From April 23rd to the 28th, the Shanghai High School International Division held a grand Chinese Culture Week event for grades 4 and 5 at both its Puxi and Pudong campuses. This week-long cultural feast was aimed at allowing students to deeply experience traditional Chinese culture and gain a better understanding of cultural exchanges and integration between the past, present, and future. The teachers and students worked together to travel through different times and places, immersing themselves in the charm of Chinese culture.

Grade Four: Exploring Ancient Capital Cities

The Grade 4 classes kicked off Chinese Culture Week with the theme "Chinese Ancient Capital Atlas", during which the students embarked on a cultural journey spanning over a thousand years, visiting the eight ancient capitals of China - Xi'an, Luoyang, Nanjing, Beijing, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, An’yang, and Zhengzhou.

A few weeks earlier, each class had determined the ancient capital they would study through a lottery system. Then, within the class, further groupings were made, and specific research topics were assigned. Each group member gathered together to discuss and divide the research direction and methods. The students began by using the recommended booklist provided by their teacher as an entry point, and after gaining a preliminary understanding of their research object, they worked in a collaborative manner, with some members searching online for information and others expanding their reading range and selecting the most valuable related books. They used class time and after-class time to conduct group discussions and build their own research frameworks, then compiled the information they had gathered and gradually refined and enriched their research content. Some groups were not satisfied with textual information and, during the Qingming holiday, they formed teams to visit the ancient capitals in person, fully embodying the academic research spirit of "knowledge acquired from books is always superficial; to truly understand something, one must experience it firsthand."

Through the in-depth research in the early stage, the students integrated their research content in the poster this week, and displayed their research results with a PPT. From the oracle bone inscriptions and bronzes in the Yin ruins of An’yang, to the painted pottery culture in Zhengzhou, to the brocade in Nanjing, to the tea culture in Hangzhou and the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, all reflected the breadth and depth of the students' research. The "Xi 'an Group" creatively explored the popular children's toys in Chang 'an City in the Tang Dynasty; The "Beijing Group" was not limited to the architecture of the Forbidden City, but studied the weapons used in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The "Kaifeng Group" explored the criminal law system of the Northern Song Dynasty with Bao Qingtian as the starting point.

In addition, the students used a fan as a canvas to record the historical imprint of China's ancient capital with flowing ink. From the mysterious oracle bones in the ruins of Yin to the majestic iron towers in Kaifeng, from the East-west cities of Chang 'an to the tea orders in the Song Capital, every stroke seemed to tell us about the past and the prosperity of those capitals. These carefully drawn paintings have become the most affectionate tribute to these prestigious ancient capitals, and allowed people to cross the boundaries of time and space, touching the cultural heritage that has been through the vicissitudes of life but is still shining today.

"People can't sleep in spring, spring rain fills the pond to call water lilies, spring flowers blossom all over and the birds whisper, the spring breeze is proud of the youth" - melodious melody in this week's Chinese class was like a time machine, bringing everyone back to the prosperous era of poets and writers. The singing and crooning not only yearns for classical beauty, but also brings it through thousands of years, allowing the students to feel an emotional resonance that they have never had before.

The students also experienced three traditional Chinese activities during the cultural week: pot throwing, dragon dancing and top spinning. Pot throwing is not only a test of skills, but also let the students experience an ancient gathering of elegant and interesting entertainment. The dragon dance more directly shows the unique charm of Chinese festival culture. The jubilation of the dragon dance symbolizes strength and auspiciousness, and also conveys a positive attitude towards life. As one of China's ancient folk toys, the top not only carries a rich cultural connotation, but also contains the wisdom of physics. During their lunch break, the students competed to see whose top turned longer, and happily exchanged their skills of spinning the top. The integration of these three activities into the cultural week allowed the students to learn and inherit traditional Chinese culture in a happy, playful way and understand the wisdom and emotions of predecessors.

Grade five: Distinguished People in Shanghai

Shanghai, a city where tradition and modernity meet, a place where urbanism and fireworks coexist. The fifth grade Chinese Culture Week took "Shanghai people" as their starting point, leading the students to understand this land of life and growth, and feel the history and legend of the magic city.

