Mikey Whalen's Blog Post

On Monday June 29 we went to the Longmen Grottos, which are located in Luoyang. The grottos were all statues of Buddhas for Buddhist to go and pray. Over thousands of Buddhas are located thought out the grottos ranging from height size and color. The Ming dynasty built the biggest Buddha statue that was 17 meters tall and the smallest one was 2 centimeters tall. Within one cave there is thousands of statues and others only have one or two statues. When we first walked up the stairs to the first set of caves I was so surprised because there was about a hundred caves on the side of a mountain and I thought it was the coolest thing. A decent amount of the statues were sadly destroyed from the Japanese during World War II. Some of the Buddhas were missing from an arm to a head and some were completely destroyed. You could also see many bullet holes in many of the statues. This made me angry because it was a religious place that people went to pray and some statues date back to 650 B.C and just destroyed them for no reason. The longman grottos were one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

         After the longman Grottos we drove to Dengfeng city and went to our finale excursion to the Snaolin Temple, a Kung Fu school. They school had about 30 thousand students. The students have about a 12 hour school day learning kung Fu and having regular classes with one day off a week and two weeks for their holiday, summer. I don't think I would be able to spend that much time on school and learning Kung Fu. The some students from the school put on a show for us it was very interesting. A kid that was about 8 was able to do back flips and put his legs behind his head and stuff. Then there was kids about my age doing cool stuff with swords nunchucks and other weapons and they were very good. Then Jakob went up on the stage to learn some Kung fu. He had to follow what this students was doing and it looked really hard but Jakob kept up with him pretty good. After the show we went to the actual temple and it was very big. The temple had many statues of Buddhist Gods and it was very interesting seeing all the students and people praying to all the statues and donating a lot of money. When we were leaving we saw all the Kung fu students practicing in this huge area and they looked like an army or something because they all walled in perfect lines and there was just so many of them. This and the grottos were some of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  

Mike Devane's Blog Post

After a six and a half hour train ride we began our final weekend in China with a visit to the historic Xi'an city. The current capital of Shanxi province was also the capital city of China during the Ming dynasty. Compared to the other four "great ancient capitals of China" Xi'an is by far the oldest, and the most valuable. Due to the fact that Xi’an is where the beginning of the Silk Road was located it greatly impacted Chinese history and economics due to its benefits in trade and cultural melding often associated with the Silk Road. 

Our first stop was the Ming Dynasty city wall which is the most well preserved city wall in all of China. We rented bikes and rode around the nine mile perimeter of the wall and were able to see all the amazing architecture and detail that went into building this wall, and the towers perched atop it. The views from the top of the wall were also breathtaking because we could see the comparison between ancient and modern China, due to the fact that just outside the walls of ancient Xi'an is a large bustling city. After this we drove to a restaurant where we ate many traditional Chinese food before going to the hotel.

The next day, which was our last day in Xi'an we were able to see the Terra cotta army which is also the tomb of one of the emperors of the Qin dynasty, Qin shi Huang. The sculptures are so detailed that each statue has a different hair style based on their rank which was common in the ancient Chinese military. The hairstyles help to distinguish between those who were soldiers, those who were captains, and those who were generals. Also we could see on the statues of the kneeling archers that the artists even took the time to design treads for the bottom of the shoes on the statues. It took 700,000 men to sculpt and shape the thousands of soldiers who were believed to guard the emperor in the afterlife. Another obstacle for intruders was the river of mercury which flows through the tomb and is hazardous to unsuspecting intruders. Although, after the Qin dynasty fell people destroyed many of the soldiers to make a statement against their rule. The soldiers were discovered in 1974 originally by local farmers attempting to dig a well. After accidentally unearthing one of the most impressive displays in history archeologists began unearthing the vast army of terra cotta soldiers and are to this day attempting to restore and maintain the beauty of the legacy of emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Will Anderson's Blog Post

On Wednesday, we visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City is the center of Beijing, located in the middle of it's six rings. We first physically saw the Forbidden City two Monday's ago, when we visited Beihai Park. From the highest point of the temple there, one can see the Northern Gate of the Forbidden City. We were lead by the same tour guide who took us up the Great Wall, Frank. The Forbidden City is a collection of buildings previously inhabited by China's emperors since the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. We learned that no square shaped area in the Forbidden City may contain trees. This is because a Chinese character standing for trouble, 困, looks like a square with a tree in it. Therefore, recreating the character in the sacred home of the emperor was asking for, unsurprisingly, trouble. The emperors also feared that crafty assassins might utilize the trees as hiding places. The Forbidden City contains thousands of rooms, as it was not only home to the royal family, but all members of the court. Shockingly, all three thousand of the emperor's concubines lived there. Some of these concubines were even buried in the same tomb as the emperor, as we learned at the Ming Tombs.

