On Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, international students of the Department of International Tourism and Hotel Management went to Zhuangyuan Paper Making Factory and Daoming Bamboo Art Village to conduct field trip and feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage, due to the practical needs of the three courses of An Introduction to Tourism, Tourism Management and Consumer Behavior. The field trip was organized by Mr. Xinshuang (Director of the Department), Mr. Wen Junjie (Deputy Director of the Department) and stuffs of “Country Note”.
On the morning of November 15, the teachers and the students set off for the Zhuangyuan Paper Making Factory. The students sang and danced on the bus no matter those songs were folk songs of their own country or network music they learned after they came to China. Everyone clapped hands, cheered and laughed along the way.
After arriving at the village, the students hiked in the overlapping green bamboos and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that was strange to them. The owner of the paper factory is warm-hearted and cordial. First of all, he led everyone to visit the rural houses in western Sichuan. At the same time, the staffs of the “country note” also gave a detailed introduction to the students. After the visit, the international students experienced a local open-air banquet and tasted delicious rural food prepared by the owner of the paper factory.
The highlight of the first day's trip was the heritage cultural experience activities in the afternoon. The students were divided into four groups. Under the guidance and help of teachers, assistants and rural notebook workers, they experienced papermaking, calligraphy, bamboo slips and wood engraving of New Year pictures successively. Everyone was in good order and showed great interest in each experience project.
After experience projects, the owner of the paper factory set a bonfire for everyone, and then the students experienced the pleasure of baking sweet potatoes in the charcoal fire. After that, everyone watched the open-air film "China in the Country" to get a better understanding of the Chinese countryside. Shortly after dinner, the happy trip to Zhuangyuan Paper Mill was over. With the harvest of the first day, everyone embarked on the return journey with the expectation of the next day.
On November 16, after taking group pictures at the East Gate of Jiang'an Campus, the students set foot on the journey to Daoming Bamboo Art Village. After arriving at the village, the students visited the local bamboo art museum successively, and then took pictures in various part of the village. Many foreign students "did as the Romans did" and bargain with the sellers when buying some souvenirs, which was really hilarious. After a pleasant lunch, everyone went to Yongle Village to study the intangible cultural heritage and learn bamboo weaving skills.
The interesting bamboo weaving attracted everyone to try. But it was quite difficult and many people gave up halfway. However, after watching others take their own results, those who gave up started and learned step by step again. After an afternoon of study, most of the foreign students harvested their own works. As the sky grew darker, the enthusiasm of foreign students was revealed as the bonfires started. They sat around, beating drums and spreading flowers with continuous laughing.
At the same time, some foreign students began to learn to make dumplings and prepared for dinner. When the steaming noodles and dumplings was done, the bonfire party was over. Everyone satisfactorily holds the noodles, and the excitement will subside. It was raining when we returned, and we were chatting about walking on the country road. They must have been impressed by the two-day field trip.
Before the field trip, many foreign students had expressed their desire to go to the Chinese countryside. Most of them was born and grown up in the cities. The concept of "countryside" is really a strange concept to them, especially the Chinese countryside, which is full of mystery. This field trip combined "village" with "paper-making" and "bamboo weaving" of intangible cultural heritage. It not only enabled foreign students to get closer contact with China's countryside and experience the development and charm of "rural tourism" personally, but also enabled them to engage in and learn Chinese traditional culture and skills. This is of great significance for them to have a better understanding of China and a more comprehensive understanding of the meaning of "tourism".
