CHINA - UK LINK PAGE
Zhongguó - "the middle kingdom"
KES - CHONGQING
Between November 29th and December the 3rd 2004, KES was visited by teachers from Chongqing Qinghua Middle School, in central China, in the Banan district.
Mr. David Zhang Wei was the project co-ordinator, and the teacher who spent the week with us. There was a focus on Sport, but he also spent part of a morning in the Geography department. He was very interested in the work in the department. One colleague was showing a video of the Simpsons in Brazil - very global !
Chongqing is a large city in central SW China. For maps of the area, and the rest of China, go to CHINA TOUR. Chongqing has a population of over 31 000 000 people in its immediate area !
For more general information on the area go to various other sites. The TRAVEL CHINA GUIDE is a good starting point.
As always, COMMUNITY WEBSHOTS delivers lots of photos of China. A FLICKR search would also throw up some useful resources.
Chongqing is situated high up in the course of the Yangtze, and we discussed the THREE GORGES DAM project which lies further downstream. Apparently cruise ships start at Chongqing when making their way down through the gorges which now have much improved navigation and reduced flood risk. My 3 Gorges page linked to above is a popular one...
Mr. Zhang Wei also discussed the importance of manufacturing in the local area, notably car manufacture. A recent article in 'The Guardian' illustrated the US and European companies who are being bought by Chinese companies. A notable recent purchase was IBM, once responsible for 70% of PC production, who are now Chinese owned after a billion dollar plus purchase...
City facts
4th largest city in China after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.
Tourist attraction as well as a commercial city.
Port city
Starting point for the Yangtze River cruise
Nickname as 'Fog City' or 'Furnace' or 'Mountain City'
Known for the Dazu stone carvings
The school has 3340 students and more than 280 members of staff (or did at the time of the visit)
A Geography teacher at the school: Jiang Zhao-Ping won a gold medal at a national competition for his globe invention.
OTHER CHINA LINKS & RESOURCES
Check out COMMUNITY WEBSHOTS for images of China (and indeed anywhere else....)
GOOGLE EARTH also allows you to explore the sweep and grandeur of China. Can you find the GREAT WALL ?
An art exhibition by Michael Wolf called 'The Real Toy Story' was shown at the John Batten gallery in Hong Kong, 2004. This featured over 16 000 toys made in China, along with images of the workers in the toy factories. Got a nice e-mail from Michael when he noticed that I'd featured the site on GeographyPages.
China is responsible for manufacture of over 75% of toys, and a great deal of other Christmas related items. I recently discovered that all of the items I looked at in my local Tescos which were related to Christmas had been made in China.
There are also some weblinks at this SLN PAGE: the 7-11 China Guide
BEIJING will be hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. The official site is coming together, as are others which ask people to boycott the games. There are sections on the Beijing page describing how it will be a 'Green Olympics'.
Chinese tourists are starting to explore the world in huge numbers. They are enjoying their new wealth and accessibility. In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese tourists went abroad - in 2005 it was 31 million, and this could reach 100 million by 2020
I now have a new BEIJING PAGE (July 2006) to prepare for Olympics 2008
There's also the CCTV-9 channel on Sky Digital to get a view of the country: lots of news and the arts. This is an interesting watch...
ARTICLES
Interesting article by William Rees Mogg in 'The Times' on 3rd Jan 05
"This is the Chinese Century"
Pointed out that as of the start of 2005, the WTO has lifted import quotas on textiles. This will mean that more Chinese clothing will appear in the stores in MEDCs. This has already started to happen, and it's worth keeping an eye on the business pages of the newspapers for the duration of your courses.
A recent (March 2006) article in The Guardian, and also a CHANNEL 4 NEWS report looked at the city of Chongqing as being the "fastest-growing urban centre on the planet", and included some amazing details on the size of the city and its rate of growth.
You can read an ONLINE VERSION of the article here. I recommend you have a look.
And HERE is an article on the CHANNEL 4 website - a chance to view the report...
