Credit: Jason Koski/University Photography

Fifty Cornell students -- including 15 students majoring in the China and Asia-Pacific Studies Program -- recently returned from a three-week trip to China as guests of the Chinese government.

All the students had to pay for was half their airfare. Hanban -- the government's Office of Chinese Language Council International -- took care of the rest, including accommodations, transportation and cultural activities. The Cornell students joined 358 other students for the 2009 Chinese Bridge Winter Camp for American Students.

"They invited us over there to experience China," said Sydney Thai '11, at a Feb. 3 reunion reception for the students in Rockefeller Hall.

The students first toured Beijing, from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2, where "They treated us like VIPs," said Jackie Sung '12. "We had huge banquet lunches every single day."

They visited such tourist destinations such as the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square and many markets. "We were basically immersed," Sung said.

For Thai, the "the most eye-opening" part of the trip was the art district in Beijing, where there was "such freedom in art" in the galleries and graffiti that he didn't expect to find "in such a conservative country."

After a week in Beijing, the students flew to Hangzhou, where they spent the next two weeks living and learning in the international dorms of Zhejiang Universityand visiting an umbrella museum, a scissors museum, a Chinese pharmacy and the Grand Canal.

There, the students "every day had some sort of Chinese language class," said Thai, although no previous knowledge of the language was required. Beyond language study, the students learned about Chinese economics, history, music and folklore, as well as a little calligraphy, tai chi and kung fu. They met Chinese students at the university, and "we made dumplings together," said Sung, an economics and Asian studies major. She said the trip "definitely adds to" her academic experience at Cornell. "You take classes, you see pictures and read about history, but when you're actually on the Great Wall … you can't describe that."

For Daniel Grew, a graduate student in engineering management, the trip was not only about "seeing the country and learning about Chinese culture and history" but also an opportunity to see firsthand "the economic growth that's been occurring" in China.

The Chinese students and locals "were very friendly," said Sung, who had been to China once before. "I definitely want to go back."

In addition to Hanban, other sponsors of the trip included the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York; Cornell's Office of International Liaison; the China and Asia-Pacific Studies Program; and the Department of Asian Studies.

Joseph Mansky '12 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.