On 7 and 8 November, nearly 40 international students travelled to Zhejiang for an "Experiencing China" social practice activity. The two-day itinerary was divided between ancient villages and lakes and mountains: in Xinye Ancient Village in Jiande, the students encountered eight hundred years of clan memory and the beauty of Jiangnan architecture; in the central lake area of Qiandao Lake, they read China amid clear waters and green hills.
At the first stop, the students arrived in Jiande in fine drizzle. The misty rain lent the ancient village of Xinye an added touch of Jiangnan charm. About 800 years old, the village has been home to generations of the Ye clan; ancestral halls, dwellings and lanes are interwoven, and traces of the Jiangnan tradition of farming and scholarship remain everywhere. Umbrellas in hand, the students walked into the damp flagstone alleys, pausing before old houses and ancestral halls. Following the thread of clan culture handed down through the generations, they felt the weight of time in every brick and tile.
Early the next morning, a cruise boat entered the central lake area of Qiandao Lake, and Meifeng Island, Yule Island and Longshan Island welcomed the young visitors one after another. Climbing Meifeng Island step by step, the students looked down on this man-made lake formed when the Xin'an River Hydropower Station dammed the river: the water stretched away, the islands were scattered across it, and the late-autumn colours of the hills were mirrored in the lake, bringing the whole scene into view at a glance. On Yule Island, speedboats cut across the water and spray flew, accompanied all the way by cheers - the liveliest moment of the trip. At the final stop, Longshan Island, bells rang out on the hill as the group climbed Longshan and visited the ancient temple, learning about the story of Hai Rui, an upright official of the Ming dynasty, and his integrity during his time in Chun'an. Three islands, three different scenes: the students travelled, looked and learned as they went, and came away with much gained.
The landscape provided the scroll and the ancient village the annotations. The two-day itinerary around Qiandao Lake made the "China" of the classroom something visible, tangible and close at hand. Measuring China with their footsteps, the international students came to understand, in the course of their travels, the depth of history and the vastness of nature. In the future, these young envoys of friendly exchange between China and other countries will tell the true and vivid stories of China they have seen to more people.