The city has a population bigger than Peru or Iraq
Half a million arrive in the city every year looking for a better life
Municipal area has a population of 31 million
Articles in The Times in July 2006
China's annual growth was 11.3% in second quarter of 2006: fastest rise in more than a decade
China is the world's 4th largest economy
May have to raise interest rates to reduce its reliance on cheap money and avoid overheating
EASTER 2005
In Easter 2005, 2 staff from KES: Mr. Tebay and Mr. Douglass, made a return visit to Chongqing where they saw the city and its surroundings, and spent time in the partner school seeing the organisation behind the huge number of staff and students who pass through the doors every day.
An excellent resource passed to me recently by colleague Mr. Douglass: an excellent softback book: "New Three Gorges" produced by China Photographic Publishing House. It has English, German and Chinese text captions to the images, based around a rather nice map showing a Tourist sketch map of the Three Gorges.
Article in The Times suggested that China is undergoing a tourist boom, and that it now has more visitors than Italy to places like the Great Wall of China (which is certainly on my list of things to see at some stage)
We have also recently purchased a video of the series: CHANGING CHINA, part of the PLACE AND PEOPLE series produced by Channel 4.
There are 5 programmes in the series:
1. Farming North and South
2. The Three Gorges Dam
3. Forestry, Flooding and Farming
4. Township Enterprise and Migration
5. Urban Development in Shanghai
Programme notes are available ONLINE at the CHANNEL 4 site.
VISITING THE SITE FROM CHONGQING ?
Why not e-mail me at geoblogs@europe.com
Mr. Yin: the Headmaster of our partner school, and Zhang Wei (David) visited in January 2007
See the new page on CHONGQING.
Thanks to David Rayner for sending an excellent movie of his recent (Summer 2006) travels to China, and some images which I used to create some other resources.
BBC Series with 10 programmes looking at learning basic Mandarin vocabulary.
Could form a good basis for Chinese visit.
Will look to produce some China - English glossary for next year when we have more Chinese visitors.
There is a supporting WEBSITE which has some useful notes.
| Ni hăo | Hello (literally "you well ?") |
| Zài Jiàn | Goodbye |
| Zăoshang hăo | Good morning |
Mandarin is official language, and is most widely spoken regional dialect, there is also Cantonese, Mongolian, Uighur and Tibetan, but everyone is expected to learn Mandarin.
Chinese characters don't show how words should be sounded - so use Pinyin as a phonetic guide
Chinese is a tonal language - tone changes the meaning of a word.
4 tones: high and level, rising, falling then rising, and falling
Chinese pupils are outperforming other ethnic groups in the UK. They perform the best in National Curriculum tests.
CHINA RESOURCES by David Rayner
On the GTT website.
Filming trip activity uses the following itinerary....
Travel from London Heathrow airport for scheduled flight to Beijing. We can also arrange departures from your local airport.
Arrive at Beijing Capital Airport and transfer to 4* hotel in city centre.
Later visit the Temple of Heaven - built in 1420, it was the place where the Ming and Qing emperors worshipped the God of Heaven and prayed for good harvest for the year. Conclude today with a welcome dinner in a traditional Chinese restaurant - free flow of beer and soft drink. (L/D)
We start our tour this morning with a visit to Tiananmen Square - the largest public square in the world. Walking through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (with late Chairman Mao's huge portrait hanging over the gate), we enter the magnificent Forbidden City - which served as imperial palaces for 24 emperors since the 15th century. This massive palace compound never fails to impress.
The afternoon tour continues to the enchanting Summer Palace, with the largest imperial garden in China where late Qing emperors and empresses stayed between May and October, seeking escape from the pollution inside the city. Enjoy a relaxing boat ride on the beautiful Kunming Lake. (B/L/D)
Today we travel outside the city to the Great Wall at Jinshanling and Simatai - two remote and wild sections of the wall relatively unspoilt by overflow of tourists. Spend the whole day walking from Jinshanling to Simatai, exploring this unique wonder, and enjoy a picnic lunch on the wall.
This evening after a traditional Peking duck banquet, we will take a closer look into Beijing people's night life by visiting the trendy Shichahai bar street - experience the Chinese pub culture. (B/L/D)
The morning is free to either relax or explore on your own. In the afternoon we depart from the hotel for a rickshaw tour around old Beijing's Hutong (alleyways) area - visit a typical Beijing family in courtyard house; also stop by a local school. .
