Study travel courses make outdoor classes both educational and entertaining in east China

Xiangjiadang, a scenic lakeside area in Jiaxing City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, is bathing in a brilliant golden yellow color in early winter. Recently, a study travel activity featuring nature and farming experiences attracted the participation of many teachers and students in local primary and secondary schools.

The children, accompanied by their parents, went to the fields of Xiangjiadang to sketch and harvest rice. With a palette in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, some students, like little painters, painted the rice in front of them. Meanwhile, other students rolled up their sleeves and harvested the rice like farmers. They carefully stacked the cut rice neatly together and waited for the threshing. What they held in hands was not only the harvested rice, but also a sense of achievement.

After experiencing the charm of the rice paddies and the fun of the autumn harvest, the students also explored a digital factory, and visited the Red Boat Zongzi (a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves) plant to learn about the time-honored brand’s development. In each of the study travel bases, they got to learn about the hard work of farming and farmers’ fortitude through field trips.

“Xiangjiadang is close to the downtown area and features the integration of water towns, pastoral scenery and natural lake scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. It is wonderful to let the children feel the richness and beauty of our land of fish and rice in places nearby,” One of the students’ parents said after participating in the activity.

Located in the northeast of Jiaxing, Xiangjiadang enjoys a natural endowment of 10,000 mu of nourishing farmland, 10,000 mu of water and 10,000 mu of forest. Since the beginning of this year, the region has paid special attention to the quality and popularity of the study travel courses to develop in-depth study tours, according to Jiaxing Xiangjiadang Regional Development and Construction Management Committee.

For example, the region has rolled out a farming experience course in the agricultural sector, including trying transplanting rice in spring and harvesting rice in autumn. The study travel course allows students to experience the whole process of farming throughout the year, enhances their practical ability, enriches contacts with the natural pastoral life, relaxes their body and mind, cultivates the good habit of cherishing food, and makes study travel truly an educational and entertaining second classroom.

Since the beginning of this year, Xiangjiadang has received more than 5,000 visitors from Jiaxing Experimental Primary School, Jiaxing Xiuzhou Middle School, Northeast Normal University and other study travel teams. The students can stay close to the nature while feel the charm of technology. These experiences will become wonderful memories that will stay with them for years to come.

Source: Jiaxing Xiangjiadang Regional Development and Construction Management Committee