Cultural Activities

In China I had the opportunity to participate in various cultural activities. Those that stood out to me the most were calligraphy, the tea ceremony, and shuttlecock. It was interesting to see how greatly Chinese people valued their style of writing and language, tea making and its remedies on health, and the sport of shuttlecock as it is played in schools and competitions throughout China. Calligraphy was something I have always wanted to do, so learning that characters are drawn from left to right, top to bottom, and finding the life within each motion was intriguing. Similar to the game of tennis without a racket, and soccer except with the use of a feather-like ball, one must possess good foot-eye coordination and precision. Being able to play first hand with some of the Zhengzhou No. 96 Middle School students was very amusing.