Year 7 explore ancient and modern Nanjing

If, when asking your children what they thought the best part of the recent Nanjing trip was, you receive an answer of “the hotel” or “dinner” (both of which were lovely, to be fair), I would ask you to probe a little further. Nanjing occupies a place of great significance in ancient and modern Chinese history, and I am hopeful that the year 7s who visited it on this excursion were able to grasp this as they toured the city’s landmarks. Perhaps it would be best to let them speak directly. On the Ming tombs, Bryce had this to say: “I learned that even hundreds of years ago, the labourers could devise a creative way to make their work easier. They poured huge amounts of water down a slope leading from the city to the building site of the Xiaoling Mausoleum. The water froze instantly when making contact with the ground, forming a giant slippery path, which they then used to transport building materials for the mausoleum, such as massive stone boulders.” On more recent history and the presidential palace, Beatrice added: “The presidential palace was amazing, there were so many interesting pieces of furniture and everyday things that contrast a lot from the types of furniture we have today. Not only are they very different from what we have, they are also very interesting and cool. My favourite part was the story on why Chiang Kai-Shek had a corner table (so he could see everything around him and who was coming). I also loved the nature surrounding the palace; it was magical!” Finally, summarising the Nanjing Museum visit, Dior made the following observations: “Nanjing is a beautiful place, especially the Nanjing Museum which shows how the city has developed throughout its history. For example, the ancient vases look very cool with the different patterns. Sometimes the ancient things look cooler then things we have now. Also the burial excavations looked very interesting and it was intriguing to figure out how they died. Also there were old wooden canoes and that shows you how much they have developed over time.”   The word “cool” appears more than once in these testimonies, and we as adults can often be dismissive of this oft-times flippant adjective. In the parlance of an eleven-year-old however, it signifies high praise indeed. The enthusiasm of the pupils shone through for the duration of the visit, and I am sure that each of them will have learned something “cool” along the way.   Darren Simpson Head of History