School of Humanities Organizes Confucius Institute Scholarship Winners to Yangzhou, Wuxi for Language Practice Tour

On November 16, 2017, the Chinese Language Center of the School of Humanities organized a group of Confucius Institute Scholarship winners (hereinafter shortened as CIS winners) to go to Yangzhou, Wuxi for a two-day language practice tour. A total of 35 CIS winners from 15 countries and regions including Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Spain, Italy, Russia, Belarus, Australia, Israel, Greece, Egypt, Ghana, Ecuador, Thailand and South Korea participated in the tour.

The first stop of the tour is Wuxi Yuantouzhu Scenic Area. Led by escort teacher and tour guide, the group of CIS winners took a ferry boat touring well-known attractions such as Taihu Lake God Island---God Temple, Daya Bay, Hangu Pass, Lingxiao Palace, Xuanyuan Dongtian and etc.

Picture 1 Touring Dajue Bay, Taihu God Island, Wuxi

On the evening of the same day, they arrived at the Dongguan Street in Yangzhou and visited many time-honored shops there. They talked with shop owners in Chinese, asking about the history of those shops for a knowledge of geographic conditions and folk customs.
 

Picture 2 Touring Slender West Lake of Yangzhou 

The next day, the group came to Yangzhou’s famous scenic area Slender West Lake. Along the way they viewed the sights of Long Beach Spring Willow, Xu Garden, Five-Pavilion Bridge, Twenty-Four Bridge, Lotus Pond, White Pagoda, Diaoyutai and etc.
 

Picture 3 Touring Xichuntai, Slender West Lake, Yangzhou

Led by the guide, the group visited the He Garden, the first garden in the late Qing Dynasty, as the last stop of the tour. They visited the East Garden, West Garden, Villa and Courtyard and Pianshi Shanfang, and learned a lot of cultural knowledge and historical events they can never learn just from textbooks.
 

Picture 4 Tour Group at He Garden

The activity aroused keen interest among CIS winners for South of Yangtze landscape and Yangzhou morning tea culture. Everyone spoke highly of the tour, which is of extraordinary significance in bringing them a better understanding of the natural scenery, geographic conditions and folk customs, history and culture of the region South of Yangtze, and the all-inclusive and profound studies of Sinology, thus inspiring them to learn Chinese with enthusiasm.