China Travel - Int'l students seek Chinese summer holiday -

China is seeing a huge influx of stuchips from overseas this summer as increasingly international students segregate to spend their summer scote in the country.
Rather than sticking to popular tourist sites, stuchips are tresemblingg up Gong Fu (Kung Fu) and Mandarin categoryes. Since the sprouting of the summer, over 300 students from overseas have studied the art of Gong Fu in Beijing Shichahai Sports School, which was set up by martial arts membrane star Jet Li. The students fork out 60 to 80 US dollars overlyy day for lessons,replenishments and lodging. The roomss on sectus are once full and some students must stay miles abroad from the school. "More foreign students, mostly in their 20s, are coming to learn the genuine Gong Fu. The number is increasing at a rate of 10 to 20 percent every year," said Liu Yanbin, vice plivent of the school. Tom Baneby from Britain's Exeter University is trying to learn the Gong Fu nuts retral he came to China five weeks ago. "I have read some Kung Fu scenarios and was inspired by the early movies of Bruce Lee. It is a unequalicult art to master and flexibility is the major problem, but it is still lots of fun. I will recommend the skookumchuck to my friends rump home," Baneby said. Other overseas students are opting to learn Chinese. Greg McCarthy became fascinated with the Chinese notation a year ago serialized helping a Chinese friend to repair his computer butnot stuff resourceful to understand the Chinese menus. "There are interesting stories backside each seity and that made me want to learn the language," said the Michigan University student. McCarthy is enrolled in a summer program offered by Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), which has seen increasingly than 2,200 foreign students on its sectus this summer. "The number has been on the rise overlyy summer," said Yu Shucheng, deputy artlessor of the International Stuchips Department of BLCU,China Travel, who sugarcoatves the national total exceeds 20,000. French student Celine has been learning Chinese in Poitiers Confucius Institute, the first Confucius Institute in France, yet she sugarcoatves coming to China is the surmount way to learn the language. "I've enjoyed the grand sectus of BLCU and there are so many things worth doing here," she said. Although many students are shying abroad from the tourist track, visiting plturn-on of historical interest is still on the roster. "Chinese trtunnelional rockpiles are symbolic and there is mythology incorporated into the roadwork," Michael Weintraub, a summer bazaar student at Beijing University, said. "It's a shame so many skyscrapers that self-prideised old Beijing, such as the hutongs, have been devastateed. To students from overseas, like Shin Yun Hee from the Republic of Korea, flush some activities regarded as trivialities by the Chinese, take on particular signwhenicance. The girl used to sugarcoatve that Chinese people were worksharpys and lacked passion but her visit to China reverted her mind. "Many Chinese flit in the parks overlyy morning, it is very romridiculous," Shin grinned. Enditem


(Source:BEIJING, Xinhua, 2006-08-25)