Third Expedition Outside of GXNU: Guangxi Normal University’s Old Campus

After lunch, students piled into the bus and rode to Guangxi Normal University’s old campus, a very scenic spot in Guilin and a campus visited by hundreds of tourists daily, reminding students that academic life has a historically high position in terms of the things most valued by traditional Chinese society.

The old campus’ art gallery was under construction during the students’ visit, but the curators were kind enough to hang dozens of copies of famous Chinese paintings spanning several dynasties. Two art history professors spoke of each painting in detail, giving clear examples of the different styles as they rose to prominence throughout history. Students recalled information from the morning’s lecture and answered questions relating to style, location, era.

After viewing the examples displayed in two rooms of the gallery, students were set free on the campus to hike to the top of the egg-drop mountain at the center of campus, or to shop in the art gallery store. Once students came back down from their brisk hike up the stone steps cut around the mountain’s side, they were hungry and thirsty. Plopping down at the café at the foot of the mountain (what a great location!), students purchased fresh fruit juice and sampled some of China’s universal snack food: corn on the cob, tea eggs (hard-boiled eggs whose shells are cracked so that while they sit in a brine, they can soak in the salty goodness), and rice-ball skewers. These particular rice balls are perfect spheres with a gummy, chewy texture made from rice flour. They are also soaked in brine for flavor.

Because the following day’s expedition would begin early, students returned to campus after spending a little time walking around the old campus and were given free time before dinner. Qin Laoshi suggested a game of volleyball and so once the students were back on campus, he helped set up a net behind the dormitory and while he went in search of an adequate ball, Yu Laoshi gave the students their first Taiji lesson.

After Taiji, volleyball and dinner, the students were sent to rest before the next day’s adventure.