Why do young people come to learn sign language and water sleeves?, Citizen Art Night School Autumn Class Opened

As night fell, the Shanghai Mass Art Museum became lively. The elevator stopped on the third floor, the door opened, and a group of young people rushed out to attend the 2023 Citizen Art Night School Autumn Class, which will start on September 11th. This year, the Citizen Art Night School has launched many new courses, among which the sign language course at the main school will contribute to serving the disabled.

Among the over 200 cultural volunteers at the Shanghai Mass Art Museum, 70% are night school students. Xu Hao, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Mass Art Museum, couldn't help but sigh, "In the past, volunteers were mainly elderly people, and young and middle-aged people had little understanding of the cultural museum. Through night school projects, the understanding of group literature work among young and middle-aged people was enhanced. After they achieved success in their studies, they also returned their knowledge to society."

"Social Art Education" brand logo

Photo by Lai Xinlin, Autumn Class of Citizen Art Night School

As a brand project of public cultural services in Shanghai, the 2023 Citizen Art Night School Autumn Class is headquartered at the Shanghai Mass Art Museum, with 25 branch schools and 117 teaching points, a total of 143 locations, offering 382 courses and admitting more than 9100 students. The Shanghai Digital Culture Museum Citizen Art Night School Cloud Classroom also launched 15 courses in the autumn, covering categories such as dance, music, traditional Chinese opera, folk art, and intangible cultural heritage.

Photo by Lai Xinlin, Autumn Class of Citizen Art Night School

In the past, the art courses offered by civic art night schools included piano, calligraphy, and painting, but lacked a chess course. This year, the Citizen Art Night School collaborated with Shanghai Chess Academy to jointly offer two courses, Go and Bridge, which have integrated the concepts of "qin, qi, calligraphy and painting" in the curriculum. "The audience for chess and cards is 28% open, with 80% being male students. Our students are also 28% open, but 80% are female students." Xu Hao said that offering chess and card courses aims to attract more male citizens to join night schools for learning.

"In the bridge class, the most basic playing cards are used, but the big and small kings are removed..." During the bridge class, the instructor Lu Kai took out a brand new bridge card and used one class time to let the students understand what bridge is. Lu Kai is a member of the 2023 National Bridge Club Class A team and has undergone youth course training, but it is still the first time he has come to night school to teach for adults. "In recent years, bridge has developed well among the domestic youth group, but it is relatively lacking in the adult sector. I would like to do some popularization work here."

Photo by Lai Xinlin, Autumn Class of Citizen Art Night School

In the bridge classroom, looking around, there is indeed a higher proportion of males than other classes. Mr. Zhang, born in the 1980s, came to learn bridge with a curious attitude. He had not been exposed to this field before. "I have found that many young people nowadays enjoy playing this game, and I also want to know what's going on."

According to Lu Kai, the threshold for bridge is high, and "it is basically impossible to learn solely by reading books. It places great emphasis on logical reasoning and computational abilities, as well as emotional intelligence.". He believes that 12 courses can allow students to complete a deck of cards on their own, which is already a complete task. At the same time, due to the need for 4 people to play bridge games, communication and collaboration skills can also be developed.

"Everyone has a heart that cares for vulnerable groups, and after learning sign language, they can better understand what they are thinking." Sign language teacher Fu Rong is a professional sign language translator. She introduced that in the 12 classes, she hopes to teach students about half of the basic vocabulary of sign language in daily life, so that they can have simple communication with people with disabilities.

In the sign language classroom, Wu Penghong, the director of the Shanghai Mass Art Museum, sat early, waiting to listen. He snatched this course with his "hand speed", hoping to learn sign language to better provide public cultural services for vulnerable groups and also teach other colleagues. After a class, he gained a lot. "The teacher has rich experience, and the first class was very fulfilling. The teacher started teaching sign language pinyin, and from you, me, him and other life nouns, he mastered all sign language pinyin and also learned simple everyday language, which was very practical." He excitedly showed the reporter a few sign language sentences he had just learned, "My father is a doctor" and "We are neighbors".

The sign language class is mainly composed of students born in the 1990s, with a lively learning atmosphere. If someone has something they don't understand, they will post it to the class group, and immediately someone will share learning materials. Third year students should take advantage of the shortage of classes this semester and come to the Citizen Art Night School to expand their extracurricular interests. "Night school was recommended to me by my mother. My major is Applied English for children, and I am very interested in language. I also want to try how to communicate without making a sound and only using gestures." She participated in many volunteer service projects in college and found that many volunteer services cannot be carried out without knowing sign language. "Learn sign language, one day when you encounter someone in need, you can know what they are thinking and help them better."

Photo by Lai Xinlin, Autumn Class of Citizen Art Night School

In the spring class of 2023 at the Citizen Art Night School, the Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe launched a "Opera Sword Dance" competition, which was completed within 8 seconds of online registration. This autumn, in the class, Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe offered traditional Chinese opera water sleeve classes to the main campus of the Citizen Art Night School. Entering the classroom, I saw Li Xuan, a young actor from the Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe, teaching a basic action on stage. He folded the water sleeves of traditional Chinese opera step by step, then threw them away. "It feels like a willow leaf floating, leaving his fingertips to the end and using the power of his wrist." It seems simple, but it's not easy to do.

The students all changed into peach red and willow green costumes, wearing embroidered shoes, which was specially requested by the teacher before the class started. Ms. Kang, who had been taking the subway from Pudong for over an hour, arrived for class a bit late. She entered the classroom door and quickly found a corner to change her clothes and shoes. A bright red costume caught the eye of a group of peach blossoms, willows, and greenery. "Actually, I wanted to choose a low-key one. The teacher said that both blue and red were fine, but it turned out to be the most high-profile." She smiled and said that she chose the traditional Chinese opera water sleeve class because she liked the beauty of traditional culture and couldn't come into contact with it in her daily life. She wanted to experience it. "I have poor coordination skills in movements, so this time I knew there were tigers in the mountains and leaned towards a tiger mountain trip."

Zhang Lingxuan, Director of the Performance and Marketing Department of Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe, introduced that the troupe attaches great importance to citizen night schools and has equipped full-time teachers to prepare lessons carefully. Because the majority of participants are white-collar young people, the theater troupe specially arranges young teachers with teaching experience for young people. In addition to attending classes, they can also share current trends and good things in life with young students.

The one and a half hour course ended, and the young students left with satisfied smiles. The sense of achievement in night school is not just about improving abilities and knowledge. Xu Hao remembers that one year after graduation, the African drum troupe really formed a team to showcase on the square. The students of the Yukrili class attended 12 classes and everyone in the class was fully present. "Some people have solved their lifelong problems here, while others have received psychological healing. By participating in night school courses, they pursue a higher quality of life."

Photo by Lai Xinlin, Autumn Class of Citizen Art Night School