During October half term 18 eager historians, along with Miss Hillsdon, Miss Hart and Miss Wimblett visited China.

On the first day in Beijing we visited a High School and were treated to a Chinese history lesson. Despite not understanding a word of the lesson about Confucius, it was a very strict atmosphere compared with our lessons at LEH; the students for example, stand up when answering a question. Our hurriedly learned Chinese thank you phrase completely escaped our minds once confronted with 30 or so expectant faces. Next the Headmaster showed us video about the school's impressive performance in Extreme Orienteering. Finally we had the opportunity to ask the History teachers some questions about the making of modern China and the importance of teaching history in schools.

Our next stop was at Beijing University where the university students were very open and friendly and seemed unafraid to be slightly critical of China's political situation. The Chinese students had a very dedicated work ethic, so much so, that they did not really go out as much as we would have expected the typical university student.

The second school we visited was in Suzhou, about a 90 minute drive from Shanghai. We were again given the opportunity to speak to the students openly about their studies, aspirations and views; we found out that they thought themselves lucky to by taking A-levels as they were a softer option in China.

In Shanghai we visited a women's rights group, which was actually a branch of the Chinese Communist Party. We asked them about China's one child policy, resulting in a significant gender imbalance and also about discrimination in the work place, neither of which, they told us, were reality in Shanghai. We were also lucky enough to speak to an ex-Red Guard who described the adulation that he and his peers felt towards Mao and gave us some very interesting insights into ideas of justice and democracy in China, insisting that Chinese people experienced democracy, but with ‘Chinese characteristics'.

We saw many different sights in Beijing, Suzhou and Shanghai, including Mao's supposedly preserved body, a farmers' market with pig snouts for sale and the Pearl Tower, all of which were very exciting. However, the most useful experience of visiting China was being able to speak to many different people and hear varying opinions on Modern China.

Olivia Featherstone,
Upper Sixth