhi for the Beijing International Education Exchange (BIEE) Programme in China, 2013. The programme has been held for three years and has attracted over 2300 teachers and students from 29 countries all over the world, including Turkey, Sweden, USA, Spain, England, Russia, Canada, Vietnam, Japan, Korea as well as India. ICAC has been the India partner for the programme.

The exchange provides fascinating insights into how the Chinese live, what their cultural and historical background is and how Beijing, their capital city, combines the best of the modern with the traditional. Add to this the camp-like feeling with students and teachers from different countries and a plethora or opportunities to share and learn from each other. Read what our participants of 2013; 2012 and 2011 have to say about their experience. I was one of the ten students from Strawberry Fields World School, Chandigarh, selected to go to China for the Beijing International Education Exchange (BIEE) Programme. In all, there were 19 countries that participated in the programme, including Turkey, Sweden, USA, Spain, England, Russia, Canada, Vietnam, Japan, Korea as well as India. We got some amazing insights into how the Chinese live, what their cultural and historical background is and how Beijing, their capital city, combines the best of the modern with the traditional. Add to this the camp-like feeling with students and teachers from different countries and be assured that we had one of the best learning cum fun experiences of our lives.

Our accommodation was at St. Paul’s American School in Beijing. Staying in dormitories had its own unique and personal feel. During the day, we would stroll around the sprawling campus which had a wide range of sporting facilities. Then there was a well stocked in-house provisions store which had most items of daily needs. The entire campus was self sufficient. Add to this the organisers had planned our stay with a plethora of activities, outdoor visits, sightseeing opportunities and interactions both with the Chinese as also with the other international students. China’s rich heritage and cultural history beckoned us with conducted tours to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Beijing Lama Temple, just to name a few. Most of us kept a daily diary. In the paragraphs below, are some of the highlights.

Field Notes from China
Day 1: We arrived at Beijing international airport and were received by BIEE staff and taken to the campus. This whole day was for us to settle in and get acquainted with the campus.

Day 2: We were taken for the opening ceremony which had some singing performances and a speech by our hosts. This was followed by a tour of the Forbidden City. The evening was spent playing sports and getting to know our bus mates and the Turks. After dinner, we were taken to a Kung Fu show which showed us the martial strengths of the Chinese, brandishing all kinds of weapons like swords, spears, blades and nun chucks which really made our hearts skip a beat.

Day 3: We had Chinese lessons in the morning which was fun as we always had games and competitions to take part in. After lunch we were given inputs on Chinese culture by our group leader Helena Han and taken to the iconic Peking University. After dinner we had some free time which we spent playing games and chatting with fellow students from other countries.

Day 4: We visited the Summer Palace and Wang Fu Jing walking street, which had a large number of international brands and shopping arcades/markets.

Day 5: We braced ourselves for some walking as we headed out to one of the Wonders of the World – the Great Wall in the morning. Most of us were mesmerised by its sheer length and breadth and though we had caught glimpses of it in photographs, movies and videos, nothing quite prepared us for seeing it in real life. Later that day, we got a chance to put on our best Indian act. Wearing kurta pyjamas we floated around feeling quite good about how our Indian contingent was being viewed by the rest. It was a long day and we were wanting to hit the sack, but the talkative Koreans made sure we did not get our beauty sleep. They had some appetite for holding non stop talkathons, some of which lasted till three in the morning!

Day 6: The China Ethnic Museum was on our day’s calendar and we were intrigued to see how different nationalities in China lived together. After dinner, we went to a super market to buy whatever we wanted. For some of us who were having trouble with food, this trip was a relief.

Day 7: We made a trip to the Capital Museum which was informative and interesting. It was here that the Canadians taught us how to play “Ninja”. After dinner we started preparing for our performances for the closing ceremony. Every country had to showcase something that was typical of their culture and setting. For us, it was practicing on the song “Yaar Anmulle”.

Day 8: We were taken to the Silk Market to see China’s famed silk. We could visualise these luxurious textiles winding their way through the silk route of yore, getting exported to different countries. We came back had our dinner and practiced some more for our performance.

Day 9: A visit to Hu Tong was next on our itinerary. After coming back we had lunch and it was time for us to perform in the closing ceremony. Some of the performances were breathtaking, especially the Spanish Matadors who displayed their culture and tradition, the Russians, who performed a beautiful dance, Turkey which showed a marriage tradition and cultural dance, Canada dancing to the tune of “Wavin Flag “and singing the song “Hallelujah” in a most patriotic way, United States of America speaking about their country’s values and what it stood for, Australia and Vietnam showing us their musical inclination with songs, China, putting up a stunt defying kung fu display that blew our minds and finally, the Indians telling the rest, what it means to be a Punjabi.

Fatehganj Singh was a student from the Strawberry Fields High School in Chandigarh who participated in the Beijing International Education Exchange programme, 2015.