Beijing Summer Camp 2007
Report No. 3: A Special Day in Beijing
by Gongzhan Wu, August 18
Campers started Friday, August 17th in the Dongchen Children’s Palace near CCAA’s office building. Dongchen means East Town in Chinese. Children’s palaces are places where children learn different skills in their spare time. Classes offered to children under 16 years old may cover singing, dancing, modeling, computer programming, music instrument playing, and the like.
Some children accompanied by their parents or grand-parents took elevators with our campers to their classes.
Our campers however went into a nearly renovated studio where they would learn a Han Chinese dancing with a female dancing instructor.
Some children were immediately excited when they spotted the red square cloth which they were going to dance with. I am sure many of the campers have seen this before – a dancer skillfully spinning a red cloth on both hands. However, today, they were going to learn how to do it. I tried to spin it with my own hand, but before long, it fell down on the floor.
The dance instructor demonstrated how to spin the red cloth with her hands before she started teaching our campers. Our children, however, were eager to try it themselves. So the dance instructor first showed children how to play the red cloth with wrists, then how to move in both directions, then how to tilt (her) head slightly toward the left, then the right, then adding music, then rhythms. Finally, she said “let’s do it.”
Our camp children followed the dance instructor, to the left, to the right, to the start position, and then again, to the left, to the right, and back to the original position. Laughter broke out many times. In the next two hours, the studio was full of laughter, the sound of movement, and excitement. I noticed that two boys, Dan C and Dan P (as one of them told me how to distinguish them), showed no less enthusiasm than girls.
By the time that children were leaving for the restaurant, our boys and girls already felt relatively at ease with these basic dance movements. They could not wait to show it to their parents and friends at their home.
We had lunch at a Mongolian restaurant which is characterized with a performance by Mongolian singers and dancers while lunch is in progress.
There is a simple stage by the side of the wall in the center of restaurant. Waiters and waitresses wear Mongolian national clothes. The children were amazed by a Mongolian female dancer who danced with 7 to 10 china bowls on top of her head. They applauded with excitement while finishing their lunch. The Mongolian music, on a special string instrument called Ma To Qing, definitely helped with the fantasy of being on the vast grassland in Mongolia with hundreds of galloping horses.
We walked out of the Mongolian restaurant, and are back in the world where 92% of the population is Han nationalities. In China, there are 56 nationalities. The remaining 55 nationalities represent 8% of China’s population.
The afternoon schedule highlighted a handcraft class at the Beijing Bai-gong-fang Museum. Literally, the word Bai means “a hundred.” Gong means “work or make.” Fang means studio. Once combined, Bai-gong-fang literally means “workshop for 100 kinds of handcrafts.
In ancient China, there were studios that specialized in imperial handcrafts. These studios were known as Bai-gong-fang. Bai-Gong-Fang is one of China's intangible cultural heritage protection bases, as well as an art palace where one can comprehend the Chinese culture with friends from all over the world.
Hu Yian, a senior correspondent from China Daily, China’s largest English newspaper, joined the summer campers at the Bai-gong-fang. The next day, China Daily carried a story titled “Adoptees Get a Taste of China.” That morning, while I was taking a shower, I heard a knock at the door. It was Kile, who is one of the five chaperones from the States. “Gongzhan," she said, "I have a gift for you. I am leaving it at the door.” I opened the door when I was done with shower, and found it was the newspaper.
Word that we were in the newspaper spread among the summer campers immediately. Everyone was excited about it. When I showed the newspaper story to one camper, she read the title, and simply said: “Cool!” Kile took all the available China Daily newspapers from the hotel that day, enough for all the summer campers, as she feels it is a valuable keepsake.
Our campers then paid a visit to the Temple of Heaven and went shopping at the well-known Silk Market the rest of the afternoon. The Temple of Heaven is the grandest cultural architectural complex in the world and a masterpiece that the Chinese people created in the ancient times.
