Day 42: Rural Visit

Wednesday is our Chinese Culture class and today we had a fieldtrip. We were travelling to a rural area to visit the school, meet some families and to see a farm.

Our first destination was #69 Lanzhou Middle School (which actually caters for students from kindergarten up to Middle School). Groups of three delegates were taken to the different classes and we were presented to the students and spoke with them for a while. Unfortunately, most of the interaction was on the class-level, meaning that most students were quite shy and did not speak up. We did get a few minutes for one-on-one discussion with the students which was good, although the focus quickly became them collecting our signatures! Having us write in their books was obviously very desirable, and when the period was over we left the classrooms to find the hallway was crammed with students wanting our signatures. This aspect was quite overwhelming.

Next we walked through the courtyard where several classes of students were doing their daily exercise sessions: music is pumped through speakers and students and lead through stretches, jumps and other movements.

We were shown through to a classroom set up for various cultural performances: the zugheng, erhu, singing, and calligraphy. Another group of talented young people entertained us!

Next we visited the homes of several of the school students. These were generally quite humble but the families were friendly, welcoming and keen for us to look about their abodes.

Our final destination was to visit a farm in the area. There was a broad range of crops growing: tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beans, aubergine (eggplant), lettuce, broccoli, spring onions and corn. A few workers were present: collecting produce, tending to the plants, and digging up the soil. We helped collect ripe tomatoes, one brave soul began digging over the soil (despite being dressed in a suit!), and we spoke with some of the workers.

After a different perspective of life in Gansu, it was time to return to our own.