The students and teachers who visited Charlotte`s sister city of Baoding, China, returned last week impressed.
"It was big," said Nicole Kerr, 17, who will be a senior at West Mecklenburg.
"The people were very friendly," said Olympic High student Jordan Hargrave, 16.
"They went out of their way to make us feel comfortable."
"The number of people and their willingness to work hard was impressive," said North Mecklenburg biology teacher Annie Brown.
The three were among 24 people - 21 students, two teachers and a principal from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools who visited Baoding and Beijing this month
as part of a cultural exchange program.
Supt. Peter Relic arranged the visit when he met the mayor of Baoding at a reception in Charlotte earlier this school year.
Relic said that eventually he would like Chinese students to visit Charlotte.
The group left June 9 and spent nine days in China, despite a U.S. warning of possible
terrorist activity in Beijing. Once they got there, not surprisingly, they found many differences between China and the United States.
Nicole said one of those
differences was there were more people in a concentrated area. Another was that, unlike Americans who use cars, the Chinese use buses and bicycles a lot, she said.
"There are not too many cars. Most are taxis and the cars are real small," she said.
Jordan noticed the difference in dress. The Chinese don`t wear blue jeans and T-shirts all the time, he said. "They wear cotton or something." He noted, though,
that the schools were very similar to American schools.
The Chinese students studied the same kind of subjects. At the middle school the Charlotte-Mecklenburg group visited, the students were studying English, math, chemistry and physics. But he added that Chinese students were more intense than American students. "They really seemed to get into it; they seemed to know what
they were doing."
Bret Smithey, a 17-year-old Garinger High student, said the Charlotte group was treated like royalty.
"Every meal was practically a feast," he said.
The group was served everything from chicken to squid to sea cucumber.
"They serve sea cucumber to honored guests. It doesn`t have any taste- just sort of rubbery."
Like Jordan, Bret noticed that the students seemed to work harder and put more effort into their studies. "It's repetitious. More of a drilling situation." He said the
Chinese appeared to be "very into making their country better." He said one Baoding student felt that to improve their country, the Chinese would need the help of the
United States.
"He wants to make our countries friends," Bret said. He said the student felt the United States and China could help each other, especially in pulling
China out of poverty.
"He wasn`t sure what they could offer us," said Bret, "but, as eager as they are, I'm sure they could do something."