In the winter of 2013, there is a hot event at Shanghai High School International Division: Chinese Cultural Week. This event is aimed at enabling nonnative students to get a clearer picture of Chinese culture while learning the Chinese language and, in the meantime, to use the charm of culture to inspire their studies. The event consists of four themes: food, calligraphy, garment, and Chinese opera.

There is a Chinese saying to the effect that food is the paramount necessity of the people and, thus, the study of Chinese culture starts with your tongue. Nowadays, perhaps few regard eating jiaozi as an exotic cultural experience, but to make it with one’s own hands often excites people. Grade 9 students went to the cafeteria and turned into chefs: they stuffed in the meat, folded the jiaozi dough around it, and adjusted the shape to give it the characteristic appearance of jiaozi. Finally the cuisine made it to the table and was soon gobbled up by the students. Perhaps these were the best jiaozi they had ever tasted!

Mr. He is teaching grade 9 students to make Jiaozi

For grade 10 students, it is a piece of cake to write Chinese characters. However, it is not a piece of cake to write the characters with a calligraphy brush. Mr. Teng Jiangang, who is quite the calligraphy expert in the school, gave a lecture on the basic facts of the tools for Chinese calligraphy and on the skills needed to write beautiful characters. The students also tried to “paint” the characters on special paper. Though it seemed that they didn’t yet have a perfect command of the technique, there was a sense of “spiritual texture” in their work.

Grade 11 students were learning calligraphy

Believe it or not, even fashion centers in Milano, Paris, and New York marvel at traditional Chinese garments. From the simple and graceful design of the Han Dynasty, to the bright and gorgeous style of the Tang Dynasty, to the elegant and slim qipao, to the wide variety of traditional garments of minority groups – every piece reflects the diverse and evolving aesthetics of Chinese people throughout history. Putting on Chinese gowns and hats, the students from grade 11 suddenly became ancient Chinese. The garment show performed by grade 11 seemed more like a costume party.

Grade 11: Chinese garment show

Last but not least, grade 12 had an expert on Sichuan opera display one of its unique features: the face-changing performance. On seeing him change his mask in the blink of an eye, the students burst out with cheers. No matter how close the students were to the performer, nobody could figure out the secret of this astonishing trick. However, eventually the opera master revealed the secret of the mask patterns in Chinese opera and taught the students how to paint a good mask. Wearing the quirky and whimsical masks painted by them, the students looked like the visages from the transformations of the great monkey king!

Grade 12 students were watching face-changing performance

Chinese Cultural Week left a deep impression in the mind of everyone.(Written by Gao Yi Picture by Zhuang Zhenmin)