Though it's redhot in the summerof 2018 in chongqing, children from all over China,led by me spent a cool andpassionate summer at the Mount Emei summer camp base.
On July 1，2018，Zenker Network TechCompany(hereafter Zenker) launched simultaneouslythe Dingshanhu and Mount Emei summer camp. ZenkerSummer Camp Mount Emei base was near to Ling Gongli,the well-known mountaindoor up to Jingding,halfway up Mount Emei.
The childrenhooked by the plentiful activities such as tree-climbing, the honorableperson CS, tea-picking, tea-making, mountain-climbing, river- tracing, visiting themonastery and the Buddha, archery, birdwatching, plant diversity studyin Emei Mountain plant park and English-drama-playing. Laughters and squealsresounding in the valley of Emei Mountain, the children released best theirnature to enjoy the nature. Some kids chose to stay on the mountain to enjoythe next period of sumer camp after the end of one period.
Mount Emei hasthe most species of plants in the same latitude on the earth. The plant doctorfrom the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led us to visit theplant park and made scientific investigation on the Emei Mountain park in orderto know the unique and rare plants like the Chinese dove tree well-known aspanda of plants and Parakmeria Omeiensis left only 50 in the world. Thechildren also listen the voices of Emei Mountain Rana adenopleura and saw theearthworms,one of top 4 strange species in Emei Mountain.
The potential ofa child is enormous and the teamwork produce endless power. From Wannian templeto One-line Sky, from the Monkey Hill to Clear Tone Pavilion, and to Clear TonePinghu, the children hiked more than ten kilometres in the mountains andchallenge the first 32000 steps in their lives. though the youngest kid wasless than 6 years old,no one lagged behind. On that day, the children experiencedthe the happiness of persistence.
At the beginningof river-tracing, some kids saw the turbulent river and was afraid to enter thewater. Then, all led by their teammate went down the stream. they played andcaught the fish and shrimp, and was reluctantto go ashore. when crossing the turbulent one-line Bailong River, the kidscouldn't stand stably for the water ran deep into the child's thigh. At themoment, the bamboo pole between the two instructors provided a safety barrierfor the children who crosed the river safely .
Tea mountain CS wasnot only the favorite of boys, but also the favorite of many girls. Rows of teatrees were natural fortifications. so long as you squated there,you would notbe seen. Small soldiers in this battle, changed positions, suddenly gave theenemy sniper shots, which is impossible to guard.
It's a happyevent for children to pick the tea leaves, make the tea personally , stir teadry, make a cup of tea and to learn the Chinese tranditional tea art where thechildren appreciated the charming of the tea culture from their every act andmove. As went back home,the first thing the children did was to make a cup oftea for their parents using Emei Snow Bud pickedby themselves .
We also adapted Andersen's fairy tales The Emperor's New Clothes, Little Red Riding Hood, The Little MatchGirl, The Mermaid into Englishscripts, and the children interpreted those wonderful stories.
At the EmeiMountain camp, many children played traditional archery for the first time,especially some girls were shy when they saw the lethality of archery, butgradually they fell in love with archery, and asked their instructors to shootarrows every day.
At the EmeiMountain camp ,all the children also learned outdoor knot technology for thefirst time, most of the children had learned at least three kinds of knotmethod, bowknot, 8-character knot, rabbit knot. After they went back,they wouldbe the teachers of their parents. This knowledge would benefit them for life.
The way Zenkersare is to let every child get happiness and growth here. The reading of thepoem makes people lively and graceful, while in the most beautiful EmeiMountain , the children red the emei moutain poetry written by masters in tang andsong dynasty and were deep in its scenery. They could experience the wonderfulpoetry and had a special feeling. On the way to reach the Jingding summit ,they would think of the poem "mount emei meets the clouds and wants tochase liulang but lost on the north road". After the rain at the zenker'scamp to gaze far, they would sing the verse "Emei clouds first get out, Dongtingwaves gradually rise up".
Buddhism has been introduced into China for more than 2,000years. Mount Emei is one of the four famous buddhist mountains with 30 temples. As a summer camp member inMount Emei, we should have some understanding of buddhist culture to trulyunderstand Chinese history. And then the journey has not made in vain. Rememberat one afternoon before mounting the Jinding, preparation for visiting Jinding buddistthe next day, I told the children a full three hours of Mount Emei story, from MountEmei Samantabhadra Bodhisattva to Maitreya and to Cloth-Bag Monk, from Mount Emeifour anecdotes to Chiang kai-shek, from St. Wannian temple to Emporer Wanli andto buddhist rites.The children listened attentively and took notes carefully. Itremain fresh in my memory that the children recited Rice-planting Song,the buddist poem of the cloth-bag monk in frontof the Maitreya Hall of Wannian Temple.
