The Chinese culture has prevailed throughout the ages and exerted a profound influence on all Chinese people from one generation to another. In this warm green spring, the G1-3 Chinese Culture Week celebration at the Puxi campus has come as expected. From April 6th till 9th, all students had experiential opportunities to enjoy the marvelous beauty of traditions and trace the origins of Chinese civilization.

Grade 1

G1 started Chinese Culture Week with an e-book, in which they introduced their favorite traditional Chinese festivals and displayed them among the whole class. The e-books included beautiful pictures, the origin of the tradition, legends, and the reason why they like the festivals.

In the Chinese class on Wednesday, the children experienced the process of making a traditional kite. They finished the beautiful kite step by step and were very excited. In PG class, students were introduced to the origin of Chinese characters.

On Thursday, the students came to school dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, as if they had been transported back in time to Ancient China. In Chinese class, the first graders sang a series of ancient poems. The performance was stunning!

The students learned the generation and evolution of compound characters on Friday and then began to create their compound characters with pictures. Their work was full of creativity and fun.

Grade 2

Homeland is a common and popular topic in ancient Chinese poetry. The Chinese Culture Week in G2 centered around the theme— Homeland this year, where students participated in various activities and embarked on a journey to discover themselves and unearth their cultural roots in a deep and meaningful way.

On Tuesday, G2 gathered altogether in the auditorium and brought forth a feast of singing performances about homeland. These songs depicted the interconnection between beautiful and unique sceneries of homeland and the love towards it, through which students got to understand and explore this topic in more depth.

On Wednesday, G2 students all wore Chinese costumes of different ages and dynasties, seemingly diving into an intriguing world of traditions. The lecture “Chinese Characters and History of Chinese Traditional Clothing” gave all students a glimpse into the rich history and evolution of Chinese clothing and costumes through inquiring into the structures of Chinese characters. In the afternoon, each native Chinese class held a scintillating poetry recitation show. All native Chinese students learned from the elder generations about how to speak in their dialects and presented in class. Various dialects were being spoken in class, the sweet and agreeable Wu Chinese, Hakka Chinese, and many other regional dialects, which connected people across miles and expressed a continuous nostalgia.

On Thursday, they made their own cards and decorated a tree together. First of all, they learned some different expressions about homeland from ancient poetry and then wrote the name of their hometown, historical figures, famous landmarks, and some wishes. Afterwards, they hung each card on the tree branches to express their love of homeland.

In the Chinese class on Friday, they all displayed their iMovie projects introducing their hometowns, the local sights, and food. For all young children, the concept of the homeland has become easy to perceive.

Grade 3

Grade 3 kicked off the Chinese Culture Week with a competition of Chinese poetry. In the competition, students competed with the Poetry Build-up, Finding the Wrong Characters, and Facts of Poets. Students were so knowledgeable that they got almost full marks in the competition! They could even recite some of Li Bai and Du Fu’s poems fluently.

On Wednesday, students wore traditional Han national costumes (Han Fu), including exquisite, dignified Tang-style Han Fu, Song-style Han fu, and even Wei-dynasty-style Han Fu. Many students disguised themselves as poets from history. During the Chinese lecture on Wednesday, the students learned more about Chinese characters and traditional costumes under the guidance of their teachers! During the Chinese class on Thursday, students made bamboo slips to feel the charm of traditional crafts.

On Friday, a singing competition was held in third grade. Each class sang a song that was adapted from ancient poetry, including the melodious “Lotus Seeds Collecting Song,” the inspirational “Young China,” and the inspiring song “Tingting Shanshang Song.” During the singing and recitation, students felt the pure joy of poetry and praised the soul of Chinese culture.

Inspired by this cultural vibe, the non-native Chinese classes also showed extreme enthusiasm this week. They each prepared a character part in a play and performed in the auditorium. Likewise, they put on the Chinese costumes as well to experience and also broaden their understanding of Chinese culture.

The Chinese Culture Week this year has been a huge success! It was a great and memorable week for all students. As it already came to an end, the journey of exploring, inheriting, and spreading Chinese culture continues.

(Written by Jenny Zhang, Dolphy Wang, Yong Chen, Xinya Wu Pictures by Puxi Campus G1-3 Teachers)