Becoming Worldwise: Our Senior Students travel to Yangshuo

As part of the annual Dulwich College Shanghai Puxi residential programme, Year 8 and 9 students visited the magical city of Yangshuo where they spent just under a week surrounded by the majestic mountains of the Guangxi province.

The first full day of the trip was spent on a two-hour bicycle ride through the beautiful countryside and taking in the breathtaking scenery of the local area. Later that day, students were introduced to what was to become one of their favourite activities – the ‘City Survival’. Students were divided into three groups and were presented with the challenge of having a budget (200RMB) to buy whatever they wanted with the aim of making a profit from their items. The afternoon was spent brainstorming money-making ideas and developing some entrepreneurial skills as well as learning how to successfully work together as a team. Later in the week students were sent out to buy their products and took to the pedestrian area of West Street to mingle with locals and tourists, trying to convince them to purchase their product or play their game. It was certainly living up to our September IB Learner Profile of being a risk-taker.

On the second day students harnessed their inner artist by visiting the local village of Fuli to do some fan painting. Later in the day they took on the mental and physical challenge of climbing up inside a cave so they could abseil down the outside of a mountain. All students took part in this activity, with some defeating their fear of heights and begging to have a second turn. Later that night we camped under the stars after a marshmallow-filled campfire and DIY pasta dinner.

Other key highlights from the trip were the cooking school. Students unleashed their inner Jamie Oliver and cooked a range of dishes from egg dumplings to steamed chicken and sampled their culinary delights for lunch that day. Furthermore, one afternoon was spent trekking deep inside a dark cave which ended in a messy mud bath.

All students had an amazing adventure during their week in Yangshuo and many weren’t ready to return to reality. 

Kayleigh Eskander 
Senior School Head of Pastoral