Article #5 in the Student Travel Stories Series from our tour of Beijing, China.
By Elaina, Age 14, 9th Grade in Boston. Born in the U.S. to parents from America.
Elaina at the stunning Summer Palace in Beijing.
Q: How have you changed since you traveled to China?
A: In China, all the websites I use like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Docs, and more are blocked by the government, and you can’t use them.
While I was on the trip, I was always complaining and saying I couldn’t wait to go home and get on my phone to go on FaceBook and Twitter, but I finally realized that life isn’t all about that.
Now that I’ve been to China, it’s kind of made me realize all of the stuff I have that I take for granted. So many people we saw in Beijing (such as the vendors) have to work super hard just to make a few dollars to get something to eat, while I’m just handed whatever I want.
Elaina and Julio at the gigantic Forbidden City.
Q: What’s a funny story from the trip?
A: The vendors wanted us to buy their wares so much, they did really drastic things. My favorite was the day when we were walking around and bargaining with vendors, and one of them tickled a student’s chin!
It’s funny, but they are very persistent and really want you to buy their stuff, even if you don’t need it. They have to make a living, though, and this is their job!
Q: What was something that surprised you about China?
A: One of the things that shocked me was when we learned that if your license plate ends in a certain number, you can’t drive on specific days of the week in Beijing. This is how the government tries to control how many cars are on the road, because there are so many people in the city (over 14 million!) and so much pollution. We learned that this policy is necessary because there are 1,000 NEW cars that hit the street EACH DAY in Beijing, piling onto the road. Without that system there would be traffic for days! Despite the policy, we still saw a whole lot of traffic.
Elaina at the "Water Cube" Olympic pool.
It was also shocking to see how many people in Beijing wear face masks. They do that because the air is so dirty and polluted. I really appreciate the Boston air now!
Q: What were your favorite parts of the trip, and why?
A: Although it was hard to climb at some points and got tiring after a while, I really liked climbing the Great Wall. It’s a wonder of the world, and not many people get an opportunity like that in their lifetime to hike it, so it was very interesting. Everybody has heard about the Great Wall, but can you actually say you’ve been on it? I’m proud to say that I have! It was a great experience, and the view is so beautiful.
I can’t believe that the Great Wall is over 3,000 miles long. That is CRAZY!
I also liked the Hutong place (very old neighborhoods of Beijing). All the people were so happy, generous, and giving, even though they don’t have much. We learned that they can leave their doors open and unlocked because they know and trust all their neighbors, but in the city, it’s the opposite, and we don’t even really know our own neighbors.
Q: How was it traveling with a group of BPS students, some of whom you’d never met?
Elaina and friends at the Birds Nest Stadium for the 2008 Olympics.
A: I loved traveling with all the BPS kids because they’re so friendly and funny! Even though I’d never met a lot of them, over the week in China, we became friends, and it was just amazing to travel with all of them. They’re so outgoing and awesome!
In the future, I hope to travel to more places and see their cultures, and explore the similarities and differences. It’s really cool to travel and see all the sites and the beautiful scenery!
Thanks, Elaina, and thanks, EF Tours! Readers, what questions or comments do you have?
How did it feel for you to do all of this.
Why didn’t they let you use all of the websites you usually use? What did they do for fun?
There are more details on censorship in China here: http://www.aroundtheworldl.com/2012/04/06/daniel-travel-shows-there-is-no-need-to-fear-china/
It looks like you had fun in China but it also looks like it took a long time to get the hang of China
No internet!
Beijing seem really strict. /:
That’s a funny mis-reading of what Elaina was saying! There IS Internet in China, there are just some sites (which you clearly love) which are blocked!
Great facts! I think some of the people for our project on China should had used this for a reference. It is proper and facts are of course true.
Did the vendors pressure you a lot?
Thank you for sending me new comments at the moment I am here with my daughter, telling her your story and she likes your story very much.
Thank you very much! It’s amazing to hear that
Is your daughter interested in traveling?
China is really weird. Some parts are really strict. Some parts are poor. It’s a mix of everything! What the government needs to work on is feeding the poor people.
What’s so interesting is that the idea of Communism (China is Communist) is that everyone has an equal amount of resources and everyone has enough. Indeed, we saw fewer overtly poor people in China, but with the rise of a Capitalist buying culture (within the Communism, strangely), there is an increasing divide between rich and poor.
While on the trip we saw very few poor people. One day we were walking around and this homeless man with a peg leg was lying on the sidewalk with a pan trying to collect money. The thing I noticed was that there was tons of Yuan (Chinese money) in the pan , and I think I even saw some $100 Yuans, which is roughly equivalent to 18 U.S dollars, which I thought was very nice. If you think about it, here in the U.S we pretty much ignore the homeless people on the streets when they are begging for money, and if we do give them some, it’s just change or a few pennies at the least.
Elaina! I missed you and Omaris did too.I loved your story and did you buy anything from the vendors??
I missed you guys too! I didn’t buy anything from the vendors but I did buy some souvenirs and stuff at a knock off market place we went to. They had a specific floor for each product, for example one floor was dedicated to all clothes and shoes, craziness!
It was probably really weird for you guys to have the vendors showing you their wares and doing different things to get your attention, especially when one of them tickle the chin of one of your friends. That would have been a very funny scene to see.
It was very different from the U.S! And we got to bargain with them, to get the price of the product to as cheap of a price you could, which was very interesting. You can never do that here in the U.S because all the prices are set and that’s final.
Dear Elaina!
My daughter is at the same age with you and i really like the way you answered the questions.I hope you study well and well behaved
Yes! Thank you!
I loved reading that a student, Elaina, learned that real life is far more interesting that virtual life on Facebook and Twitter. Yes, it’s fun to read about what other people are doing, but it’s far MORE fun to be DOING it yourself!
I was happy to work with Elaina last summer as part of the Pearson Foundation / EF Internship that prepared her for this trip and I’m so excited to see her perspective about life being shaped by this travel experience. I wish every student would take advantage of such an opportunity to grow and see the world!
Mathew! It was an amazing experience! It was cool to experience a whole different country, and compare it to how we live in the U.S. and it was crazy to learn about how the government controls so much of what the Chinese people can and can’t do, but overall I had fun and i would love to travel more in the future!
I agree with Elaina! I take things for grated because I don’t realize how hard people in China work for a living.
Exactly! We are pretty much just given whatever we want, but it was so different when there were a bunch of vendors trying to buy random stuff that you didn’t really need, but that’s how they try to make their money!
The vendors are hard workers that work to their fullest when they work. That is a really inspiring story.
Yes they are! And thank you
So, Elaina did you buy anything from the vendors?
Nope! Although I did buy some souvenirs in the market place we went to
Great to have a kid’s perspective…the trip clearly had a positive impact on her, and I guess that’s what it’s all about!
It was great to experience a whole different culture!
I totally agree with you! The vendors are all showing you their wares whenever you walk past them.
Yes! They are VERY persistent! Some students even felt bad and ended up buying unnessecesary things.