On June 21, 2010, the UMD class finished its course, and students received their language certificates from the Deputy Dean of the College of Chinese Language and Culture at Nankai University.
Our students performed at the closing ceremony what they have learned during the three-week course.
a. Taichi form
b. A skit
It was unfortunate that our students were not able to post their blogs while in China because Google moved its Chinese site offshore to avoid local censorship rules. As a result, none of us had access to the blog site we created.
Students ended up sending me their "blog" through email and posting them after the trip was over. The photos included below will retroactively illustrate what type of activities students experienced through the three-week course.
(1) They shared food they never tasted before.
(2) They practiced Tai-Chi three times a week and when they felt like to post for camera.
(3) They visited places, broaden their horizon about Chinese philosophical and cultural history, and talked to the locals to practice the language they were learning. Below are photos taken in Confucius' home town, in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, on the top of Mount Tai, and on the Great Wall.
(4) They attended culture classes, such as Chinese painting, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese opera classes. In one of the Chinese opera classes, the subject was about category of actors and their symbolic actions, they learned how to ride a horse on stage (as below).
(5) They experienced to be Chinese opera actors. The female students dressed up as three of the famous Four Beauties. The male students disguised as Emperor's son-in-law, a scholar, and a general.
