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Principal immersed herself in Chinese culture
See also: Trip to China was educational
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Louise Mason spent some time shopping with Coocan, a student at Bejing National Day School, who will study at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
GIRARD
Louise Mason immersed herself in Chinese culture, education, food and shopping during her 19-day visit to China from April 6 to 24.
The principal of Girard Junior High School marveled at the ancient civilization of the country in East Asia. She traveled there with China Exchange Initiative, which arranges for American and Chinese educators to spend time in one another’s countries. She was hosted during part of her visit by Deng Zhongqing, principal of Yingcheng Experimental School in Yingcheng and her “cultural counterpart” who had visited GHS in December 2010.
She discussed some aspects of her trip of a lifetime.
In Xian, the group visited the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. “It’s an active archaeological dig,” she said. “It’s the only city with an intact wall,” Mason said of the protection that encircles the city.
A visit to the Great Wall of China proved to be an amazing experience. “It just makes you think of the thousands of years of history ... it was phenomenal,” Mason said. She added that visitors are permitted to walk the wall; she bicycled at other sites. China boasts nearly 4,000 years of continuous history and is one of the world’s oldest civilizations.
In Shanghai, she toured the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. She was impressed with the beauty and the “clean and pristine” surroundings. In some ways, that’s surprising, given it is the most populous state in the world with more than 1.3 billion people.
“The enormity of it all ... there are so many people,” she said. And the students she encountered were all so happy to see an American, she said. “They’re shy but curious.”
As for the food, Mason said the visiting educators were “very careful” about drinking bottled water. “We ate a lot of mystery food,” she said. Staples, she said, were pork, chicken, noodles and rice and they were told not to eat raw vegetables. Fish were presented in their entirety, head and tail included.
“I never have seen tofu in so many shapes and colors,” she said.
Delicacies included scorpions, jelly fish and cat’s ears.
“There were no sweets ... they don’t use sugar as we do,” Mason said. But one favorite was a green wheat cookie.
Mason said there were bargains in the open-air markets. “The best deals were at night when they were closing up,” she said. Jewelry, silk scarves and fans were among items for sale.
In the work world, men retire at 62 years old and women at 50. Extended families are very important, and generations help one another, she said.
Mason said there was an “entourage” as the group traveled and when she visited Deng in Yingcheng. She had an interpreter, Deng’s niece, with her. Mason said the Chinese have learned English and can read and speak it but have trouble understanding an American speaking. “They always wanted me to slow down,” she said.
When Deng visited Girard, he came bearing gifts; Mason has a wall hanging in her office. For her Chinese hosts, she took pictures that Girard seventh- and eighth-graders had done, a book on Ohio, boxes of chocolates and jewelry.
Mason said one of her lasting memories will be how she was treated with respect and consideration.