Cultural Activities

Besides our lectures, the Hutong School also organizes frequent cultural activities to enrich the lives of our students. Through these activities, we aim at:

• Improving students' knowledge about Chinese culture
• Enhancing the community spirit among Hutong School students
• Making new friends in Beijing: for some of the activities, we will invite some Chinese people to teach certain aspects of Chinese culture. In addition, students are also welcome to invite their own friends to join these activities.

Below you’ll find some examples and pictures of past activities organized by the Hutong School:

Trips around Beijing

• Visits to different sections of the Great Wall: Badaling 八达岭, Simatai 司马台, Mutianyu 慕田峪, Jiankou 箭扣, etc…

• Visit to the Hot Springs at Xiao Tang Shan 小汤山
 
• Visit to The ancient village of Chuan Di Xia 爨底下

• Visit to Lipao village 里炮村

Delicious Food Nights

• Jiaozi 饺子 (dumplings) night: students gathered with our teachers and some Chinese guests to learn the great art of rolling beautifully shaped jiaozi

• Sushi night: under the watchful eye of some Japanese professionals our Hutong School students managed to make their own sushi.

Traditional Chinese Games, sports and Entertainment

• Chinese Karaoke 卡拉OK: as Karaoke is extremely popular in China, it’s definitely a must to experience this form of modern Chinese culture. Great fun assured while singing both Chinese and Western classics !

• Wei Qi 围棋 (also known as ‘Go’): a very challenging game with very simple rules, requiring great intuition and strategic insights.

• Chinese Chess 象棋: somewhat different from the international Chess, Chinese chess can be a very surprising game

• Tai Chi 太极拳: A former Tai Chi champion visited Hutong School and she showed us some great moves while explaining the philosophy behind Tai Chi.

Chinese movie nights

Once a month we organize a Chinese movie night to introduce master pieces of Chinese cinema to our students. One of our teachers will also give a short introduction to improve students’ understanding of the movie. All movies shown have English subtitles.

Here are some examples of movies shown at the Hutong School:

• “Kongfu” 功夫, by Zhou Xingchi 周星驰

• “Beijing Bicycle” 十七岁的单车, by Wang Xiaoshuai 王小帅

• “Not One Less” 一个都不能少, by Zhang Yimou 张艺谋

• “The Road home” 我的父亲母亲, by Zhang Yimou 张艺谋

• “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 卧虎藏龙, by Ang Lee 李安