SISU International Teachers and Students Experience Ba-Yu Culture in Wanzhou

The SISU Office of International Cooperation and Exchange recently organized a tour called the “Ba-Yu Culture Experience Trip” for SISU international teachers and students from 16 different countries to Wanzhou, Chongqing -- a key area for Chongqing rural revitalization effort from April 6 to 7.

On the evening of April 6, the international teachers and students participated in a bonfire party in a Tujia ethnic village in Wushan. They wore Tujia costumes and joined hands with the villagers to form a circle and danced the Hand Waving dance in a circle, a traditional Tujia dance. The talent shows of the international visitors gave the joyous occasion a greater festive vibe.

The next day, the tour group started their exploration in Henghe Village under the guidance of Wang Maoliang, the deputy head of Wushan revitalization work team.

At Fengmu Village, they walked at the junction of Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality. In Shuikou Village, they saw how hilly or mountainous pieces of land are turned into high-standard flat or sloped farmland.

Then they visited the Henghe Ethnic Primary School, where they played Lianxiang (an acrobatic dance with a stick in hand) and jumped bamboo poles with the school children. The visitors were shown around a special school courtyard where an elaborately designed cultural wall featuring the poems taken from the Book of Poetry, a Chinese literary canon, as well as the embroidery and guzheng (a traditional Chinese musical instrument) practice rooms.

The group also went to a strawberry farm and experienced picking strawberries.

The trip to Wanzhou provided the SISU foreign teachers and students the chance to experience the development of China's rural areas firsthand.

Yan Gongjun, vice president of SISU, who also participated in the trip, remarked, "This kind of field trip is essential for promoting international cultural exchanges.