As soon as we walked into the inner temple, all of our children immediately started taking pictures of the magnificent Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, which is located in the north. Cecilia, one of the three tour guides CCAA assigned to the group, told us that the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvest was where the emperors prayed for favorable weather and an ample harvest. Its principal building is 125 feet high. It is said that the dark blue glazed tiles covering the roof of the hall represent the color of the sky.
We took a group picture in front of the Altar of Pray for Good Harvest under our blue camp flag. Yes, CCAA staff brought the camp flag as I requested. It conveniently stands out among the crowds in these hot sightseeing spots when it’s time to gather after some free walking time. Additionally, it makes our group pictures more meaningful.
Shopping at Silk Road Market was another unprecedented experience for the summer campers. Silk Road market used to be well known for fake brand names. It was rebuilt and reorganized a couple of years ago. However, crowds and bargaining still characterize this market. Shoppers from all over the world fill the market. Here you can hear ALL kinds of languages.
Obviously, it was difficult for our campers to learn “bargaining.” They have difficulty understanding why we need to counteroffer 80% of the original quoted price, and to be firm about getting a good value for what they buy. They were good shoppers though. Victoria bought a beautiful skirt gown. She wore it next day when the group went to see a Peking opera in the evening. Many children found good gifts for their parents and friends. I feel so proud that they are thinking of their parents and friends while in China.
When it was time to leave for the Quanjude Road Duck Restaurant for dinner, it was obvious that most of the campers felt there was not enough time shopping. However, at the designated place for regrouping, everyone appeared on time. Camp Director Mr. Ji and his colleagues decided to bring our children back to Silk Road Market the next afternoon. This decision was apparently a popular one. Its announcement on the bus was greeted with sustained applause.
Dinner was at the Quanjude Road Duck Restaurant. Mr. Lu Ying and his two associates, Mr. Zhang Zhong and Ms. Chu Xiao Ying joined us for dinner. Halfway through dinner, Mr. Lu went to the stage and began a speech. He said, every day, there are a number of “sames” and “differences.” The sun rises from the East in the morning, and it goes down to the West in the evening. It occurs every day, always the same way. However, there are also differences every day. Today’s difference is that one of us here had her 14th birthday in China today. Her name is Alyssa Smith, as Mr. Lu announced.
Alyssa Smith, a 14-year-old girl from New Jersey, had a very special birthday, one she will never forget.
Early in the morning, on the bus to the Dongchen Children’s Palace, in the midst of “Happy Birthday to You,” I gave her birthday cards from her family. Her father, Don Smith, had asked me to bring them to China two days before we traveled.
Alyssa opened the cards immediately and read them to her new camp friends. However, the surprise did not stop there. On behalf of her parents, I gave her a gift box. Alyssa opened the box and found it was a piece of heart shaped jade. It was apparent that she was very happy. She had a big smile on her face the whole time. She asked me: “Is it true that my father asked you to bring them?” as if she could not believe it. Her smile was bigger when I confirmed it. I told her, "Your father wanted you to know that they are with you even if you are physically in China now. They did not want you to feel that your birthday would be different just because you were away from home."
Her birthday could not be the same for sure. Mr. Lu continued his speech in the Quanjude restaurant. “Alyssa, today, your 29 new friends and many Chinese people are celebrating your birthday. Further, your 14th birthday is celebrated both in U.S. and China. While we are celebrating your birthday here in China this evening. Your parents are also celebrating it in the morning the same day.”
Alyssa got a birthday present from CCAA. Much to the surprise to everyone present at the party, each summer camper received a mug with their picture printed on it. Excitement, laughter, shouting, and the like lasted for two hours that evening. Of course, there was a birthday cake. It was so large that half of the cake was left after more than nearly 50 people had a piece of it.
The birthday party seemed neverending. In the Chinese way, CCAA also arranged entertainment that evening. An opera performer “changed his face” every time he shook his head.
On the way to the hotel, the summer campers were still trying to figure out how he did it.
My reports from the field will continue, if you will be so kind as to return.
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