2014, Jingchuan SEP

Amity volunteers:

Phyllis, Jan, and Olivia

Phyllis, Jan, Olivia, and I, upon the completion of the SEP orientation in Nanjing, arrived at the Xi’an airport on Friday, July 11, 2014. We were met by a delightful young woman whose English name was Haley. She is a high school English teacher and was to be the main liaison person between the director and the team. The driver brought us to Jingchuan, a town about three hours northwest of Xi’an. 

Our hotel was small, on a street not far from the town center. Our rooms were on the second floor, which was convenient, because there was no elevator. The driver and others helped us carry our luggage. Of course, I had little luggage because I would only stay a few days, but the others had teaching supplies in their luggage, which was quite heavy, the idea being that they would be empty at the end, having used up or given away all the supplies. Or at least empty enough to carry back the heavy gifts that Chinese always give to show their appreciation for visitors.

As is the usual procedure, that evening we had the welcoming banquet, attended by a dozen or more education bureau officials, teachers, and others associated with the program. The table was as elaborate as any I have ever seen. It was round, which is the normal shape of a Chinese table, since everyone eats directly from the serving dishes as they pass in front of you, Lazy Susan style. The table was at eight to ten feet in diameter, with places set on the outside of the circle. The large Lazy Susan held serving dishes placed around the circle on the outside two feet of the Lazy Susan. In the center circle was artificial grass with a miniature water fountain and other figures arranged on it. The food was plentiful and tasty. Everyone was very gracious, there was much toasting, as is the custom, and we felt very welcomed.
 

Saturday
Saturday was a full day. The director took us to Jingchuan’s most important historic and scenic spots. First, we visited a large complex that featured a tall pagoda, named Da Yun Si (Big Cloud Temple). The pagoda had a traditional history of 1300 years, the original having been built during the reign of Wu Zetian, China’s only female empress to rule under her own name, though the structure we saw was not old. Since Chinese built most of their pagodas and traditional buildings from wood, most of them have burned at least once if not more times. For instance, the Forbidden City in Beijing was completed in 1420, but in less than a year, the three main halls burned down and had to be rebuilt. 

This pagoda, we learned, was the first of three that were planned and, when the complex was completed, it is anticipated to be a major regional tourist attraction. We began in the basement, which had paintings on walls and ceilings. Supposedly a tooth of the Buddha was enshrined in the pagoda. 
Because it was new, there was a small elevator that went to the top, a device very much appreciated by us. We had a grand view from the top and could see the grounds for the projected complex.
Then, we were taken to the top of a mountain inside the city (the area was surrounded by mountains, the scenery was quite beautiful) where we toured another temple and a really historic relic of a stone structure representing mythical origins of the earth. 
Lunch was a real treat. The director had arranged for us to have lunch in the home of some friends of his. The wife’s specialty is to make very thin noodles by hand and to serve them in a delicious tomato-based soup. They were the best noodles I have ever eaten, and especially enjoyable because we shared them with the family. 

We had some free time after lunch to rest or unpack and arrange teaching materials or whatever. Then at 4 p.m., Haley and a couple of other young women teachers came to take us shopping in the largest department store in town, which was not all that big, but it carried a lot of stuff and included a supermarket. 
Later that evening, we went by ourselves to the town square, which must surely attract a significant percent of the population for after dinner relaxation. The most dramatic feature was a modern (and not rare in China) fountain that projects water from holes in the stone surface of the square; that is, there is not a retaining wall around the fountain, but flat drains around the square perimeter, into which the water returns and is recycled. The water shoots up at a rhythm that matches loud, lively music, which plays over loudspeakers. 
The fountain is the special entertainment for children who run and play throughout the area. While Jingchuan is not as hot in the summer as southern cities like Nanjing, it is still fun to cool off in the water.

In another area of the square a group of women were exercising to music in a form of dance. This is a common form of exercise in China; it is not so much aerobic as it is promoting movement and stretching of muscles.
And, then, there were the inevitable vendors, selling their wares on large mats or advertised on posters. Parents and grandparents, keeping an eye on the children playing, sat around on a concrete bench that ran around a tree in a square. All in all, it was a very pleasant place. That is one of the things I like about China, the public spaces that are used by all ages.
 

