Xi'an Study Tour Reports
Thursday, April 10, 1997

Ahhhhh! What a nice summer day! Oh, hello. Who are you? I'm Jacket number two, but you can call me Jack. Oh, I see. You're new here aren't you? Well, this is the secondhand market by the East gate. What? Boy! You are new here! This is the city of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China! Who are you anyway?... I'm sorry, I'm forgetting my manners. I was made from cotton from Australia and my fabric was spun at the "Northwest No. 4 State Cotton Mill". At least, that's what my box said. This market can get very busy at times. They sell a lot of things here. Books, old metal barrels, tools of various types, electronics, shoes, shirts, nuts+bolts, and Jackets. Here is my photo: I'm the one in the top-middle, the others are Bob, Wanda, George, and Harry. I met them on my first day out. Actually, I knew quite a few others, but they aren't here anymore. They were bought. You see, this market is very busy and almost everything is sold, sometimes you get bought, sometimes you don't, but if the street is packed it's good luck. Me? I've been through here 5 times. "Hang" around and you'll like it here.

At 8:30am, we visited a textile factory. The factory's name was The Northwest No. 4 State Cotton Mill. A total of 10,000 people work there. They are paid monthly, a minimum of $500 RMB and a maximum of $1000. Ages of the workers range from 20 to 50. They work long, hard, 8 hour days and only get a half and hour lunch break. Altogether they work 40 hours a week. The beginning workers are trained by a master (undergo apprenticeship) for 3 months. When the workers retire, the females retire at age 50, the males at age 55, and the officials (administrators) at age 60. The factory specializes in cotton (imported from Korea), and Polyester from Salisbury and Taiwan.

At 10:30am, we went to a small market. There were clothes, stockings, watches and other trinkets. There were tons of different stores, but usually with the same things. There were also some restaurants around too. After that nearby there was a second hand market. In the second hand market there were used parts of different things like cars and radios. There was even used military parts! The parent leaders told us to watch our valuables, because it was a side street and wasn't very safe.

At the China Merchants Hotel, (12:30) we went to a restaurant. It was a very nice restaurant, we had lots of different courses. There were 6 tables, each had 9 courses!!! The food included vegetables, beef, pork, soup, fish, tofu, and lots of others.

The factory workers are ready for me and my friends at the end of the ride through all the factory machines. Their working hands fold us up expertly. I am the final product which is made by the 10,000 skillful workers in the Northwest No. 4 State Cotton Mill.

I feel proud as they put me into cardboard boxes. I admire how much work and exhaustion is put into producing all of us! So many steps are put into making me what I am. I start out as big, fluffy wads of cotton and polyester, then I am put through machines that make me into yarn or thread which is weaved into me.

So many workers are needed to make us. They go through so much! They have to put up with the loud, loud, LOUD, noise of all the machines. Almost all of the workers have lost at least half of their hearing. The workers have to do the same process hour after hour for 8 hours a day. The workers spend most of their lives turning cotton, polyester and silk into cloth, working in noise and never complaining.

I get sent to places all around the world and get sold to stores who sell me to families. I am thankful to all the workers that helped me become what I am!

I am a light beam in the Northwest Number 4 State Cotton Mill. I spread my bright light over 10,000 workers morning and afternoon. I am the one who gives them the rays of sight so that they may work. I see them make their yarn from the fluffy clouds of cotton. I hear the loud noises of the busy machines. I understand the pride the workers take in making their sheets of colored cotton and polyester.

I feel sorry for the workers who work so hard to provide food for their family. When I look down, I see mainly women working. The women all dress the same way. They wear white cloth hats on their head. The machines make so much noise that I am sure that the hearing of the workers is damaged. I then think to myself , what is my purpose? I then realize I am lust a plain `friend' to the workers, providing them light as they provide me the energy to do so.

We started the afternoon by heading towards the Xi'an Tongren Foreign Language School. Both schools entertained each other by giving performances back and forth. We sang two songs while they danced, played a violin solo, piano solo, and a singing solo. Afterwards, we interviewed people and asked them to answer questions such as , "How many students get into school?" or "what time does school start each day?" We found out there are 300 days of school in a year, and they take subjects such as chemistry, physics, English, music, PE, and many more. Actually, if you compare subjects, we almost take the same subjects. Other similar things are they have a cafeteria and dorms in college. Many students stay in dorms and are allowed to go home once in 2 weeks. School times are from 7:20 am to 6:00 pm. The school costs 10,000 RMB per year. The school also has many facilities such as a soccer field, basketball courts, and a library and computers. After finding these things out we had a friendly basketball game. In the end, our school lost 25 to 18 because of small numbers of players. They gave us a nice ceremony to say good-bye. We then stopped in the hotel for a short amount of free time before we went next door to dinner.

