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Middle School Chinese Department: The Gathering of Traditional Chinese Garments and Modern-day Cultural and Creative Products—Chinese Culture Week (Ⅰ)

October 29, 2020

With its profound history, the diverse Chinese culture continues to prosper and influence more and more people. Since October 19th, the sixth grade native Chinese students of SHSID have been celebrating this year’s Chinese Culture Week. Let’s review these wonderful moments from the past ten days together.

1. Traveling Back in Time, Wearing Traditional Clothes

During the Chinese Culture Week, students put on traditional Chinese clothes of different dynasties ranging from Ruqun, which consists of a blouse and a wrap-around skirt, to armor of the kind worn by courageous soldiers in ancient times. For girls, some of them dressed up as empresses from distant history, others traveled back to the Han dynasty by wearing Han clothing, and still others dressed up like upper-class women from the 1920s in cheongsam (qi pao). What about boys? They became scholars of the Han dynasty, emperors of the Qing dynasty, Zhuge Liang from the Three Kingdoms Period, Jinyiwei of the Ming dynasty, etc. You name it! What’s more, each student was eager to introduce their costumes and which characters they dressed up as. After that, students went outside their classrooms and interacted with other students they found from the same “dynasty” as themselves. With feelings of belonging, they chatted together about their times and asked their contemporaries to sign on their “pass” cards.

2. Utilizing Historical Elements, Creating Cultural Artifacts

Not only limited to simply wearing traditional costumes, students managed to produce unique, creative artifacts representing Chinese culture. They had to select one cultural element of ancient China as their theme of design and then get creative with their products. When they were asked to present their artworks, the students shared their design thought process and the aesthetic values of their multi-use products.

Don’t miss the chance to feel Chinese culture by checking out these fantastic student works. They are now on display in the halls of the middle school building. Here you can observe an emperor’s robes (long pao) and shoes (long xie), Chinese New Year phone cases, Chinese zodiac clocks, and hand fans painted with the Four Gentlemen—the plum blossom, the orchid, the bamboo, and the chrysanthemum.

Throughout the Chinese Culture Week, the Grade 6 students were encouraged to be active participants and ingenious creators. They talked to people in the past by traveling back to different dynasties; also, they connected to the present by producing new cultural artifacts. After having joined together to celebrate this year’s interesting Chinese Culture Week, we are already looking forward to the next one creating more unforgettable experiences for all of us.

(Written by Liu Cong, Huang Shiyuan Pictures by Middle School Chinese Department)