Shanghai International Sister City Youth "Play" Summer Camp Experience Traditional Culture, Make Pankou, Learn Paper Cuttings, Make Dumplings International | Youth | Make Dumplings
Making coils, learning Paper Cuttings, making dumplings, walking into the home of summer camp volunteers and feeling the life of Shanghai people... On the 20th, the 2023 Shanghai International Sister City Youth Summer Camp officially opened in Shanghai Shidong Experimental School. 73 campers from 13 cities in 12 countries gathered in Shanghai to open the annual international sister city youth exchange event with their peers in Shanghai. The young partners together carried out activities such as learning excellent traditional Chinese culture courses such as Chinese and traditional Chinese painting, intangible cultural heritage, Chinese clothing, disco, Paper Cuttings, seal cutting, calligraphy, pottery, tea art, Yanzhi, dragon dance, youth forum exchanges in sister cities, investigation of urban cultural landscape, visits to universities and venues, city orientation challenges, and local family life experiences, etc., to bloom their youth.
In addition to a rich and colorful experience of summer camp physical activities, campers and volunteers can also access summer camp activity introductions, activity processes, activity strategies, as well as Shanghai's cultural style, Chinese language learning, traditional Chinese culture, family communication and other resource library course activities anytime and anywhere through the summer camp online platform according to their needs. Whether it's traveling to Shanghai or following a team of professional teachers to explain and appreciate Chinese culture, the digital platform of Sister City Summer Camp, which integrates more than 200 courses, over 10000 minutes of videos, and over 20000 original photography pictures, maximizes the needs of campers to have a deeper understanding of Shanghai and summer camps, helping young people from all over the world to "play" summer camps together.
As a volunteer for high school students in Shanghai, Zhang Zhihan, a sophomore at Kongjiang High School, paired up with a student from Argentina. "I had a calligraphy class yesterday, learned pottery making this morning, and took my friends to experience the excellent traditional Chinese culture. Later, I will visit museums, Yu Garden, Shanghai center and universities, and invite my friends to make dumplings at home," said Zhang Zhihan. This year's summer camp activity adopts a one-on-one immersive partnership model between youth from sister cities and high school volunteers from Shanghai. Although the paired partners are thousands of miles apart, starting from early June, student volunteers and campers from relevant high schools in six districts of Shanghai exchanged information through email, WeChat, and other means, introduced the event overview, and understood the preparation matters. On July 18th, as soon as the campers arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, they met the friendly and familiar volunteers. Belgian camper Margo, who participated in the summer camp for the second time, said that the last time he participated in the summer camp was online, and this year he participated offline. He also experienced dragon dance yesterday. William, who participated in the summer camp activity for the first time, excitedly shared his expectations for the camp: "We are finally able to meet everyone and make full use of the two weeks of the summer camp to learn about Chinese culture on the spot." Shanghai volunteers also fully utilized their interests, strengths, and communication skills, responding to the enthusiasm of the campers with "patience, attention, and love", actively participating in the work of student directors, publicity, hosting, information technology, and logistics support teams, while ensuring the smooth and orderly implementation of various summer camp activities, promoting campers from all countries to fully understand Chinese culture and experience the charm of Shanghai.
As an important window for young students from around the world to touch on colorful China and perceive the charm of Shanghai, since 2009, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission has held the Shanghai International Friendly City Youth Summer Camp every year. A total of 1431 teachers and students from 37 countries and 41 international friendly cities participated in the camp, and 670 middle school students from nearly 60 Shanghai schools participated in the summer camp activities and volunteered. Influenced by the global COVID-19, the summer camps in 2021 and 2022 will be organized by Yangpu District in an online way, so that teenagers from all countries can learn together in the cloud and communicate continuously.
It is reported that the 2023 Shanghai International Friendly City Youth Summer Camp will be held from July 18th to July 31st, hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, undertaken by the Yangpu District Education Bureau, and co organized by the Yangpu Education International Exchange Service Center and the Shanghai Education International Exchange Association. It continuously deepens educational exchanges between Shanghai and international friendly cities, enhances friendship and understanding among young people from all over the world.