An experience to remember
MCC students journey to China to discover its culture up-close, personal

On May 15, a group of 13 MCC students led by geography instructor Steve Bass and economics instructor Harold Cranswick, endured the 15-and-a half-hour plane flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, China, for a three week stay that changed their entire lives. 

Unlike a commercial tour package where one can only observe things from a distance, the students were able to live the lifestyle and have fun learning at the same time.  

The group spent the first three days in Hong Kong to adjust to the time change, environment and food. Next, they took a ferry to the city of Jiangmen where they spent 10 days engaging in conversation with the Chinese students at Wuyi University. 
 

Photos courtesy of Harold Cranswick and Steve Bass

Two Chinese preschool students enjoy the tutelage of their American mentor Steve Bass, as he teaches them the english language through a book entitled "Salad Vegetables".

As they pulled up to the campus in a van, out poured a crowd of Chinese students who recognized Bass and Cranswick from the time they had spent in Jiangmen, a medium-sized industrial city. They were welcomed  warmly. 

Shortly, every American student was surrounded by three or four Chinese students and were being escorted off to someone’s house, a temple or the city. 

"The Chinese students were just so excited about having us there that they took our students and ran off with them to show them as much as they could. That’s the way it was for the entire 10 days," Cranswick said. 

Hilary Tueller, a student who embarked on the journey, agreed. "It was a little overwhelming at the University because there were so many people to meet and to talk to,"  said Tueller, who like several of the other MCC students, initiated a "pen pal" relationship prior to the visit. 

The Chinese people were so warm and accepting, often catering to the group’s needs and very eager to listen to and to speak with the American students because they constantly wanted to improve their English, according to both the students and instructors. 

The last six days were spent in Kaiping, the international sister city of Mesa, where the students lived on the campus of a middle school which was similar to a boarding school.   

There, the American students were able to experience Chinese education and they shared their knowledge through teaching and interacting with the numerous Chinese students. 

"It’s difficult to share such an incredible experience by describing it in words and pictures and it may be interesting but it is definitely not the same as being there," Cranswick said.
 

Photos courtesy of Steve Bass

MCC student Yolanda Arnold (center) shares her collection of photos.

What the students and instructors learned during their three-week stay could never have been duplicated in a classroom environment, he added. 

Bass said "the students got along very well despite the non-stop activity and represented Mesa in the very best of ways as Ambassadors." 

The idea to allow students to go to China developed from the District faculty exchange  program with Wuyi University. The students were able to apply knowledge gained from MCC’s spring semester 2000 Studies in Global Awareness courses and experienced first-hand the Chinese culture and its economic relationship with the rest of the world. 

They enrolled in Service Learning while in China, where they performed 50 hours of volunteer work with the Chinese students at the Kaiping middle school.

Cranswick and Bass both would like to continue the program. 

"This is such an incredible experience that even if we could I’m not sure that either one of us would want to see the program be run by the same person year after year," Cranswick said. 

"Part of what makes this almost magical is that different faculty have gone to China and have come back with experiences that are very positive."