In addition tothe test, the childhood should also have poetry and distance. If each child isa purple morning glory, then the Zenker is willing to be that bamboo pole, tohelp children climbing vines and grown naturally toward the sun.
Zenker try its best to make summer camp to became athoughtful, responsible, nostalgic, interesting and profound school, which canbe the supplement for exam-oriented education and family education . A goodsummer camp want to gain good public praise which not only satisfy prarents butalso children .we thought Character is more important than ability and abilityis more important than knowledge. Thus , we asked each kid to pledge when theyarrived at the camp : keep to retain the characters of sincerity, kindness,courage and integrity and help others anywhere at any time. The summer campshould not only teach the children to be a person, but also to teach them to dothings, to cultivate their ability to live alone, overcome the difficulties.Education is a marathon, and only tenacious or persistent students can reachthe pinnacle of glory.
We have beenthinking that Zenker summer camp is to take the way of some traininginstitutions to make use of the relationship to union with the school, cuttingleek one stubble after another, or take the pure market road, win the market bywords of mouth. The first road, contrary to the principle of Zenker, but canquickly get customers, anyway a group of students left, another group ofstudents came up. The second way, which focuses on children's experience, isrelatively difficult and costly, with slow growth and even no profit at thebeginning. On the basis ofsummarizing the experience of 2017, the zenker summer camp in 2018 introducedthe concept of European and American boy scouts and tried to transform it,trying to find a balance between American education and Chinese education, soas to adapt to China's national conditions and form the special zenker campculture. We work hard on food and took the private chef to summer campe base tolet the kids enjoy their food . After the 2017 zenker summer camp ended, I was shocked by one thing. In late August2017, I met a Canadian high- school classmate and his young daughter at aclassmate party. Her daughter in the third grade had just joined our summercamp. But his daughter kept avoiding me at the party. At last, I knew she wasafraid of the strict rules of summer camp. Her daughter grew up with theAmerican education. She was never scolded for growing up in a relaxed andharmonious environment. However, the military instructors and badminton coachesin the summer camp were too strict, which made the child uncomfortable. So, in2018, we asked military instructors and all teachers not to yell at children atany time, not to physically punish any students, to make friends with studentsand show humanistic care. In the future, we will further weaken the militarycharacter in summer camps and increase interest and affinity.
It is short andfleeting for the Zenker Summer Camp in Mount Emei in 2018, but smile of the childrenall over the country were left in the emei mountain and kept in my heart. Sunyueqi, a first grade girl from Beijing, spoken pure Beijing dialect with silveryvoice. Her little image who first climbed the tough wannian temple carried theteam flag was fixed into my mind forever. Wanyuexian, a fourth-grade boy fromhefei, strong and optimistic ,always liked to help others. The big sister Liu Yijie from the seventhgrade of the Yucai Middle School was clever and curious, in the Emei MountainPlant Park who went after the head of Plant Park to ask questions about EmeiHanxiao tree. She is not only do well in school, but you also sangbeautifully. I have made an appointment for her to sing the hymn leading the ZenkerChoir at Dele Tang in Jiangbeizui of Chongqing at Christmas- You Raise Me Up. Hexinjie, a sixth-grade girl from Guang 'an, was going to study at ChongqingForegn Language School. Her oral English is pure, and she is not surprised. Lisai, a fourth grade girl from chongqing, was lively and lovely. She gave mehandmade soaps and drew exquisite pictures on the packaging. She gave me asurprise and I would treasure this gift forever.
The best rewardfor Zenker come from the praise of parents and children. Zenker will have thedream and be on the way with children together. On the day after the summercamp in Mount Emei, it's busy and lively in the Zenker Parents Wechat Group,where told that once the children went back home, they had been telling thesummer camp 's experience and express the joy to each parents. Until the 12:00 pm,they were actively talking about the summer camp's story through WeChat group. Onechild told his parents that he fell in love with the nature and hope to savemoney to buy a camera to take more picture of nature which is the best futureto zenker.
By Mount Zenker
Chongqing
20th,August,2018
