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Shandong University International Summer School
Joe Peissel (2 year BSc Economics)
This summer I travelled to Jinan, the capital city of Shandong Province, to spend four weeks at Shandong University attending a summer school. Whilst there, I learnt the basics of Mandarin and had lectures (taught in English, thankfully!) on Chinese culture, history and economy. We were also able to experience Chinese culture by attending workshops on Chinese cuisine, tai chi, tea making and studying the Beijing opera. We travelled to a small city called Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius the famous Chinese philosopher, and visited Qingdao, the financial hub of Shandong Province which is home to the headquarters of Haier, a multinational company selling electronic and home appliances. Here, we received an interesting talk on their business model and strategy, and the contrasts with western companies. At the end of the summer school, we spent three days in Beijing, providing us with an opportunity to practice our Mandarin, and visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.
This was my first experience of travelling away from home, and my friends and family hardly recognized me when I returned! The trip has allowed me to develop and acquire a whole host of skills. First and foremost, I have picked up some basic mandarin: by the end of the trip I was able to negotiate the price of a souvenir with a market dealer, ask the phone number of a taxi company, and ask the friends I made on the trip where they lived and when we shall next see each other. I am planning to continue my study of mandarin during the coming academic year, and one day hope to be able to speak it fluently. Not only will this mean I have a further 1.4 billion people I can speak to in the world, but it will compliment my economics degree perfectly, as China will soon have the world’s largest economy and an increasing amount of business is being done with Chinese firms and banks. Likewise the lectures we received on Chinese business, culture and economics will further improve my employment prospects and strengthen my CV. From a less academic point of view, I have mastered the cooking of a few Chinese dishes (although am not so sure this is a good thing, as my family and friends now force me to cook on a weekly basis!!)
However, I feel the most important development in myself is the ability to go and speak to and make friends with a group of people I have never met before. Arriving in Jinan was a daunting prospect- I would be spending 4 weeks in a city I had never been to with a group of students in a similar position to me but whom I had never met. During this 4 week period I developed the confidence to meet new people, to approach them and introduce myself; I now have the self-belief and confidence to know that wherever I am in the world, I can make friends with people I have never met before. This is an invaluable skill, and one that will stay with me forever, and has given a huge boost to my self-confidence.
The trip has allowed me to make friends with people from all over the world - China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark, and numerous other countries. Many of these friends I will stay in contact with for the rest of my life, and very much hope to see them again at some point. Spending a month in China has confirmed my love for the country - its history, culture and the gentle nature of the people who live there. I will certainly go back in the future, and this trip has inspired me to study there after I graduate from Bath. To summarise my month in China, it has allowed me to start learning mandarin, make friends from all over the world, and see such a positive change in myself and confidence I would never have believed possible! Thus I consider the grant from the alumni fund to be truly life -changing, as were it not for your generosity, I would not be starting my second year of study at Bath University as a more confident, better travelled and more open minded individual.
thank you!
Blog
International Summer School Blog:
Week 1
First impression= China’s crazy!! The first week at Shandong University has been so fast paced, with mandarin lessons every morning and activities for us each afternoon. The University campus is very beautiful, with water fountains and many trees planted around, creating a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere- in direct contrast with the hustle and bustle of the streets outside the University! The roads are manic, with cars, cycle bikes and motor bikes all skipping lights, cutting up traffic, driving on the pavements and sometimes even on the wrong side of the road!
The mandarin lessons this week have been just recapping the basics I learned before I started the summer school, but it has been very useful to recap everything I know. Everyone on the course is really nice, there are over 60 students from 19 different countries so when we sit down together there is such an interesting mix of culture, English is the main language spoken, fortunately! My Chinese buddy is called Meng (English name is Kobe), he is incredibly friendly and goes out of his way to help me and make sure I am happy. He showed me around Jinan the other day, and we went to the city centre where there is a very big shopping centre with the most amazing architecture, as well as a huge shopping square with stalls selling all sorts of weird and wonderful food, which, for the most part, is delicious, and I have eaten a whole range of strange food such as cow stomach, whole fish (including head and tail), chicken feet and deep fried insects. When I look around the supermarkets there are duck tongues and edible fungus for sale along with a range of other strange stuff.
On Saturday we visited Daming Lake (the largest lake in Jinan) and Baotu Spring, declared by the Qing Dynasty Emperor as the ‘Number One Spring under the Heaven’. Both were very beautiful, and it was nice to spend time looking around with our Chinese buddies and getting to know them better.
A picture of Baotu Spring, the ‘Number One Spring under the Heaven’
This is me at Daming Lake, it was a very rainy day, but the views were really beautiful
A picture of the campus I was staying at
Week 2
The mandarin classes have picked up in difficulty and I’m trying to put in a couple of hours additional practice each evening. We have learnt basic dialogue, including how to ask someone for their mobile number and where they live. We are also being kept busy in the afternoon- on Monday afternoon we learnt how to make dumplings and proceeded to have a ‘dumpling competition’, to see who could eat 15 dumplings the fastest! I didn’t participate, as I was still very full from a huge lunch earlier on, I am still thoroughly enjoying the food, and a few of the Chinese students have taken us to some of their favorite restaurants. Thursday afternoon saw Guy Barkley, Adam (another student on the course from Manchester University), and myself give a presentation on the history and culture of the United Kingdom. We then got to see similar presentations from students from Luxembourg, France, Japan and Germany- it was really interesting to learn about all these countries backgrounds.
