Part VI: My experience and learning in China

Overall, China was a wonderful trip. Other things we did included boating down the Li River on our way to Yangshuo, watching the Impression Sanjie Liu show directed by Yimou Zhang on the Li River, and also checking out Reed Flute Cave among other things. These were all beautiful and wonderful experiences.

Boating down the Li River.

How many horses do you see?

Impressions show on the Lee River, directed by Yimou Zhang.

The Impressions show has a production crew of over 600.

Overall, a very beautiful and impressive show. It was performed on the river and uses the nature behind it as it's backdrop.

Inside the Reed Flute Cave.

Most beautiful spot inside the cave.

The Miao/Hmong Chinese villages were the highlight of the visit by far. One thing that we noticed, was that these villages mostly had older villagers. We asked our tour guide, and according to him, a lot of the younger villagers no longer live in their villages. Many will attend universities and then remains in the larger cities after school. However, due to their large crowded cities, the Chinese government is offering incentives for people from rural communities to attend universities and then return to their rural communities to give back and provide for the community to help them grow. China's major cities are currently facing an overcrowding issue.

Last Miao village we visited, here they are standing waiting to welcome us into the village. The experience here very much felt like I was coming back home.

My biggest regret of this trip was that I do not speak any Chinese. In a global setting, I should know Chinese. Every where we went, because I look like the locals, everyone spoke Chinese to me. It was very challenging to tell them that I am a foreigner, and speaks only English. To which, they would laugh and speak very minimal English back to me. Everyone in China knows at least a little bit in English, that is because they all learn basic English in elementary school in China. Whereas here in the United States, you can only take Chinese as a foreign language in high school, that is if it's even offered beyond the very Euro-centric curriculum of just offering Spanish and French as world languages.  Fortunately, some of our students who went on the trip were taking Chinese as a foreign language at our high school, and this was a wonderful opportunity for them to practice their language skills. They also had the adventure of helping translate for the majority of us who does not speak Chinese. Nonetheless, the students all enjoyed the trip and many misses China. It was a great opportunity for them to get out and explore the world and to experience what is out there. Learning about a culture and its language is one thing, it is a whole other experience to be able to live it, especially to get a taste of life half way around the world.