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Five Australian youth cultural ambassadors and myself as a chaperone flew to Shanghai to attend the 13th youth camp. It was our first time to Shanghai. We had heard and seen so many legendary stories about Shanghai from the social media, and were really look forward to explore Shanghai – a global financial and cultural centre by ourselves and see it in our own eyes.
Our flights from Adelaide to Shanghai were not smooth due to an unexpected flight delay; however, our ten days stay in Shanghai were the most enjoyable and unforgettable in my life. Every day was full of joy with brand new experiences and challenges. I was deeply touched by the super responsible camp staff who care and looked after us well in every single day. My nervousness disappeared immediately after I met the first camp staff Ms Yangbing Huang who picked us up from the airport. She waited us more than two hours in an extremely hot summer day and then kindly helped us to purchase the Chinese mobile SIM card, drove us to the hotel, helped us to check-in, and answered my texts in the midnight.
The 13th youth camp provided us a great cultural learning discovery opportunity. We spent first five days in Shanghai Oriental Land which is around 50 KM away from the CBD. We participated many traditional cultural and group activities there. For the first two days, I enjoyed the four-wheeled bike riding the most because it was not only provided youth a great opportunity to get to know each other well, but also allowed chaperones to have time to get to know each other properly and work in groups to build good solid relationships. We exchanged contacts, shared our thoughts, discussed camp activities and started to have meals together after the bike riding.
Our Australian Youth enjoyed the Kung-Fu martial arts session the most, as they were all actively participated in the training, stayed in and asked all the Kung-Fu masters for photos when others had all left. Girls enjoyed the Hanfu traditional clothing night, and they planned to buy one, but unfortunately we did not have the chance to visit any Hanfu shop. I would like to suggest that the Shanghai Youth Camp organisers to include Hanfu shop visit in the camp program in near future. Then, Hanfu fans will have chance to make their own purchase and bring it back to their home country. It may a good way for the youth campers (who love Hanfu) to promote Chinese culture visually in their location community, because they can dress up like a Han Chinese for the cultural celebrations they have in their town.
The paper-cutting was another fantastic session where a local Shanghainese paper-cutting master Ms Xia Lingzhu and her staff taught us their paper-cutting techniques and shared the stories behind her own paper-cutting designs. I told her that I wish to run a paper-cutting lesson in my school, and she then kindly donated me some of her most recently designed paper-cutting templates and materials for me use with my students.
This camp not only allowed us to further develop our intercultural understanding and language skills, but also helped broaden our horizons.
We visited many tourist attractions, historical sites and different kinds of museums.
A visit to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Huangpu River Night Cruise and acrobatic show were the biggest highlights of our trip.
It was my greatest honor to attend the 13th Youth Camp with our five youth and I thank ACFS for choosing me as chaperone. I truly enjoyed everything I have learned and experienced in Shanghai. However, it was disappointing that we were unable to have the city orientation activity and dragon boat competition due to the extreme hot weather.
Language and culture are the two most vital elements that bring us together.
Shanghai Interactive Friendship Youth Camp is an excellent program that brings the people who have the same passions to work together and stay together for ten days;
The 2017 youth camp has finished but the friends we made from the camp will be lifelong. I would strongly encourage all my students to take the opportunity and participate in the Shanghai Youth Camp in the coming year. I would also like to thank the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Shanghai Youth Federation for providing us the fantastic programs and delicious foods. We all love Shanghai – people and foods! Thank you again to all the camp staff and volunteers. I really appreciated all your support and hard work.
