Benjamin Franklin High School Students Visit China

Five Benjamin Franklin High School students visited The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University in June to expand their knowledge of Chinese language and culture. The students, Nathan G., Andrew K., Jessica L., Sam M., and Eli Z., studied Chinese during the school year at Franklin and were accompanied to Beijing and Chengde, China, by their Chinese teacher Maria Qin. This visit is the result of an educational partnership established this year between the two schools and their principals: Dr. Timothy Rusnak, principal of Franklin, New Orleans’ and Louisiana’s highest scoring charter magnet high school; and Liu Hu, Beijing principal, who visited Franklin in January with some of his teachers and staff.

Students visited classes in Beijing High School whose faculty also hosted them on tours of some of the modern sites in Beijing, such as the National Theater (known as “the Egg”) and the Olympic Village including “the Watercube” National Swimming Center and “the Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.

Students also toured the wonders of ancient China, including the Great Wall, lovely imperial gardens, many beautiful temples, and the Forbidden City, home of the Chinese emperors. One of the highlights for the students was riding in rickshaws to meet a Chinese family for lunch in their home in a hutong. Hutongs are ancient, twisting alley neighborhoods with traditional courtyard homes.

Students also toured Chinese factories where they learned about silk production, jade carving, and the cloisonne process. Cloisonne uses colorful enamel that is painted between wires imbedded into copper pottery to produce beautiful vases, plates, and figurines. The students then learned to bargain for some of these same valuable objects in the many Chinese markets.

The students also took a bus trip to Chengde, a mountain resort three hours north of Beijing. They saw the world’s largest woodcarving of Buddha in the Puning Temple, and they also visited the Temple of Potalaka, completed in 1771 and modeled after the TIbetan sanctuary of the Dalai Lama. While in Chengde, the students watched the paper-cutting craftswork of Shi Junfeng who has won many Chinese folk art contests.

Accompanying them on their school’s first trip to China were Dr. Timothy Rusnak, principal of Benjamin Franklin High School; Dr. Michele Beelman, a French and English teacher at Franklin; and some family members wishing to support this unique educational opportunity for our youth.

For more information about the Chinese program at Franklin High School, contact Maria Qin at maria_qin@benfranklinhighschool.org

Franklin students Nathan G., Eli Z. (top), Sam M., Jessica L., and Andrew K. (bottom) enjoy the park-like atmosphere of Shendao or Sacred Way with rows of stone sculptures.
Andrew K. and Jessica L. ride a rickshaw for a pedicab tour of a Beijing hutong, a network of ancient alleyways of old Peking (now Beijing).
Eli Z. learns to make a Chinese dumpling in a Chinese home under the amused eyes of his classmates Nathan G., Sam M., and Andrew K.
The Puning Temple, housing the largest wooden statute of Buddha, in Chengde, China, provides a backdrop for members of the Franklin High School tour group:
Front row - Nathan G.; Sam M.; Eli Z. and Jessica L., holding The Times-Picayune; Maria Qin, Chinese teacher; Andrew K.
Back row - Erik Beelman; Dan Glaser; Michael Glaser; Colleen Moore; Karen Rusnak; Dr. Timothy Rusnak, principal of Franklin High School; Evertt Beelman; Dr. Michele Beelman
Franklin students explore the Chengde Temple of Potalaka completed in 1771 and modeled after the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan monastery.
Administrators from The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University and Benjamin Franklin High School students mingle outside “the Egg,” Beijing’s Grand National Theater and Opera House.
Universal language of forbidden activities in the National Theater for the Performing Arts, known as “the Egg.”
Administrators from The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University and Franklin students are dwarfed inside the immense grandeur of “the Egg,” Beijing’s National Theater for the Performing Arts.
Franklin students experienced many different Chinese dishes, including this elegant watermelon and fruit sculpture.

Revised 7/7/11