Every academic year, YCIS Beijing Secondary students are given the unique opportunity to travel with their teachers and classmates to culturally significant destinations within China as part of the Experiencing China programme. In April, Year 9 students journeyed to historic Huangshan (黄山). For those of us who were unable to take part in their fabulous field trip, fear not! YCIS Beijing has prepared this guide so that you too may Experience China as our students get to every year!

Day One: Much to the chagrin of our eager Year 9 students, the journey to Huangshan city involved a six hour train ride departing from Beijing Station. After checking safely into your hotel, don’t miss the opportunity for some quick shopping and sampling of the mouth-watering local street food at the famous and historic Tunxi Laojie (屯溪老街). From there, put your Chinese skills to use like our students by attending a traditional calligraphy brush workshop. The extensive short course starts students from scratch, learning first how to assemble a calligraphy brush using sheep’s wool.

Day Two: One cannot visit the “Yellow Mountain” without a hiking trip. After climbing the mountains, explore, as our students also did, a bamboo forest. Year 9 student Ilaria Dennis recounts the experience as “pretty exhausting, but the view was absolutely amazing!” Within the “Bamboo Sea”, students were able take back a souvenir in the form a freshly cut bamboo stalk which they were taught how to carve. Follow this up with a bike ride exploring the local villages and trying more local cuisine and your day of active learning will be complete.

Day Three: For the final day in Huangshan, you would be remiss if you do not travel to the top of Huangshan by cable car. Despite the torrential downpour, our adventurous students made it to the top resulting in round after round of excited selfies taken by all.

Day Four: For the final few hours of the YCIS Beijing Experiencing China Experience, young Secondary students learnt about the culture and production methods behind Chinese tea. Witness the process of drying green tea leaves before taking part in a traditional tea ceremony to let the warm, soothing beverage wash your cares away. From there, it’s back to the train station to return to the welcoming YCIS Beijing campus.

Whist only a short four day trip, the Experiencing China Programme deepens our students' understanding of Chinese culture by giving them a hands-on personal impression of the country in which they live. It is a unique opportunity to deepen their cultural understanding of China, have a real world application for their Chinese language studies and develop a greater sense perspective in their own lives. As Ilaria said, “this trip was awesome and one that I will never forget. I had the best time with my friends, seeing and experiencing things I never thought would”.

To find out more about YCIS Beijing’s Experiencing China Programme please follow this link. To get the latest news happening on and around the YCIS Beijing Campus, click here.