17 students from ZZULI’s partner universities abroad arrived at Zhengzhou to begin their journey of experiencing Chinese culture on Jan 3, 2015. Of the 17 students, 8 are from universities of Korea, including the University of Seoul, Catholic University, Kwangwoon University and International University; 3 from the Leuphana University of Lüneburg of Germany; 2 from State University of New York Buffalo State; 4 from Great Britain universities including Royal Agricultural University and Edinburgh Napier University.

Opening Ceremony   

 

A brief opening ceremony was held on the 3^rd of January. Zhao Jihong, vice president of ZZULI, attended the ceremony and expressed welcome to the students on behalf of ZZULI. After a brief introduction to ZZULI, Ms. Zhao said: “ZZULI has developed very good relationships with the universities you are from, which enables us to come together to feel the splendid culture of the country with ancient civilization. You are the messengers of different cultures and the bridges of friendship. I hope you can bring what you will see and hear to your university, to your country, so that more and more people will know Chinese culture as well as the modern China. I also hope you can have a deeper understanding of ZZULI, which will bridge ZZULI and your universities and will greatly promote the collaborations.”

Xu Hengzheng, director of NOCFL (China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a foreign Language) of Educational Department of Henan Province, delivered a speech, hoping the Camp can be a window through which the students can try to get China cracked.

It is the first time for most of the students to set foot on the earth of China, a remote country full of eastern mysteries in their imagination. No wonder they are extremely excited!

 

 

 

 Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese Calligraphy is a form of writing art widely practiced in China with a very long history. Dou Xiaomin, vice president of ZZULI and a well-known calligrapher in China, lectured on the traditional Chinese calligraphy for the students. You can imagine how hard it will be for the students who have never seen the real writing brush and inkstone! However,the students hard work paid off at last, what do you think of their works?

               

 

Traditional Chinese Martial Arts-- Taiji

Taiji or tai chi is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. It enjoys great popularity in China. The students get their impressions about Taji through demonstration competitions and some Chinese swordsmen movies stared by world famous actors like Jack Cheng and Bruce Lee. Yang Yingying, the teacher from Physical Education Department who has won many prizes in Taji competitions, spent a whole afternoon with the students to experience Taji’s hard and soft martial art techniques and defense skills.

 

    

 

 

Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi with the invention of paper by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, paper cutting as a kind of folk art began to take shape in China. The art form later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles. Because the cut outs are also used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to "chuāng huā" (窗花), meaning Window Flower. 

After 3 hours practice, the students really did a good job, do you think so?        

Tour of Southeast Part of China

The purpose of this camp is to give a chance for the students to experience China’s two sides: an old country and a country that is taking earthshaking change. The first stop Suchou City, Jiangsu Province.

 

 

 

Located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province, Suzhou is a historical city lies in the center of Yangtze Delta. The city is widely known for its classic gardens, canals, silks, lakes, operas, legends and museums.

In 1997, the Classical Gardens of Suzhou were declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Today, Suzhou has become a core city of China's Yangtze River Delta economic zone, given its high GDP contribution to China. More recently, it has been a silk trade center.

The next stop is Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

 

Hangzhou, located along Southeast coast of China, is the capital of Zhejiang Province and works as the center of politics, economy, science, education, and culture of the province. Hangzhou is a key national tourism city, historical city and vice provincial level city as confirmed by the State Council. Hangzhou is renowned as “Paradise on Earth”, “Cultural State”, “Home of Silk”, “Tea Capital”, “Town of Fish and Rice”.

 

On Jan.12,2015, the students arrived at Shanghai, the business center of China.

 

As China's most populous metropolis, Shanghai is a giant of a city that has been snoozing for the past few decades. Right now, Shanghai is more alive, more kicking and more optimistic than any city in China. Since market restrictions were lifted, Shanghai has embraced the forces of business and design and rewritten its rulebook shaping a fresh, new city that is sophisticated, innovative and living a life it has never lived before. It is in the middle of a building boom that is unprecedented, not just in China, but possibly in the entire world.

The final stop is Beijing, the Capital of China.