Sunday
On Sunday, after breakfast, Phyllis, Jan, and I walked to church, first walking to the corner of the main roadway, at the intersection of which we turned right (left would lead to the square). This street, which was busy on Saturday, was almost impassable on Sunday, flanked on both sides by shops, vegetables and fruit for sale from the sidewalk and carts, and street vendors selling jewelry, shoe liners, or souvenirs, and so crowded with pedestrians. 

On the way, we passed several shops on the right side of the street that featured objects used for funerals. These included replicas of objects that persons would need on the ‘other side,’ such as houses, cars, washing machines, etc. made with bamboo sticks and tissue paper. A large truck parked beside the road held a truck bed full of these objects. The objects are burned as a part of the funeral activities.
When we came to another intersection, we found a mosque on the corner, topped with a star and crescent, a central onion-shaped dome made of aluminum piping, and four smaller gold-colored onion-shaped domes. Arabic writing was painted on strips that went around the building.

We turned left at that intersection and walked a few more blocks, down a narrow street until we came to the gate of the church. Inside the courtyard was the church building itself. It was not large, of simple design. The interior held wooden benches, a simple stage on which sat the pulpit; around the walls were printed portions of Scripture. 
We were warmly welcomed with big smiles by the believers, mostly women. During the service, the dialect used was so obscure I could not even figure out the hymn numbers, much less Scripture references. A woman beside me pointed to them in her hymnal and Bible. After the service, we were greeted and hugged and photographed.

After a lunch of noodles at a restaurant near the hotel, we went to the school where the SEP would be held. This facility was normally a technical school, but they had finished classes and three classrooms were set aside for our use. The SEP programs are conducted in a variety of types of school facilities, sometimes a college, or a high school, or even a primary school, but the program itself is conducted by the provincial education bureau, which assigns local education leaders to be responsible for the arrangements and logistics. In Jingchuan, the director was the head of the education system in Jingchuan. Since school was out, he had plenty of teachers available to act as assistants to the program.

Then, we went to an auditorium where the opening assembly was to be held. The opening ceremony was not elaborate or long, the Amity volunteers were introduced, there were some speeches by education bureau officials and Phyllis, as team leader. After the opening ceremony, the Amity volunteers and I interviewed the participants so we could assess their level of spoken English. Then, they divided the group into three classes and gave the list to Haley to be typed up for Monday’s classes.
In recent years, it has seemed to me that the level of spoken English among the participants of the SEPs that I had participated in was fairly high; in fact, I was not sure the program was as beneficial as in earlier years when oral English was quite low. But in Jingchuan, it was clear that the program was perfectly suited to the needs of the participants, which is to say, the level of spoken English indicated a need for more practice. 
 

Monday 
Classes begin! Phyllis, Jan, and Olivia began their classes, with about 25 students in each class. The general arrangement of classes is that each teacher will have a ‘homeroom’ class, which meets first each morning and in which the day’s theme is introduced and activities to facilitate speaking English among the participants are conducted. At other times, the students rotate to the other teachers for various types of lessons. Afternoon classes are generally more informal, based on cultural events, holidays, etc.
 

My job on these Mondays is to interview any newcomers who had been absent from the opening assembly, and to wander around taking photos. Since it was the first morning, there were lots of get-acquainted activities and general introductions regarding the procedures each teacher wanted to follow. Phyllis introduced a device for encouraging questions. She had cut shapes like handlebar mustaches out of black paper and taped them to straws. The participants were encouraged to hold a ‘mustache’ up to his or her mouth and announce, “I mustache you a question.” Everyone got a kick out of that. Olivia had a soft bag she used for learning everyone’s name. Each one called out his or her name and tossed the bag to someone else who had to repeat the name of the person who threw it to him and then say his own name before throwing it to someone else.

After Monday classes, I generally return to Nanjing; in this case, I did some local sightseeing on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday, I climbed a mountain, Mount KongTong, near Pingliang, about an hour north of Jingchuan, and on Wednesday, I took a long-distance bus to Xi'an, where I took a flight back to Nanjing.. 

More street scenes

Jingchuan is characteristic of small towns across China. Nestled among mountains and rivers, it has historic roots, with an eye on the future. It was a great place for an Amity SEP.