Beijing Ceramic Art Museum and Art School

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On Tuesday, 27 June, we spent the first half of the day at the Beijing Ceramic Art Museum. We learnt a bit about the history behind it all and observed what was different about the ceramics made in the past and the ceramics made nowadays. You can definitely tell they experiment with their designs a lot more now than they used to. Some of the designs are absolutely gorgeous and some are created with so many beautiful colours! I didn’t mind this guided tour, but I have to admit I got a little bored and tired… There were small parts of it I really enjoyed though, like experimenting with the clay on the spinning wheels - that was pretty cool! We also had a quick introduction to the ocarina, a small ceramic instrument that sounds like a recorder. We then entered a room that was filled with balls, on the wall was a projection of little stick men and you had to hit them with the balls to score points, childish… but I thought it was pretty cool!

We then had lunch in an American looking (though Chinese) cafeteria. It was so cheap and absolutely delicious! It costs about 10-15 yuan for a full meal for 1 person in China, that’s $2-$3 in Australia!

We then arrived at an Art School on the South side of Beijing. As we drove through the entrance there was a big sign saying, ‘Welcome Cairns Hinterland Steiner School’. We were surprised when we saw this… but wait… there was more. There was also a huge screen and on it was our individual photos, there was also a big printed sign with our photos on it again.

We had a quick tour of parts of the school. My favourite was the embroidery, it was truly amazing! We then sat in a room with 7 students from the school, we learnt about the mask opera and had to paint designs on these mini masks. I was sitting next to one of the students from the school and as I was painting my mask he was watching my every move, very…very…very closely, it was a bit creepy. During our time at this school there were 2 camera guys, who filmed us the whole time and were taking heaps of pictures. I honestly really felt like a celebrity, it was pretty cool! After this interesting experience, we went to a busy market where two of the boys from the school helped us bargain…They got 1 yuan off most of the things we bought…I have to admit, I think my bargaining skills might be a bit better than theirs. We then tried the famous Beijing duck for dinner and that tasted good, I’m very glad I got to try it! I will really miss all the amazing food and the awesome bargaining!

Faith

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