9th Annual Students Camps 2015

The 9th Annual China Study Camps drew to a close at the end of July this year. The camps were incredibly successful with students improving their Mandarin language skills, as well as being immersed in Chinese culture.

On 11th July, students and teachers from British schools began arriving into a very hot Beijing. Everyone coped well with the heat and Hanban kept the shools busy with a range of cultural activities in and around Bejing.

A few days later, the schools split into groups and travelled to their assigned provinces of which there were four in total; Qingdao, Changzhou, Shenyang and Harbin.

Once in the provinces, the Mandarin learning began along with cultural classes and sightseeing. The Qingdao group enjoyed life by the seaside in China, while the Harbin group experienced a northern Chinese city rich with Russian inflences. For those in Changzhou, the Dinosaur Park proved to be a hit among students and teachers alike, and the food markets in Shenyang tempted students to taste some of the more obscure Chinese dishes, such as chicken heads and barbequed larvae.

After closing ceremonies in the provinces, it was back to Beijing for the final days of the trip. Visits in Beijing included the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Summer Palace. Hanban made sure the campers were always well-fed, taking them to a famous Beijing duck restaurant for lunch one day and making sure they had the opportunity to sample every type of dumpling available.

Finally the trip came to an end and it was time for everyone to say goodbye to the friends they had made in China. The schools left Beijing with very different opinions from before their arrival, with everyone saying it was the experience of a lifetime!