A Successful Summer Camp in China held by the CI in 2015

The Confucius Institute at the University of Saskatchewan and the Beijing Institute of Technology jointly organized a summer camp in Beijing and Xi’an, China, between June 8 and 22, 2015.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Saskatchewan and the Beijing Institute of Technology jointly organized a summer camp in Beijing and Xi’an, China, between June 8 and 22, 2015. This activity attracted many university students and scholars, who were also students of the Confucius Institute at the University of Saskatchewan.

The two-week summer camp was full of excitement. During their time in Beijing, the participants experienced traditional Chinese art through Chinese food tasting. They also experienced Chinese culture by visiting popular tourist sights, monuments and museums in China, as well as watching traditional Chinese art performances. Their understanding of China has deepened and favors for China have strengthened through their participation in these activities.

In Beijing, the summer camp group further visited the Beijing Institute of Technology and its affiliated elementary school. The Beijing Institute of Technology is a national key university, which develops its areas in technology, science, management and arts coordinately and has a main focus on the fields of science and technology. It belongs to the first group of national key universities in the “211 project” and “985 project”. It is also a member of the “ASRTU” (Technical Universities Association of Russia and China). In here, the participants visited the university campus and had some cordial interaction with the children in the elementary school.

After that, the group visited the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban). The Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) in China is the supreme governing body of all Confucius Institutes in the world. It is responsible for managing and directing the Confucius Institutes worldwide. Mr. Song Ming Qu guided the group and provided explanation about this institute to them during this visit.

After they finished the activities in Beijing, the group visited Xi’an for the second phase of this summer camp. Everyone had a chance to taste the traditional local cuisine in Xi’an, visit popular tourist sights and experience the cultural heritage of this ancient capital city of thirteen dynasties.

In addition, the participants also tried to make some of the traditional food in the Terracotta Army Memorial Hall. The group also visited the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an. The Northwestern Polytechnical University also has a main focus on the fields of science and technology. It is one of the national key universities in the “985 project” and “211 project”. Furthermore, it is a member of the “Excellence 9” and “ASRTU” (Technical Universities Association of Russia and China). The Northwestern Polytechnical University and Beijing Institute of Technology share a strong partnership. This visit was arranged by the Beijing Institute of Technology. The group visited the university and had a nice talk with the scholars and international students there.

The participants also took the Chinese language proficiency test (HSK) as part of the summer camp activities and achieved good grades. When the summer camp was over, all indicated that they learned much. They learned and experienced a lot of interesting knowledge about Chinese culture and visited many popular tourist sights. They would like to have another opportunity to visit China again for more in-depth learning. The Confucius Institute at the University of Saskatchewan will continue with its effort on organizing more activities as such in the future to promote and enhance the understanding of China among our Canadian friends.