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Virtual China - More Perspectives of Xi'an Group #1

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Virtual China - More Perspectives of Xi'an Group #1
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Author: Jeremy Wong
Date: March 21, 1996
Location: Xi Wang village, near Xi'an, China
Activity: Village boy perspective

This morning, many students came to visit the Xi Wang Village. Hi, I'm a
village boy and I live here in the village. I am 6 years old. I like living
in the village because it's very quiet. The village is out in the rural
area. We grow meat and vegetables and raise special surplus crops to sell
to the free market. I live with my family in a house. I have many friends
in the village. There are a lot of other kids in the Xi Wang Village. All
the other kids are very nice and we are mostly all friends. I play with my
friends every day. We play tag. In our village we also have chickens. They
lay eggs for us. Our village is very old and I have been living here for my
whole life. We work very hard. We have many fields to grow crops and lots
of resources we need. 1,200 people live in the village and we usually don't
get many visitors. Unlike today we did. There were many kids that came to
visit the village today. They were students from another school I wondered
where they came from. I also wondered what the name of their school was.
They seemed very nice. They were big. They were all older than me. I felt
like asking many questions, but felt too shy. I wanted to know so many
things about them, such as their names, ages, and what grade they were in..
They were exploring the whole village and looking at what we had. They were
looking at our fields to see what we grew. They were interviewing many
villagers and asking them questions. They were taking many pictures of the
fields and people. Their cameras looked really cool. I especially liked the
Polaroids camera. they get the picture right away. We don't get to see many
high tech things like that a lot. I'm glad that they came and hope we see
them again. When they were leaving, all the villagers and all my friends
came out to say goodbye. We waved to their bus as they left. We ran after
the bus while it was going. We had a lot of fun. We were all very happy. I
wish they had taken a picture of me though.
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Author: Sonny Lee
Date: March 21,1996

As I looked out of the widow, I saw two buses full of kids who are from
Hong Kong International Middle School. I have heard that this school has
studied and learned about Xian and its history. Finally I went out of the
room and went to welcome them to the school.
The students from Hong Kong were walking toward the entrance of our school.
The students of my school started to sing to welcome the students from Hong
Kong. As they walked, I shook all of the kid's hands that went past me. I
could tell they were embarrassed by their red faces.
The students from H.K.I.S. went into the meeting room of our school. As the
students walked into the meeting room, I told my students to walk in and
sit in the back after they all got in. After all the students were seated,
I led my students in the school anthem. They were great. The students and I
were expecting the students from Hong Kong to sing back. They didn't.
I sat down and listened as one of the teachers and principal introduced the
school. After that, it was time to let the students from Hong Kong explore
our school. I waited in the school's field for the students from Hong Kong
to come down.
About twenty minutes later, the H.K.I.S. students came down. The music was
on and one of the teachers started a dance. The dance was the " Potta Potta
". The students from my school first started to dance. Then slowly the kids
from H.K.I.S. came rushing in like mad ants just being enthusiastic about
the dance. The sound of the drums and the symbols were deafening but still
the kids went on. I joined in the fun too! Although I was old, I was still
dancing like a student. It was a very sunny day and a lot of the students
started to sweat. So we had a break. Then I told my students that we should
go socialize with the students. The socializing part was very funny and
also very successful. The funny part was I heard alot of frustrated
students trying to communicate in English with my students. The only thing
my students did was laugh. I also noticed that " white people" try to use
Mandarin to talk to my students. the most frequent one I heard was "Ni
Hao!", (hello).
It was getting dark and cold; it was time for the students to go back to
the dungeons and finish up their homework. We all lined up and shook the
Hong Kong student's hands. It was a good day and I thought that it was an
unbelievable experience for all of the students and teachers. Certainly I
was fascinated!!!
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John Yasuda
March 21, 1996
Tong Ren Middle School, Xi An, China
Perspective writing: A Chinese student's perspective

It was a strange sight to see all these "outsiders" in the school. Hearing
only stories about these people since I was eight, it would be such a sight
to see so many of them in one time. I was expecting some strange really
"out of it kids", but when they came towards the gate, I waved to them with
a anticipated curiosity, greeting them by saying "Ni Hao". Many of the
people were well dressed and most had many cameras. The first thing that
came into mind was that they were all spoiled "rich brats". I smirked
because of some of the nasty thoughts I had in my head. Following my
teachers, they lead me into our meeting room where I sat down from the
students of HKIS. My choir teacher, an old man of wrinkles and white hair,
came to us and we all reluctantly sang our school anthem, followed by a
speech by our teacher. All I did was basically look at the new students.
Some students were interesting with curls in their hair. Others had
straight, flowing hair, but all of them had a camera. The performance
wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. I really envied the two students who
got to introduce the performances, but it didn't really matter. Sitting
behind the teachers, I chit chatted with my friends. Some of their opinions
were good, and others not so good. Most of the kids were really just
curious, though. After their performances and ours, we listened to their
school anthem. It was flowing and had a nice tune but I didn't find it
great.
Finally, after a series of performances, we ventured out to the center of
the field and prepared for our dance. The school children soon returned and
we started going around the field. Soon, we found ourselves dancing around
with the HKIS students. It was such a sight to see them join in the
laughter and I finally found out they were just like us. After that we
exchanged greetings. Because of the great curiosity, I quickly did so with
the first people I met. They were really friendly.
Soon, more dancing started and I found myself enjoying myself. Everyone was
really happy and laughing. I myself found another HKIS student to talk
with. it was really fun and I found myself very sad and disappointed when
it was time for them to go. I waved goodbye and realized that they're just
like us in every way.
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