The Giant in Textile Industry

On the campus of Shanghai High School, a teaching building named "Xian Mian Tang" carries a deep historical origin, bringing us back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, recalling the glorious contribution of Huang Daopo. Huang Daopo is the founder of China's textile industry. She promoted the rapid development of cotton textile industry and cotton planting industry in the Yangtze River basin, and was praised as a "female textile technologist" by later generations. In order to forever remember her achievements, the first cotton Hall was specially built in Shanghai High School. In this week's Chinese class, the students not only acquired an in-depth understanding of the significance of Huang Daopo to the textile industry and the close connection with the Xian Mian Tang, but also personally experienced the cotton spinning tools such as twisting thread, splicing spinning wheel, and the textile machine. Some classes also visited Huang Daopo memorial Hall after class, and personally felt the magic charm of textile technology.

The Scientific Pioneer

When talking about Shanghai culture and the pride of Shanghai, one has to mention Mr. Xu Guangqi. This "Chinese Da Vinci" is often described as the first person in China to see the world with an open mind, and a pioneer in the research and application of modern science and technology in China. The students were surprised to find that many of the basic knowledge concepts that they are learning now were introduced by him from the West more than 400 years ago, such as the understanding of the round earth, the concept of latitude and longitude, and the expression and thought of mathematical geometry. To commemorate his achievements, in class the students attempted to make a sundial by themselves, using the concept of latitude and longitude and the change of the Angle of sunlight to measure the time, and the result was almost the same as the actual. Through this activity, the students lamented the wisdom of the ancients, and personally felt the significance of Xu Guangqi's introduction of Western science and technology. The students not only learned about Mr. Xu Guangqi's important position in the historical development and reform process of Shanghai and even China, but also followed the "Xu Shanghai" together with the teachers and came to Guangqi Park to explore the humanistic footprints left by Mr. Xu Guangqi.

Shanghai’s Embracement

Shanghai has always adhered to the city spirit of "embracing all rivers and pursuing excellence". As such, many local talents and people of vision have emerged, and many foreign friends from all over the world have collided with this city and left a deep friendship. On Friday, the students shuttled through the corridors on the second floor of Zhongxing Building, stopping in front of posters of "celebrities in Shanghai", and exchanged conversations with "Shanghainese" from all over the world. They got to know Hungarian-born architect Hudec, who has left many outstanding historical buildings in Shanghai. He also lamented the real estate developer Lester who donated his lifetime legacy to Shanghai's education, medical and other causes;appreciated Cheng Shifa's artistic works of maintaining integrity and innovation, highlighting the spirit of Shanghai; paid tribute to Qian Xuesen, the founder of China's space industry, and Soong Ching Ling, who worked hard for the education and welfare of women and children. The students have put the key words on record and made a “celebrity in Shanghai" business card to feel, inherit and carry forward the atmosphere and modesty of Shanghai and the spirit of Shanghai.

Shanghai Dialect

How can students who have lived in Shanghai for so many years not say a few words of Shanghai dialect? In class, the students used Shanghai dialect to play games, such as “listen to the sound ” guessing word games. In bursts of laughter, the students were surprised to find that many Shanghai words are actually transliterations of foreign words. After Shanghai opened its port, it became the most prosperous shipping, economic and financial center in the Far East. Therefore, in the process of the formation of Shanghai language, it also fully displayed the characteristics of internationalization. Later, the students learned to read classic nursery rhymes in Shanghainese and tasted traditional Shanghai snacks such as Evergreen cookies, White Rabbit candy and hawthorn slices. Shanghai dialect is an important foundation of Shanghai’s local culture. We hope that in the process of listening to and speaking Shanghai dialect, the students were able to more personally experience the city’s memories and cultural blood carried by Shanghai dialect. At the end of the week, every student in Grade 5 received a commemorative Rubik's cube with a Shanghai landmark on each side. It is hoped that while playing with the Rubik's Cube, the students can also recall the happiness and harvest of the past week, and deepen the emotional link with Shanghai.

Although the fourth and fifth grade China Culture Week activity has come to an end, we hope that its effects are long-lasting. This activity not only revitalized the history of China's ancient capital in the school, but also let the bright culture of Shanghai shine in the hearts of the children. The students gained rich knowledge, enhanced their ability to explore, and understood the charm of Chinese culture during this cultural exploration trip.

（Written by Wu Yin, Zhu Yiwei, Jia Lu Pictures by Teachers Edited by Bianca Noguera）