Outpost in Beijing gives mixture of home, culture and learning

Updated: 2015-01-26 08:03

By Luo Wangshu(China Daily)

  Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按钮 0

Basang Phanthok, 17, is a sophomore at the Beijing Tibet Middle School, which she and her nearly 300 classmates from Tibet consider to be a home away from home.

The Beijing school, which is near the North Fourth Ring Road on Gaoyuan Jie, opened in 1987. It is the largest, and one of the best, Tibetan middle schools established in China outside of the Tibet autonomous region.

By August, it had educated 1,135 middle school students and 4,458 high school students.

The school has four grades, from freshman to senior in high school. The students all board at the school, and their schedule is strictly planned from 6 am until 10:30 pm.

According to the daily schedule, they get up at 6 am and run for 30 minutes before breakfast. The morning session starts at 7:30 and ends at 12:10 pm. Then students take a lunch break. The afternoon session begins at 2 pm and ends at 4:40 pm. Students take part in extracurricular activities before dinner, which is at 6 pm. The evening class begins at 7:40 pm and ends at 9:50 pm. Students then take a break before going to bed.

The majority of students go home once a year during summer vacation and stay at school the rest of the time, according to Zhang Mei, the school's vice-principal.

"We try to provide as many Tibetan cultural activities as we can to give students a homelike environment, ease their homesickness and help them adapt to life outside of their region," Zhang said.

"We host Tibetan Culture Week every year and encourage students to present their talents in all aspects, including Tibetan calligraphy and traditional dance. Students like to dress in traditional clothing for the festival."

Migmar Chodron, a student at the school, likes dancing and is a member of the school's dance club.

"I really like the Tibetan Culture Week and guozhuang time every Saturday," the 16-year-old said, referring to traditional Tibetan dance. "It feels like home." She said she also enjoys Tibetan language classes.

"It is my culture and history. It is always good to know my culture to have a deeper sense of who I am," she said.

Zhang, who has been working at the school since 1991, talks to the students as if they are her own children.

"The majority of kids are not going home for the Tibetan New Year, which is normally during the winter vacation. We celebrate together," Zhang said.

"The school has been fully decorated with colorful flags. Students are decorating their dorms with lucky patterns. Everybody is shouting zha xi de le ("good luck" in the Tibetan language). It is always a lot of fun."

Additionally, Zhang said, students and teachers are dancing guozhuang and eating traditional Tibetan food together.

"Since the children are away from home, our faculty is playing the role of teachers and parent," she said.

"As a parent, it is very important to respect their culture. More than 90 percent of graduates have returned to Tibet after graduating from college, working in government, in schools and almost all fields across the autonomous region.

"Many of them keep in touch with their 'mom and dad' (teachers) in Beijing."

Palden Nyima in Lhasa contributed to this story.

(China Daily 01/26/2015 page7)