            Tiananmen Square was originally built as the gate to the Forbidden City. It's the size of 60 football fields, and no bicycles are allowed in the square. I learned after the visit that there is a ￥5 fine for littering in the Square. The Square, as well as the Forbidden City, contains stone lions, placed there to guard the sites. We learned how to identify the gender of the stone lions. Female lions have cubs under their left paw, while male lions have a ball under their left paw. We also saw Belgian flags flying alongside Chinese flags, as the Belgian president is currently visiting China.

            On Friday, we saw the Temple of Heaven, which was designed by the same architect as the Forbidden City. Like many parks in Beijing, it is a popular spot for retirees to dance, sing, and do calisthenics. It holds many shrines, which people often pray at, and photos of which are not allowed to be taken. It also has the Echo Wall and the Stone Mound, both of which bend sound in unique ways. The Echo Wall allows one to hear anything said by a person along the wall as if they were an arm's length away. This wall was put to the test by the BC High lads, and the results were very positive. Everyone could hear each other, but we seemed to find that it only worked going right to left. The Stone Mound allows one's voice to be heard clearly in all directions, regardless of which direction one faces while speaking.

            Our excursion wrapped up with a visit to the Pearl Market, a popular tourist market where all kinds of fake and knockoff goods can be purchased. Such goods included, but were not limited to, Rolexes, Louis Vuitton wallets and bags, sports jerseys, headphones of all shapes and sizes, and designer clothes. But by far the best part of the market is the bartering. Every student sharpened their bartering skills at the Pearl Market, and were resolute on getting the best prices possible. With Ms. Chen's assistance, the whole BC High group became a haggling force to be reckoned with. We all left the Pearl Market excited to discuss the deals we got, and learn who got the most items for the least amount of yuan. We then went home with our host families, excited and saddened that the next few days would be our last weekend in China.  

Joseph's Blog Post

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says "to be a true man and hero, you must climb the Great Wall." That challenge was met with great fortitude and energy by the BC High team and was thusly conquered. Just like any other day, it started in the morning. We piled into the bus and drove to the start location for our long trek. Once we had bought our tickets we began what we later learned to be the most difficult leg of our journey. The only way to describe the next forty-five minutes: stairs. The Great Wall sits high in the mountains and we were at the bottom. The only way to go was upwards. We climbed and climbed, with no end in sight. The road was just a giant flight of stairs winding its way up the mountain. Each of us wondered how anyone could possibly climb that many stairs. After a good forty-five minutes we made it to a sight that took everyone's breath away. Before us, winding its way on the top of mountains, from the horizon on the right into the horizon on the left was the Great Wall. Even I, who has been to the Great Wall, stood in awe of the sight. The actual Great wall differed from what we were expecting. A few of my classmates expected the wall to be higher. At least three of my friends had expected the wall to be flat. The wall was far from flat. The long construction wound its way through mountains and valleys like an undulating river. The guard towers rose high into the sky only to disappear in the mist that obscured the far regions from our eyes. The magnificent monolith stretched much father than we could ever see or comprehend. After the long climb up the mountain, we rested and admired the awesome sight. The magnitude of the wall astounded us and created the sense of great awe for the millions of people that were tasked to build the great construction. We could not even fathom how the builders dragged the huge stone blocks up the mountain and then built the wall that stretches over 6,500 km long. As we stared at the awesome sight before us, we were reminded of the riches and experience that comes with traveling to China. After regaining our breath, we started on our journey on the Great Wall. There are no words to describe the great beauty of the mountains and valleys that surrounded the wall. The scene was breathtaking, with magnificent forests on mountainsides that disappeared into the mists that emerged from the horizon. Only once being there can one truly encompass the greatness of the scenery. The wall itself was an adventure in its own way. The path on top of the wall consisted of a variety of terrains, from stair going up and down, to slopes of all degrees and lengths. No part of the journey was truly the same. Ahmad and I decided to press on, ahead of the main group, as to be at the forefront of the expedition. From this forward vantage point, we were able to truly appreciate the feeling of walking on the wall. While the trek itself was not too difficult, it was not without obstacles. The path would curve upward only to yield to a sharp descent made up of stairs. The precipice on either side of the walls ramparts caused everyone to take extra caution when descending the sleeps slopes. For over an hour and a half we traveled, making sure to greet all that we met on the way, whether it be another tourist or a local merchant selling goods on the wall. We all marveled what it would be like to get up every morning and climb the great wall to sell our wares. These merchants were kind enough to supply us with enough water to make the trip without the danger of dehydration. The travel was thoroughly enjoyable as with our guide, who we called Frank, we were able to experience the wall to its fullest. Unfortunately, the hiking could not last forever. We finished our trek and began to descend at a different point than we started. Here we were besieged by the local vendor. One such vendor followed Ahmad trying to sell a shirt to him for several minutes. After a warning from Ms. Maguire to the merchants, we were finally able to extricate ourselves from their attention. On the last part of our journey, we were able to be rejoined by Mrs. Chen, who had stayed behind and not been with us on the Great Wall, and finished our long journey. The experience was agreed upon to be greatest that we have had so far. The view and adventure was the highlight of the week.