Later in the afternoon we fly to Xian - the ancient capital of China. Upon arrival, transfer to 4* hotel in the city centre. Relax and enjoy dinner at the hotel. Later your tour manager will take you to visit the Bell Tower - beautifully lit with red lanterns; this is the landmark of Xian. Also browse around the colourful local food market in the Muslim quarter. (B/L/D)
Today our tour begins with yet another highlight of the entire journey, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses - built over 2,000 years ago to guard the tomb of Emperor Qinshihuang. Over 7,000 life-size figures unearthed since 1974, this is truly one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
In the afternoon we return to the city to visit the Ancient City Wall and Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Tonight enjoy a spectacular Tang Dynasty dinner show. (B/L/D)
This morning we will fly to Chengdu – capital of Sichuan Province. First we visit Leshan to see the Grand Buddha Statue, the largest stone Buddha sculpture in the world.
This evening, after a Sichuan style dinner (full of spices and flavour) we will enjoy a traditional Chuan Opera. Be amazed by the skilful demonstration of changing masks. (B/L/D)
Today we travel to Woolong Nature Reserve to visit the Panda Research Centre, which also includes the Giant Panda Centre and Museum. (B/L/D)
This morning we fly to Kunming - the city of everlasting spring. We then take a drive to visit the Stone Forest - a massive collection of grey limestone pillars found around 120km south-east of Kunming. (B/L/D)
This morning we will take a short flight (approx. 45 mins) to Dali - the autonomous region of Bai ethnic group. Take a cable car ride up the mighty Cangshan Mountain for a stunning view over the Erhai Lake. We also visit Dali's landmark - the Three Pagodas.
Later in the afternoon we will visit Xizhou Village, where you can enjoy local song and dance performed by the Bai people. (B/L/D)
In the morning we will have some free time to stroll around the old town. After lunch, drive through the tranquil and beautiful countryside to Lijiang - home of the Naxi minority people.
After dinner in a local restaurant, enjoy a traditional Naxi music concert performed by local elderly musicians. (B/L/D)
This morning we start our tour with a stroll around the Lijiang Old Town and visit Mufu Mansion. Then we drive outside the town and take the chairlift up the snow-capped Jade Dragon Mountain.
Later in the afternoon we visit Baisha Village. (B/L/D)
Today we travel outside Lijiang to visit what is known as the First Bend of Yangtze River, and then trek along the mountain edge and view the Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the most dangerous white water sections of river in the world. (B/L/D)
We take a morning flight to Guilin via Kunming - one of the most picturesque cities in China. Today we visit the Reed Flute Cave. After dinner, Emperor Tours will treat every customer with a refreshing traditional Chinese foot massage - a well deserved and sensual experience for all! (B/L/D)
Today we take a boat cruise along the scenic Li River to Yangshuo - a small town near Guilin which boasts stunning scenery and landscapes.
After lunch on the boat, we will have plenty of time to browse around Yangshuo's lively local market before our return to Guilin in the evening. Optional tour to see cormorant fishing will be organised if enough interest. (B/L/D)
This morning we drive to Longsheng where you can enjoy the amazing scenery of Longsheng Rice terraces ("Dragon's Backbone").
Late afternoon transfer to airport for flight to Hong Kong. Upon arrival, transfer to 4* hotel. (B/L)
Half day tour to the famous sites of Hong Kong - Victoria Peak, Stanley Market, Aberdeen Fishing Village, etc. The rest of day is free for you to explore this vibrant city mix of east and west culture. (B)
The day time is free for you to indulge in shopping and savour the culinary delicacies that Hong Kong has to offer. Open your senses to Hong Kong's amazing skyline, bustling harbour and peaceful countryside. (B)
Day time free to enjoy the wonders of Hong Kong. Evening transfer to the airport for return flight home. (B)
Morning arrival in London. End of itinerary.
*Extra nights in Hong Kong are available upon request
20 Days Package Price from just £2,240 per person
Thanks to Eric for visiting all of our Year 9 groups during March 2008