Taking an 8 year old to study Chinese in China

[emiliadiasas]

Hello,

My 8 years old son Jason is a huge fan of Chinese Kungfu and Chinese culture. I'm thinking bringing him to China (I haven't decided whether to Beijing or Shanghai yet.) to study Chinese for a month or even shorter this winter. Meanwhile, I'd like to travel with him around China, visit Shaolin Temple.

If you guys know any good short-term Chinese courses or any Mandarin Schools, please please give me some suggestions! and For the traveling, any advices? As I prefer to travel by ourselves, not in any group tour...

Thanks in advance.

Ema

[renzhe]

Unless you are an experienced international traveller, you might want to rethink the travelling alone part. While it's relatively straight-forward (but stressful) to move between major destinations, you can pretty much forget getting to smaller places alone. This includes the Shaolin temple, which is in the middle of nowhere, and a nice drive away from the nearest towns (Luoyang and Zhengzhou). Doing this alone with your 8-year old can either be an adventure of a lifetime or a trauma to keep you away from ever travelling again.

Posters who live in China can give you better advice, but I remember visiting the Shaolin Temple a few years ago with my Chinese girlfriend. We went to the central bus station in Luoyang, got dragged in all directions by people trying to sell us tickets to wherever until we found one who claimed that his bus could drop us off at the Shaolin temple, then he took us to some unmarked bus somewhere where we confirmed with the bus driver that yes, maybe, it might go to Shaolin. Luckily, it ended up taking us there. Getting back involved paying a local to stop passenger buses on the main road until he found one heading for Luoyang, so we boarded that one, and it went through every little village on the way back and dropped us off somewhere within walking distance of the bus station late at night in the end. I wouldn't have made it alone without a native speaker, and it was very stressful for her too.

So for that, I'd say try to book an organised tour from Zhengzhou ahead of time.

[imron]

I will also add that when I visited in early 2002 it was a huge disappointment. It's probably even worse now as at the time it was in the process of undergoing all sorts of redevelopment. I should also add that visiting in the Chinese winter (like I did) is also in the off-season so a bunch of stuff may be closed.

[rezaf]

Maybe in Beijing you can take him to a Kungfu show. They have one major acrobatic Kungfu show there and it has been running for many years. The story is about Shaolin monks and I think kids can enjoy it a lot.

[renzhe]

Almost nothing there is original -- the temple was burnt down many times and was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution. It has been rebuilt according to the old plans, and it looks majestic and pretty, but in some ways it feels like a touristy Disneyland, with torrents of tourists dashing in and out and a shopping square filled with shops selling tacky souvenirs.

That said, I still found it to be one of the highlights of my trip. The walk along the cliffs of Mount Song (a short cable-car ride from the temple) was one of the most spectacular sights I've seen, and seeing the Pagoda Forest (where so many movies were filmed) was great. I guess that an 8-year old who loves kung fu might feel the same way.

Luckily, having Luoyang as our base meant that we got to see one of the coolest (and oldest) temples in China: the Baima temple at the outskirts of Luoyang. That and the Longmen grottoes made the detour via Luoyang more than worthwhile. The reconstructed city centre is also nice, but otherwise it's a triste-looking, underdeveloped city.

[yonglin]

I don't remember it being particularly tricky to get to the Shaolin temple when we went in 2007 (I'm starting to feel old now!). I think we just followed the instructions in the lonely planet book. However, I remember the whole experience being quite a disappointment (similar to imron, I suppose).

To be honest, my biggest worry about travelling alone in China would be where I'm supposed to keep my bag while I go to one of those absolutely appalling public toilets!

[kdavid]

To be honest, my biggest worry about travelling alone in China would be where I'm supposed to keep my bag while I go to one of those absolutely appalling public toilets!

You haven't learned to hold it in your lap while you squat?

[yonglin]

You haven't learned to hold it in your lap while you squat?

When you're travelling with a largish backpack + other bag...? I'm talking about the type of toilet where you cannot keep the backpack on your back because it would rub against a filthy wall and/or another person. And yes, I find it difficult to squat if I have a traveller size backpack in my lap. A small bag/purse is fine.

[Meng Lelan]

Does it have to be winter? If I were you I would go in the summer time where a number of "family tours" and "family camps" are offered. Try to google Mandarin Rocks, if my memory is correct they have sites in Beijing and Shanghai, they have Mandarin lessons plus tours to various sites.

I would not think that traveling by yourself with a child is a good idea unless you have fluent Mandarin skills and/or have family in China.

[Mandarin_House]

Hi Ema,

My name is Aaron Duff from Mandarin House Chinese schools. We have run Chinese language summer camps for juniors since 2004, but will organise our first New Years camp next year between January 9-20 at our Shanghai school. There will be language learning in the morning and cultural activities and excursions in the afternoon (including kung fu).

If you are interested, then you can pm me and I will send you a brochure.

[Nakura]

you may take him to Shaolin and learn Kungfu as well as Mandarin.

[Meng Lelan]

Having trained in wushu for some years now (after starting with shaolin kungfu) if it's important he learn shaolin kungfu then try to enroll him first in a kungfu school at home for some time in order to built up strength, stamina, and flexibility. Shaolin training is very demanding, if you haven't had that kind of training regularly for at least a year then even one hour of it is going to be very stressful. By the way some shaolin schools in the US organize special trips to the Shaolin Temple for several days of training just for the students of that school. This is especially true of some kungfu schools in major cities like Houston.