Hua Mulan Temple

During my trip to Henan in April, our hosts were kind enough to arrange various activities at night for the volunteers. We ate massive meals, sang karaoke, and were even treated to a visit of the Mulan Temple. While interesting for most members of our group, I was ecstatic. You see, Mulan and I have some history.

Disney came out with the movie Mulan around the same time that I started taking Tae Kwon Do classes. I was well past the princess stage in my life and quickly latched onto this dynamic character who just happened to practice martial arts like yours truly. I even threw myself a Mulan themed birthday party that year (Yes, I was entirely too old to be this obsessed with a Disney movie. I pretended it was ironic at the time, but yeah, I was totally into it.). I remember reading that the movie was based on a Chinese story but knew little else at the time. Year passed and my obsession with Mulan faded, though I might still have my Mulan and Shang Barbie dolls. Shut up.

Shortly after moving to China, I made Matthew watch Mulan. It was amusing to see our new country through the eyes of Disney and yes, I still found the music catchy. Though the movie also made us cringe at some of the poorly pronounced Chinese names.

So when our hosts in Henan announced we were visiting the Hua Mulan Temple, this girl pretty much lost it. I was beyond excited.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Mulan, here is a refresher for you, based on the famous poem Ballard of Mulan.

During the Sui Dynasty (581-618), a man by the name of Wei brought home a lily magnolia tree from the nearby mountains and planted it in front of his house. Ten years later, when the tree finally began to blossom, his wife gave birth to a girl. The baby was named Lily Magnolia (or Mulan in Chinese).

Mulan’s father was a soldier and raised Mulan like a boy. She not only learned weaving and embroidery from her mother, but also practiced martial arts, archery, and fencing with her father.

The emperor sent out a decree to form an army and draft recruits from all over the land to put down the hostilities along the northern borders. According to the decree, all male adults were to register, and that included Mulan’s elderly, ailing father. As Mulan thought of her father going to war, she knew he would likely die. But if he refused to go, he would be branded as being unpatriotic. Mulan’s brother was still too young to enlist, so Mulan made up her mind to disguise herself as a man, and take her father’s place in the army.

For 12 years Mulan served in the army and received numerous honors. After the war ended, the emperor wanted to award her an official position, but she declined and asked for a good horse instead as she wished to return home to her family. Her wish was granted, and the emperor also sent an envoy to escort her home. Her parents were overjoyed to learn of their daughter’s return,  but when they saw a general riding toward them, they didn’t recognize their own, long awaited daughter.

After Mulan changed into her female attire, it was her comrades' turn to be stunned, for the warrior who had fought side by side with them for 12 years, turned out to be a woman.

While the famous poem ended on a high note, other versions of the story have a less fairytale ending for Mulan.  In those stories, when Mulan refused the high post offered by the emperor, he had her detained at the court. To express her strong protest, she hung herself. In author Chu Renho's novel, Sui Tang Yanyi, the emperor summons her to be his concubine. Again, she hangs herself in protest. Disney clearly went with the poem's ending.

So was the temple all I hoped it would be? Not really. Apparently the original temple was quite grand with over 200 buildings covering an area of 10,000 square meters. But that temple was destroyed in the 1940's and now only a small memorial sits in its place. While it did not quite live up to my expectations, I did enjoy visiting the hometown of one of my childhood heroes. And I got to take this picture.

Stepping Stones Rural Volunteering Tour

I watched as one boy in my class debated over what to do. I had asked him to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. All around him, the other students were busy copying pictures out of their textbooks. Police, teacher, farmer. His brow furrowed, his tongue slowly crept out from between his lips. Then his hand began to move as he stared down at his paper intently.

After a few moments, I glanced over at his work. At the top of the paper, he had written pilot, simply copying the words from his book. But underneath, he had written the following, "I want to be a pilot when I grow up. I want to fly to the stars". An elaborate spaceship was drawn underneath, complete with a self portrait of the artist himself inside.

By the end of class, the paper lay discarded on the floor. I picked it up and asked the student if he wanted to take the picture home to show his family. He shook his head no and stated that he didn't need it. As the students left the room, I wondered about this student and what his future would hold. Would he become a pilot? Would he even have the chance? Or would his dreams simply fall away, discarded, much like his picture?

In April, I traveled to Shangqui, in rural Henan Province with Stepping Stones as part of their bi-annual, week long volunteer teaching tour to underprivileged schools. What followed was one of the best experiences I have had thus far in China.

Stepping Stones works with volunteers to teach English in Shanghai’s migrant schools and community centers, reaching over 4,000 students in 20 different migrant schools. They also regularly take groups of volunteers to teach English to children in rural schools outside of Shanghai. This is what I had chosen to be a part of.

We traveled by train to Henan, a province located in central China. Henan is the third most populous province in China, sending out millions of migrant workers every year to urban areas like Shanghai. This means many of these children are growing up with their grandparents, only seeing their parents once or twice a year if they are lucky.

In many rural schools, the standard of English teaching is particularly low, especially oral English. In China, English is one of the three core elements of the Chinese school curriculum, along with Chinese and Math. A student’s grade in English is one of the key criteria for entry to higher education, making a basic command of English critical to a child’s life chances.

The majority of migrant children do not make it to senior high school, and only a small handful are able to attend university. It is the goal of Stepping Stones to help these children from rural areas to attend senior high school and university, and thereby improve the future prospects of rural families.

A friend of mine had volunteered for a trip the previous year and recommended the experience to me. While I work in education, I had no direct teaching experience. However, the Stepping Stones coordinators ensured me that all I needed was a positive and enthusiastic attitude. And a command of the English language.

The students were amazing. Kind, attentive, and eager to learn. One the first morning, a group of my sixth grade students skipped their break and asked me to practice vocabulary with them instead. 

At the end of the day, I was presented with flowers picked by the students and hugs farewell. Do I think my few hours with these students greatly improved their English? No. But I know that I gave them a positive first introduction with a foreigner, provided them with fun lessons in English, and reminded them people care about them and their future.

Want to join the next volunteer teaching tour to Henan this November? Contact Gloria at projects@steppingstoneschina.net or check it out at http://steppingstoneschina.net/rural-volunteering-tours.