A JOURNEY TO CHINA

After a long day of travelling, we arrived at Pudong international airport where we met our lovely hosts and guides, Joie and Zoe. They helped us onto a coach with all of our luggage, and we made our way to the hotel. Before checking in, we had a lovely traditional Chinese lunch at a round table where we served dishes such as sweet and sour pork, mantou, mapo tofu and an assortment of deliciously fried vegetables. Later in the day, we travelled to Shanghai city centre by metro. We explored the City God Temple area, where historic and traditional Chinese buildings stand alongside Shanghai's iconic modern skyline. In the Temple area, we got to experience and see many traditional Chinese medicine shops, hand crafted delicacies and fine intricate woodwork all for sale. We greatly enjoyed our time in Shanghai, and it was a favourite amongst the group.

Early the next morning we made our way to the Shanghai Museum East which had plethora of very interesting galleries such as the bronze, sculpture and exhibition galleries. One of the most prominent features there was the large and intricate salt rock wall that is displayed as you walk in. On the second floor there were also other galleries such as jade, calligraphy and ceramics galleries. Later that day we had a long journey to Liyang in the Jiangsu province where we were given a very warm welcome by the local people. We were invited into a small daycare in Liyang where we met with former students at the school, teachers and other staff to take part in making traditional Chinese wontons! The gathering was lovely and heartwarming with the local people of Liyang making us feel tremendously at home and very comfortable despite our being in a whole other continent.

On our third day, we had a very busy and exciting schedule. First thing, we visited the Liyang museum. The most eye-catching part was the beautiful architecture; from the outside there was a large wooden organic shaped roof that stood out amongst the urban area. The museum itself was rich with the history of Liyang, and we were very kindly guided through by a guide who gave us details about each exhibit. We went on to explore two local villages Guilin village and Megnjiefang village. We took a lovely ride through the villages, giving us ample time to take in the gorgeous landscape. We enjoyed another traditional lunch at a restaurant close by to Tianmu lake where we took lots of pictures and enjoyed the calm, serene environment. We also took a visit to Liyang art gallery which was another favourite amongst the group. We got to see a calligraphy exhibit, a tea exhibit and even met with an artist that had paintings hung in the gallery. Finally, to finish off the day, we visited Liyang Middle School and enjoyed a campus tour as well as taking part in the workshop on how to make Chinese traditional tea. I wish I had taken more pictures as it was quite comical seeing people I've known for nearly five years so hyper focused on pouring just the right amount of tea into a tasting cup.

On day four, we had a full day school experience in Liyang high school, where we met Chinese students our age and got to enjoy a range of really fun workshops.  There was a brief, but warm welcome ceremony held for us and, after that, we were given an opportunity to try Chinese calligraphy, where we wrote traditional characters and created our own authentic calligraphic artwork on paper fans. Directly afterwards we had a crafting workshop, inspired by the Qixi Festival, where we made traditional silk fans and scented sachets. We stopped for a delicious school lunch, giving us an opportunity to see the lunch at Chinese schools. We were then given informal time with our Chinese student buddies so that students from both sides could chat about daily school life, hobbies, and academic interests to foster cross-cultural friendships. A very fun part was the opportunity to watch and learn a traditional fan dance whilst holding the fans crafted during the morning session. We finished off the cross-cultural day with a friendship concert hosted by the Chinese students where they performed with traditional instruments (Guzheng, Pipa) alongside classical Chinese or English song performances.

On day five we got ready to travel to Yangzhou City where we would be looking at more historical and architectural artefacts. We first went to visit the China Grand Canal Museum and enjoyed interactive exhibits and activities. We then moved on to Yu Gardens, to explore the beauty of a traditional Chinese classical garden, learning about its architecture, landscape design and cultural significance. The garden was very large, and we learnt that it belonged to a wealthy Chinese merchant in the past. The lovely tour guide made us aware of the fact that nearly every courtyard in the garden had multiple different views and perspectives to see it at and explained that this is a common architectural feature of traditional Chinese buildings.

At the start of day six, we enjoyed an authentic Yangzhou breakfast, followed by hotel check-out, before we travelled to Eltham Hill’s sister School Jiangyan Li Cai Experimental School. We spent the day with Chinese buddies, participating in a range of classroom lessons, workshops and school activities.  We were once again warmly welcomed by the Headteacher, and paired up with Chinese buddies. We went on to make traditional Chinese snacks with buddies, including mung bean cakes, sesame balls, and flaky pastries, and enjoyed a lunch featuring Chinese specialities alongside a selection of light Western dishes. Buddy pairs then enjoyed informal time to get to know each other and took part in cultural activities such as learning to design and create handmade batik fans. We were involved in fun classroom games which we were all very motivated to win once we saw Panda fridge magnets up for grabs as the prize! That day, I remember hearing everyone in the group talking about how much they missed Li Cai when we were back on the coach so I think it's safe to say it was a wonderful experience and we became close friends with our buddies.

Finally, on what was supposed to be our last full day in China, we went shopping in a large shopping centre filled to the brim with shops - some we were familiar with and some that were completely new to us. We were let loose by the teachers to go and enjoy ourselves. Even the shopping mall it was a learning experience and a way for us to learn to overcome language barriers in cases where we needed help from staff at stores. This day was once again a major favourite and everyone struggled with their suitcases that night.

This is where disaster struck, although it wasn't as terrifying as I'm going to make it sound. We unfortunately got caught in a typhoon that was coming up from the East and also another smaller one coming from Seoul, Korea. Some of us were convinced we were going to be in the centre of a mega typhoon if those two collided - safe to say that never happened and the typhoons hit land and mostly dissipated leaving us with incredibly rainy and windy weather. As flights were cancelled for several days, we very luckily had the opportunity to stay in a five-star hotel where everyday we found a new thing that we hadn't seen before. The rooms were ridiculously large, and the hotel itself was enough to make up for most of the typhoon. We managed to play some games held by the teachers who could see us starting to claw at the walls out of boredom, and we participated in swimming sessions in the afternoons. It was scary at first, but things got easily sorted out, thank you Mrs. Baker, Ms. Hurley and Zoe for that. 

One of the biggest things we learned from the trip was how important it is to be able to adapt to unexpected situations. There were moments when things did not go exactly as planned, such as becoming unexpectedly stuck in China, but we learned to stay calm and adjust to the situation. We were also really impressed by the support and arrangements that were put in place for us, including accommodation, which showed us how quickly people can respond when unexpected situations arise.

After visiting China and meeting the students and teachers, we hope this trip will help establish a strong and lasting connection between our two schools. We would particularly like to see their students and teachers visit our school next year, giving our peers the opportunity to experience the culture and education system that we were able to see first-hand. Visiting their schools also gave us a greater appreciation for our own education. Although China's education system is extremely impressive, they have very long school days and a demanding routine. It made us realise that, although we may sometimes feel that our school days are long, they are relatively short in comparison. We hope these connections will continue to develop and create more opportunities for students from both schools to learn from one another.

By Nia Green, Sophie Floyd and Cassia Jarrett-Thorpe, 2026