On the 16th March, a group of five ÿÈÕ³Ô¹Ï students left for a six-week trip to China as part of the Young Victorian Leaders to China program. The students spent 2-weeks based at the ‘Beijing Language and Culture University’ where they were immersed into Mandarin classes, toured the local cultural attractions, all while living, studying and eating among Chinese students. The students found the language studies to be quite intense. Some of the cultural attractions the students visited whist in Beijing included; The Great Wall, The Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Olympic Precinct, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the National Museum.
After a busy two weeks the students took a 3-hour flight to Nanjing and a then 3-hour bus trip down to Shanghai, where the students went onto stay at the Shanghai Foreign Languages School for the remainder of the trip. The whole tour group lived at the school campus dormitory, and again the students found the classes to be quite intense, with the teachers primarily speaking Mandarin in class. Some of the cultural activities in Shanghai included; Souzhou, Zhujiajiao water town, The Bund, Nanjing East Pedestrian Road, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai night cruise, Yuyuan Markets, Tianzifang, and Shanghai Zoo. A key highlight was travelling nearly 65km/hr in the lift up to the Observation Floor.
