Day 6 in China

Today, we visited villages and villages only. We went to different villages in Anhui like Huishang big house. I feel that the villages we visited, although built and lived by different people, I feel that they are relatively same. The villages that we visited, they all looked alike. Although the villages looked alike, their history was different.

The village that stood out the most and left the deepest impression on me is the one with the memorial archways. Each of these archways have a meaning to each of them and for decoration purposes. Some of these archways are: Bao Can Xiao Memorial Arch, the Kindness arch, the Bao Xiang Xian Shang Shu Memorial Arch etc. The Bao Xiang Xian Shang Shu is a rank in the historical occasions in China.

After visiting all the different villages, we had our dinner and checked into our hotel before having a 2 hours lecture. It was not really a lecture but it was an introduction of Anhui. I learnt more about the history of Anhui, their famous food and famous people. The famous people might not be known to us but it was interesting listening to the stories of these famous people. I loved the food part most because it was interesting to finally find out what we ate for the past 5 days which ones were actually their famous local food.

After the talk, we had a reflection-briefing kind of thing. We sat in a circle and I feel that it made me think harder of what the purpose of this trip was and what we should have taken note in the trip. I was also reminded of what this trip could help our class and of ourselves. I feel that this circle time thing allowed more people to open up.

In conclusion, I felt quite restless for the whole day as we were visiting from villages to villages and even had a 2 hour cultural talk after the tiring "village hopping". Although I was not looking forward to the 2 hour talk at all, I realized that whatever I missed out during the trip itself was covered again, allowing me to realize that if I had paid more attention during the trip itself, I would have known it already.