When our Mandarin teacher gave us the choice between China and Taiwan to visit next April Break, half of our Mandarin class (which would be continuing the next year) thought she was joking. We almost unanimously agreed on China—who wouldn’t upon seeing that we would be able to see giant pandas—and our vote was carried more heavily than the other classes, although they chose China pretty heavily too. 29 students were on the trip, along with 4 teachers—2 are middle school, and 3 are language teachers. We had all been taught by 2 out of the 4 of the chaperones—our middle school and high school Mandarin teachers. The schedule consisted of this: 10 days in the country, some of which were travel days, 3 days in Beijing, a day in Xi’An, and 4 days in Chengdu¹.

Beijing was beautiful, although crowded, which was to be expected in a city of over 22 million people—not including tourists. It was almost impossible to go anywhere without encountering a crowd or a line. Fresh off the plane, the tour guide had us go straight to the Temple of Heaven, a Taoist temple and one of Beijing’s many UNESCO World Heritage sights. It was warm, like a mid New England Spring, but some of us were not well equipped. Dinner after was simple, a quick welcome, and then back to the hotel. Day 2 in the capital brought unexpected rain and a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Rain was forecasted for the afternoon, but it rained pretty much the entire day, so while the iconic location was beautiful, it wasn’t easy to see or handle. Instead of the second planned activity that day, we went straight to the hotel to dry off and change. Lunch afterward was at a local family’s house, and then we went shopping in an alley and ate hotpot. Day 3 was the final day: the Great Wall. It’s up on a mountain, so visitors take a cable car up. We got about 30 minutes of free time on the wall before splitting up and going back down via cable car or toboggan. We were generally warned about the uneven steps—and it’s true that they’re there—but the wall is also far steeper than we were told. Lunch was followed by walking around with high school students and then a Peking duck dinner.

Xi’An only lasted one day, technically. We arrived in the afternoon from Beijing and biked on the ancient city wall in 94° weather. We suffered through a hot dinner and a scavenger hunt through the city’s muslim quarter, which was chock-full of Shaanxi delicacies like beef, lamb, and shrimp skewers. The second and final half day was cooler and came with rain. It was also the day we took the bus for an hour and a half to the Terracotta Warriors. There’s three pits and about 8,000 sculptures. The pits are inside and therefore protected from the elements—luckily for us—but it means there isn’t much space in the pits for people to look at the warriors. The high-speed train journey to Chengdu was longer than the one there, with four stops in between instead of just one, and then there was dinner. 

Chengdu was my favorite city. We spent no time in Xi’An, and Beijing was far too crowded. Day 1 in Chengdu consisted of a visit to a local school. We made it to an English school, a math class, ping pong, lunch, P.E., and then painting. The students were awesome—they were open to making friends and very sweet to everyone they interacted with. Later that day, we went shopping at an alley and then had true Sichuan hotpot—spicy if anyone wanted it, which most of us did. Day 2 meant it was time for pandas and cooking. We volunteered at Dujiangyan Panda Base, smashing bamboo and making their food. Walking around the base afterwards meant seeing giant and red pandas alike. Most of them were sleeping or eating when we saw them; some were up in trees. Finishing the panda visit meant going to the Sichuan Cuisine Museum. We sampled Sichuan snacks, and then moved on to making our own dinner, supervised by a chef: Mapo Tofu, Kung Pao Chicken, and Panda Dumplings—dumplings that look like pandas—for dessert. The next day was our last day in China, and more lax than the others. We took a trip to People’s Park and to a teahouse, and we participated in a second scavenger hunt where we all relaxed. The Wenshu Monastery, a Buddhist monastery, was the next stop. It is supposed to be good luck for students, so most of us made wishes for school or our future endeavors. Afterwards, the tour guide took us on a trip to an alley for shopping and a farewell dinner. The final activity in China was a trip to the traditional Chinese opera and a face-changing performance.

I’m not sure how the Spain or France trips work, but you can’t be on the China trip unless you take Mandarin. Plus, many people there don’t have a penchant for speaking English—even toward foreigners.

¹ We missed a few days due to travel—two because of a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong, and another at the end because of a flight from Hong Kong.