I haven’t seen much of my buddy this week, he has been busy arranging a ‘fresher’s week’ for Shandong University fresher’s in September, but we have plans to meet next week and he says he will show me more of Jinan. I have spent a lot of time with many of the other Chinese buddy’s though, all who seem equally nice and eager to make my time in Jinan as happy as possible!
Over the weekend we travelled to Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. The town was a lot smaller and less busy than the hustle and bustle on the streets of Jinan. During our stay, we got to see Confucius’s mansion (interestingly he never lived here, but much of his family did), along with the cemetery where he is buried. The cemetery is enormous, larger than the size of Qufu itself, and is where Confucius’s family are buried, even his ancestors today. The actual site where Confucius is buried has a large, impressive gravestone and lots of beautiful flowers and decoration. There is with a building next to it built in memory of one of Confucius students who stayed at his grave for 6 years, morning his death. We returned at midnight Saturday evening, and had another mandarin lesson Sunday morning followed by a tai chi class- the summer school is very full on and exhausting, but I am really, really enjoying it!
During our free time we took a cycle tour around the city
Me and Guy Barkley with chicken feet!
Week 3
This week we visited Qingdao city, the financial hub of Shandong Province. The city is a lot wealthier than Jinan, evident by the impressive, modern skyscrapers (opposed to the, old-fashioned, grey sky scrapers in in Jinan). We spent both afternoons at Bathing Beach, a sandy beach set against a background of mountains, it was very beautiful. The sea was warm, although I didn’t have swim shorts so couldn’t go swimming, but paddled up to my knees, the next day during our free time a small group of us went back to the beach and explored all the large rocks nearby, climbing about 20 meters out.
Thursday morning we had a tour around Haier corporation, which was a little disappointing. We walked around some of their show rooms, which felt much like walking around IKEA, and then we watched a short video explaining to us Hairer corporation’s business strategy- it used far too much technical jargon to make much sense to any of us.
During Friday and Saturday we participated in a Chinese calligraphy lesson and a lecture on Confucianism. The lecture was very interesting, and we learnt that despite Confucius’s popularity now, whilst he was alive he had a sad and somewhat unsuccessful life- it was only after his death he became famous. This week we have had lots of free time, and thus I have had a better chance to bond with everybody. We have spent lots of time exploring Jinan, and I have particularly enjoyed walking around the market places sampling all the different food. As well as walking around Jinan, we have played plenty of football with our Chinese buddies. I have bonded very well with everyone on this course, and am not looking forward to going back home next week- I have had so much fun and learnt so much, but think there is still so much more of Jinan to discover!
A picture of a busy market place that we went to see during our free time, there are food stalls every 5 meters or so selling all sorts of weird and wonderful Chinese food!
Bathing Beach
The next day at Qingdao we went back to the beach and climbed out onto the rocks, although by this point the tide had started coming in and the rocks were already submerged in water.
Week 4
Our last week! We spent the first few days studying hard for our Chinese test, which actually turned out to be quite easy and everyone passed. We had a big game of basketball, again playing with the Chinese students, which was great fun. The Chinese are very, very good at basketball!
On Saturday we checked out of our accommodation and travelled up to Beijing on train. Our accommodation was located on the outskirts of Beijing, but a short taxi ride took us to a busy section, full of shops and restaurants- it was the most western part of China we had seen! Over the next few days I found that in these touristy, western areas, nearly all of the Chinese spoke very good English, unlike in Jinan where very few could speak English!
During our first day in Beijing, we visited both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I was particularly impressed with the Forbidden City and its amazing architecture, although wished we had longer to look around, we covered at best about 50% of it, I think we had too tight a time schedule. The following day we visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace, both were amazing, in particular the Great Wall, but again we didn’t have enough time to properly look around
It was interesting to spend time in Beijing, and to look at the differences compared to Jinan. Beijing was wealthier, and a lot more of the Chinese spoke English. However, I think I preferred Jinan, it seemed more authentic, I had a feeling that there was a lot of decoration in Beijing. Big impressive buildings, and a real sense of wealth, yet when I walked off the beaten track there was just as much poverty and low standard of living as in Jinan, the only difference that in Beijing this poverty was hidden from the tourists. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Beijing and would love to go back, in particular to see the Forbidden City and Summer Palace again.
Tuesday morning at 5am a small group of us boarded a coach to Beijing airport. A small group of students, those who I had been particularly close too, stayed up to wave us off. It was very, very emotional to say goodbye- having spent the past 4 weeks with the same group of people, living in such close proximity and experiencing such amazing things meant we became very good friends. I very much hope we see each other again, in fact, I am sure of it. The flight home went quickly; I managed to sleep a lot of the way. And here I am in England, reflecting on the past 4 weeks. They have been truly incredible, and many of the experiences will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I will undoubtedly go back to China as soon as I can!
Outside the entrance to the Forbidden City!
A group of us at Tiananmen Square... shortly after this photo was taken a policeman approached us and said we were not allowed to pose with a flag unless it was the flag of China!