My name is Wang Xuan. My English name is Jason. I'm a grade one student at Tongren Foreign Language School in Xi'an, China, and I'm twelve years old. I have no siblings, and I stay at a friend's home when I go to school. My family lives outside Xi'an, so I go home on holidays. I like my school, and I like math, English, and computer classes. I've only been here for a year, though. After school, I like to play ping-pong. Even though I'm pretty small, I really like to play sports. When I grow up, I'd like to be an entrepreneur, starting up a private business of my own. I think that's all that I can tell you about myself, so "Zaijian!" (Good-bye!)

Miss Featherstone's group

Virtual China '97 ..... Day 4
>From Xi'an, China

The following messages come to you from the Bell Tower Hotel in
Xi'an, China.  They have been written by Hong Kong
International School 7th grade students who are on the fourth
day of a 5-day study tour of this ancient Chinese capital city
and home o f the famous Terra Cotta Warriors.  Some of the
students wrote itineraries, some wrote up interviews they had
with local people and some did 1st-person point of view
descriptive writing base on a person, object, or feature of
Chinese culture or geogr aphy.  Today is Thursday, April 10th,
1997.  We have one more day to travel, returning to Hong Kong
late afternoon Friday, the 11th.  Tune is again next week as a
second group of HKIS students do their one-week study tour of
Xi'an and report to you, hopefully within hours of having
experienced what they've written about in China.

     Special thanks to AT&T Hong Kong for providing temporary
accounts for us to send these messages.  We hope students and
teachers from around the world have benefited from the writings
(and in the case of KIDPROJ's website, the digital images) whi
ch have emanated from this city of 6,000,000 people.


Author:  Matt Sears
April 10, 1997
Location:  Ancient capital of China ....... Xi'an
Xi'an, China Morning Itinerary

        After finally getting out of the hotel, we took a
longer than usual bus ride.  The factory wasn't as good as we
expected.  It was too short.  However, some of the facts were
interesting, such as the ages of retirement vary depending on
your s ex.  Also, in the cotton factory, the workers only get
thirty minutes break all day for lunch.  We get one hour,
twenty minutes for  break and forty minutes for lunch.  We left
the factory with an audio "souvenir"; the sweet music of the
cotton machi nes.
        We then took a bus to the Hyatt Xi'an, which was, in
most of our opinions, a nicer hotel.  It was, though, a "tad"
more expensive.
        From there we walked to the second-hand market which
was a quieter, busier market. The goods weren't as nice though.
It was interesting to see the families living in practically a
walk-in closet but still being able to smile.
        After losing and then finding Chi-King and Justin we
got back to the Hyatt and then left for lunch in the Xi'an
hotel which was delicious.



Author:  Olivia Tan (grade 7 student)
Date:  April 10th, 1997
Location:  Bell Tower Hotel ...... Xi'an, China

The City of Xi'an

        The dawn was breaking. The sun today seemed reluctant
to get up, as the day came, slowly. There was a faint chill in
the air. It was bright, yet...still seemed empty...cold.
        Gradually, the city awoke. People appeared at doors and
windows. A man walked to the door, savoring the fresh air.
Before long, the streets started filling up. Cars and bicycles
moved out onto the roads. Car honks, bike bells, shouting,
talki ng, engines...the air was filled with the noise of a
bustling city.
        Unnoticed by all, the sun came up, smiling and sending
her warmth and light upon the city.
        Noontime. The sun blazed down on the city.  Her shining
warmth had turned into scorching heat.  An old man came by,
carrying a bag of cement.  Sweat poured down his forehead in
rivers, the sun's rays seeming to penetrate him. But the sun
was mer ciless.
        Afternoon. The sun ceased her fury, and everything was
bathed in gold. Gradually, the shadows lengthened, the sun went
down in the west.  Her rays lingered on the horizon, as if to
say good-bye. Then, the moon replaced the sun, traveling on he
r nightly course. From her place in the sky, the city seemed
like a bright amusement park. But, as people have to sleep
sometime, slowly, the lights went out. The city went to sleep,
under a starry sky, awaiting the new dawn.

