Amani Zhang

Going Local

beijingkids — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:00:00 +0800

Is total immersion in Chinese schools right for your kid?

When Mareno Rathell came to Beijing from the US in 2005, he had big hopes for his kids’ education. He enrolled his youngest son, 9-year-old Zevi, into a local Chinese school in Haidian district, where Zevi was one of the few foreign students. It seemed like an ideal situation – his children had a chance to learn about Chinese culture and develop fluent Mandarin skills, while benefiting from the strong training in subjects such as math and science that Chinese schools are known for.

“I believe that Chinese kids receive an excellent grade and middle school education,” says Rathell, “and my kid could only benefit from studying with them.”

But the reality was far from ideal. In a completely unfamiliar cultural environment, Zevi encountered far greater difficulties than Rathell had expected.

Dancing on Ice

beijingkids — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:43:39 +0800

Figure skating for beginners

It’s Tuesday afternoon and a dozen kids are zipping around the Le Cool ice skating rink at Guomao shopping mall. One of them is 10-year-old Wang Zichen, who is practicing a one-and-and-half revolution jump-spin that she just learned a few weeks ago. Her tall, slim body moves to music in a graceful curve – arms spread like wings, feet gliding in rhythm, her purple skirt fluttering in the breeze.

Instructor Hu Xiao’ou is sternly correcting Zichen’s poses, but he can hardly conceal his pride in her. “Zichen was a shy kid when she first came here to learn skating six years ago,” says Hu with a smile, “but now she is an excellent public performer and expresses herself freely through music and movement.”

Autumn Pickings

beijingkids — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0800

Catch the best of Xiangshan’s multi-hued beauty
photos by Jeff Warrington

When was the last time you picnicked in an emperor’s country estate? Seven hundred years ago, Jin dynasty emperors looking for a rustic getaway from Beijing settled on Fragrant Mountain, or Xiangshan, located in the northwest suburban areas of the city. They built imperial palaces and temples on the mountain, which for the next several centuries became an exclusive resort for royal families during summer and autumn.

It wasn’t until 1956 that regular Beijingers could also visit Fragrant Mountain, a spot that the Chinese rank alongside other local treasures such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Besides more than 180 acres of rolling hills, characterized by an array of centuries-old pine trees and maple trees, and a peak that soars half a kilometer into the sky, Xiangshan also provides hiking paths and numerous temples, pavilions and pagodas that will appeal to families looking for a day trip.

25 Places to See Before You Leave China

beijingkids — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0800

Living day to day we sometimes forget that China extends well beyond the dusty Beijing doorstep. It is a land with a little bit of everything – lush forests, majestic mountains, spacious plateaus, sandy beaches, vast deserts, open grasslands, ancient rivers and lakes – and each terrain plays host to different cultures, cuisines, languages and ways of life.

As one of the world’s oldest and longest-lasting civilizations, the amount of knowledge and history to learn from China or the number of places to see is endless. And while it is impossible to list all that are worthy, tbjkids has nonetheless narrowed down 25 cities and sites that families should visit before leaving China. Some are famous for natural landscapes, some carry historical or cultural legacies, some are modern cosmopolitan cities, while others are empty lands dotted only by the simplest and most rural of villages. Regardless, all offer valuable and unforgettable experiences that a family can cherish for a lifetime.

On the Move

beijingkids — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0800

The ups and downs of constant change

When a family moves away from their home country, it is often the kids who take it the hardest. Leaving friends behind and trying to adapt to new environments year in and year out isn’t always easy. On the other hand, it can also be exciting and fun to make new friends, learn new languages and try new things. tbjkids sat down with four students from Beijing BISS International School to discuss the pros and cons of moving around the world.

How do you feel about moving?

Gavrilo: My dad works for the Olympics so we have to move every two years. So far I’ve lived in four different places: Serbia, Athens in Greece, Turin in Italy, then Beijing. At the end of this year I’ll be going to live in Barcelona. At first, moving around was pretty hard. I’ll stay in one place for such a short period of time that I don’t have much chance to make really close friends. But I got used to it.

Alex: For me it’s the opposite because I lived in one place for a long time before I moved to Beijing, and now I’ve been living in Beijing for six years. I just wait for my friends to leave. A lot of my friends are like Gavrilo, moving around every two years, so I don’t get much of a chance to get close to them. But I got used to it after a while, too.

Crafting a Pattern

beijingkids — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:00:00 +0800

The fine technique of Chinese embroidery

When it comes to silk, the Chinese know their stuff. Legend has it that in 2800 BC, Leizu – wife of Emperor Huangdi – observed silkworms at work and saw that the shiny, silvery threads could be used to make clothing.

The Chinese have since developed the silk-making process into a fine art, including elaborate methods of embroidery. As early as 2000 BC, the bureaucrats of the Zhou dynasty had their clothes embroidered with symbols to show their official positions. Embroidery techniques were further developed during the Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) and perfected during the Qing dynasty (1616-1911 AD), when different styles began to arise, such as Beijing embroidery (which specializes in clothing for royalty) and the four famous regions – Sichuan, Jiangsu, Hunan and Guangdong – which are now regarded as “the Four Styles of Chinese Embroidery.”

Beijing's Smallest June / July 2008

beijingkids — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:55:39 +0800

Cao Muchen
Chinese. Born to Hu Ying and Cao Liang on December 28 at Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital.

Julian Prohl
German. Born to Liu Xinhua and Peter Prohl on November 1 at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Zhou Yunqiao
Chinese/Hong Kong. Born to Pak Chau and Lilian Chow on April 15 at Amcare Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Classically Refined

beijingkids — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:00:00 +0800

Name: Henry Wang
Age: 31
Nationality: Chinese
Instrument: Clarinet
Genre: Classical

How did you come to play the clarinet?
That’s a funny story. My parents knew I wanted to learn a wind instrument, so they decided to take me to visit a flute teacher they happened to know. The flute teacher wasn’t home but the clarinet teacher was, so I was accepted by the clarinet teacher. And that’s how my clarinet career started.

What’s the hardest part about playing the clarinet?
I think it’s the same as with most musical instruments: to truly transfer your feelings and thoughts to the audience. As for the techniques, everyone can achieve a high level through practice. But it’s really difficult to understand the music and express it properly through your performance.

The Halls are Alive with Sound

beijingkids — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:00:00 +0800

Watching a live performance of a symphony or a musical on a grand stage is an experience like no other – just once is enough to instill in any person a true appreciation for music. Part of the joy of it is seeing architecture designed for the sake of acoustics. To understand the composition of a sound wave and how it reacts to its surrounding space is no easy task, and it’s even more difficult to design a grand auditorium in which a pin dropping on the stage will be heard in even the farthest reaches of the room.

It is, perhaps, a testament to how highly humanity values music that in almost every major city in every corner of the world, there exists an elaborate concert hall to which a massive amount of time and energy was devoted.

Conversing with Ayi

beijingkids — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:00:00 +0800

How to get your point across in Chinese

Many expat parents in Beijing have experienced difficulties communicating with their ayis, since ni hao and zenme yang aren’t sufficient to express concepts such as: “Don’t give the kids ice cream before dinner.” Let the Immersion Guides’ Mandarin Phrasebook come to your rescue! If you need help communicating with your ayi – from interviewing her about previous employment details, to giving instructions about your cleaning and cooking preferences – you’ll appreciate the following excerpt from the Childcare section (in the Kids and Family Life chapter).

“Childcare”
带孩子
daì haízi

This is very important …
这个很重要…
(zhègè hěn zhòng yào)