Jakob's Blog Post

Jakob reporting in! On Wednesday we went to the Houhai area of Beijing. Now to imagine how cool literally walking through something older than anything from home I'm gonna ask you to imagine. Close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly to put your mind in the right place. Now imagine yourself in Ancient China at about 200 BC, narrow streets full of vendors hawking their wears, stone walls holding all of this in. Now just imagine that but instead of Ancient Chinese street vendors hawking their wears it's modern Chinese people and their fancy modern shops. Oh and some places have wifi. So that was the environment we found ourselves in. 

Joe Karam's Blog Post

Living in the United States can cause one to come into a Chinese household with stereotypes and certain expectations. Up on my arrival, I expected my family members to be very serious and hard to communicate with. With open arms, my host family welcomed me and has only shown me extreme generosity. Having expectations, I thought my host family would be very close minded and very serious. In reality though, it is quite the opposite.

 

In the household I am staying in, I have two parents and a brother and a sister. My host brother, is 14 years old and goes to the middle school attached to New Beijing University. He loves to play basketball and treats the NBA like religion. His name is "Haosan" and just like an 8th grader in Arrupe loves to play games on his iPad. Haosan studies English but it is hard for us to speak smoothly. His sister, studies at a university in Beijing and graduated the high school I am attending now. She has two cats living with us but she  usually stays on campus. My father and mother are a very happy couple. My father lived in California and studied at a university in California. My father studied to be a nutritionist teacher and really loves to serve me healthy foods. He speaks almost perfect English. We have many conversations about religion, politics, and culture. My mother is a doctor and she works very long night shifts in the ER. She usually makes us our meals and keeps up the house. The family is so giving and generous and makes sure I'm always happy.

 

Every morning me and Haosan take the bus to school. It's only a 20-30 minute ride. It gets very hot in my house but in all of the bedrooms we have air conditioners. We live on the 15th floor in a 2 bathroom apartment condo. My family has taken me out to dinner so far on two occasions, they love to over feed me. Compared to an American household, it is very similar. Everybody in the mornings is getting ready to start their day and go to work or school. I know that in my house in America we have a huge thrive for work ethic and so does my Chinese family. Chinese children especially in my household, their lives revolve around their school and study. But I know that today, my family will take me to see a Chinese movie in the theaters. They typically have little social life because they are so busy with homework or projects.

 

At dinner time, as a family, we usually discuss what we did that day, besides our excursions, it is my favorite part of the day. I found it funny how sitting down at a dinner table together is something so universal. We have our laughs and they crack jokes all the time. Dinner is usually a multi course meal filled with vegetables and meat. In every meal though, they serve some sort of lentil soup. Just like my family, do we sit down together and share a meal and discuss what we did for the day.

 

At school, I am beginning to make a couple of friends, who I usually play basketball with. Some of the biggest struggles in my daily life here is definitely the language barrier. For example, they pronounce some words in English very incorrectly so it's hard to understand them. As for my Chinese, it gets hard to understand them because I think they speak too fast. On this trip so far, I am adjusting pretty well and am looking forward to what is coming. A quote I keep in mind is St. Ignatius' "Go forth and set the world on fire". So I plan to keep up the good work and good relations with my family and friends. With open arms I was welcome into China so with an open mind will I begin to understand it.

Ahmad's Blog Post

My initial expectations about the Beijing Summer Seminar were mixed with both negative and positive views.  At first, I thought the pollution in China was going to be so bad that I would have an extremely hard time breathing.  I thought that since there is 1.2 billion people in China, that it would be impossible for me to sift my way through all the people when taking the train.  I thought that the 14 hour flight to Beijing was going to be a struggle and I might lose my sanity.  Finally, because I do not take Chinese at BC High, I thought the language barrier between my host Family and I would be very frustrating. However, through all the thoughts that I had initially about China, I came to realize that I was totally wrong.  The pollution has not affected me at all and I personally do not smell or taste a difference between the US aid and China air.  I believe that websites and other people may have steered me wrong about how bad the pollution is in China.  Here in China, I really do not even notice that it is the country of a billion people.  The trains, streets, and busses are not as crowded as I thought because the people are spread out around the city.  In my personal opinion, the busses and trains are way nicer than that of the T back home.  However, the cars and bikes are very sporadic and hap haphazard when driving... to the point that myself along with my group mates have had many close calls with bikes. At any rate, on Tuesday, we took a tour of our host students school and it is the most beautiful institute of education I have ever seen.  Their campus makes BC High and other colleges in the US look like a makeshift campus.  The language barrier between me and my host family has been non existent because my host dad speaks perfect English and my host brother, Geng, has done a wonderful job of translating back and forth for his mother.  And finally, the plane ride to china was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  There were plenty of movies to watch and I slept for half of the time.  To all the families - we are okay! The whole group, including Ms Maguire, are becoming Chinese connoisseurs.