Author:  Justin Hocklander
April 10 1997
Activity:  Xi'an, China Interview write up


The Chinese fishermen threw the nets into the water when I
was swimming in the sea.  I was caught and my brother too. We
were pulled out of the water and sold to a Chinese restaurant
and served on a plate. AAAHHH!!  Don't Eat Me!!
As the person chewed on me and swallowed me I dropped down
his throat and into his stomach. I fell into acid but I
wasn't there long. I was shot out of his mouth with a cough.
I was free!!  I fell under the table and the waitress cleaned
up the mess. Then he went to the bathroom and cleaned his
shirt. Then he called for the check. Then he paid and left.
That was a close one, I said to myself. How lucky I was not
to be digested as waste. Too bad my brother died.

Author: Chiking Lai
Location:  Xi'an, China
Group 1: Miss Featherstone
Date: April 10th


     Beep Beep! I leaped high into the air and very quickly
received a big fat slap on the head.  I felt the hard and
unstable, crooked ground bang against my skin and bobbled
around in these strangers hands. These strangers persistently
bounced me an d threw me until I was about to burst. I wish I
could bounce on that flat and comfortable ground in HKIS! Much
more than rather being attacked by my deepest enemy the rocky
ground. We've been enemies ever since I've been pumped up. I
love the sweet f eeling of being of being thrown into the round
hoop and making a big " Swish" sound. Normally, I feel great,
but this is just too much for me! A black hatred boy threw me
so fast it was like turning on the switch on the light bulb.
Gees it's such a p ain! All these different people reaching out
and grabbing me retaining I'm a big time bomb! Another loud
beep made everything stop and everything went black.

Author: Roxanne Chiu
Date: April  10, 97
>From group : Featherstone
Xi'an, China
Writing about: Afternoon itinerary
Picture: 6 and 7
        After a great lunch, the groups headed for the Tong Ren
School. As we entered the school, the students stood there
clapping. They had made a banner saying, "We warmly welcome
Hong Kong International School." We were pleased in the warmly
welc ome because we weren't used to it.
        As we sat down they kept looking at us as we were big
movie stars. We had may students play the piano, sing andante.
Our school enjoyed the performance and the tea that the school
gave us.  The students danced so gracefully, just like angels d
ancing and singing, as soft as a harp.

        When the performance was done, we went out to dance. It
was maybe a traditional dance of the school. They kicked the
dust on the ground and swung their arms happily. Then they
asked us to dance with them. Our school seems to enjoy the
dance.  And some danced when nobody asked.
        It soon came to the time when we played a game of
basketball. We had very good players. At the end, the Hong Kong
International School lost to the other school 18-25.  Fair and
square!
        The time soon came when we had to leave our new
friends. There was sadness in the air. But friends will always
be friends and they will remember each other.



Author: Ju-Lin Tham
Date: April 10, 1997
Location: Xi'an China

                The Gecko's Look at School

     Afternoon already?!  Humph!  I never enjoy visits from
other schools anyhow.  The strangers usually see me and step
on my tail.  Then my beautifully grown tail snaps off and
am forced to grow it again!!
     Anyway, this time no one say me and I got close enough
to see what they were doing.  First, my school performed 10
things.  Including a men's fashion show, a violin piece, a
piano piece, some dances, and some singing.  I personally,
was impressed.  Then, the strangers were shown some dances my
school sometimes did. Goes like this: " Hop, step,
step....Hop, step, step.... Hop, step, step..  Stick foot
out!"  Simple yet fun.  They circled around the water
fountain.  After a while, everyone dispersed and gradually
moved their way to the main playground.  Curiosity killed
the cat but hey, I'm a gecko!

     Kids were scattered like sunshine.  Some were having a
tournament in basketball, some were chatting and making new
friends.  Others were just dancing to some catchy tune.  They
traded postcards with other souvenirs.  Most people were
pleased with the exchange.  Others were wistful about not
receiving a gift back.  My female kids even KISSED the
strangers.  So formal!  Humph!  I never get kissed, just get
my tail pulled off.  Oh well, my scaly skin is getting a
little too cracked, time to get back in my hole-in-the-wall.
Humph!!