Glashan students’ trip to China offered insights into nation’s culture, history, cuisine

By Alison Trenton

A dozen students from Glashan Public School got to spend their March Break in China on a cultural exchange organized by the Centretown middle school.

The 10-day trip, chaperoned by the school’s principal, Jim Tayler, and two other staff members, gave the eighth graders a chance to learn about China and meet Chinese students learning English.

The students had a “deep appreciation for the opportunity they were given,” and demonstrated the maturity levels needed for a trip based around learning about culture and diversity, Tayler said.

The tour took the “Glashan Twelve,” as they were dubbed, to Beijing and Shanghai as well as less-travelled places like Suqian — where they had homestays with the families of local students — and Quzhou.

Photos of the visiting students were posted daily on the school’s Twitter account during the trip, but first had to be sent by the students back to Glashan staff in Canada, because Twitter —­­ as well as Facebook, YouTube and Gmail — are blocked in China.

During the trip, the Glashan students learned about Chinese traditional dancing, pottery and calligraphy. They visited the Forbidden City and a reconstructed section of the Great Wall. They tasted authentic cuisine, such as spicy hot pot, and learned to navigate the crowded Shanghai Metro. They rode China’s high-speed trains, which run twice as fast as VIA Rail.

“It took a few days for some of the students to really catch on to what they were seeing,” said Tayler.

The students also braved the air pollution that has become a daily concern for China’s residents.

“It was a change for them not to see the clear blue skies they are used to seeing in Ottawa,” Tayler said.

Having been to China before, Tayler said he was able to guide the students through many of the cultural differences they were encountered. This was the school’s second organized visit to China. A group of students went to Sweden last year.

One purpose of the annual trips is to raise the global awareness of the students. This year’s China trip coincided with the re-appointment of the Communist Party’s chairman as the country’s president, and an amendment to the constitution that will allow him to rule indefinitely.

“Any naive hopes for a peaceful evolution to democracy are shattered against the reality that China is now a one-man dictatorship yearning to restore the archaic political norms of China’s imperial past,” Charles Burton, a former Canadian diplomat to China, wrote in the Globe and Mail last month.

“It was a trip about culture and education, not about politics,” said Tayler, when asked if the learning experience addressed “sensitive” topics — such as censorship, state propaganda, and the oppression of ethnic minorities — that the Chinese government would prefer visitors to ignore.

The Glashan Twelve returned to Ottawa on March 17, giving them a day to readjust to the 12-hour time difference before classes resumed.

“They were a part of an experience many others would have liked to have,” said Tayler. “It’s time for them to share their stories.”