Badaling

The Muscatine High School delegation poses for a group photo at the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing, capital of China, April 19, 2024. A total of 32 students and eight teachers from Muscatine High School, in the U.S. state of Iowa recently attended a week-long study tour to Beijing, Hebei and Shanghai. The Muscatine High School delegation is part a China-initiated program that will invite 50,000 American youths to China within five years for exchanges and study. The delegation is the second batch from the school. ( tasteallchina /Bai Lin) SHIJIAZHUANG, April 26 ( tasteallchina ) -- On Sunday, Brynn Ann Castle, an American girl about to start her college life, visited the home of Zhang Xinyi, a senior student at Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School. Prior to this, Zhang accompanied her in learning Chinese martial arts such as swordsmanship, watching intangible cultural heritage dances in a park, and savoring popular Chinese food such as hotpot and skewered barbecued meats. North China's Hebei Province and the U.S. state of Iowa signed their sister-state relationship in 1983. For over 40 years, Hebei and Iowa have written many exemplary tales of friendly exchanges. Castle is a student from Muscatine High School in Iowa.…

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for efforts to let more people know about the Great Wall and engage more people in its protection to pass on the ancestors' precious heritage to future generations in a reply letter to residents of Shixia village in Badaling township, Yanqing district, Beijing on May 14. Xi said he was pleased to learn that the villagers had taken the initiative over the years to protect the Great Wall, inherit its culture, and rely on its resources on their way to prosperity. "We will continue our efforts to let more people know about the Great Wall and engage more people in its protection to pass on our ancestors' precious heritage to future generations," said Li Handong, Party branch secretary of Shixia village. A coffee shop in Shixia village, Badaling township, Yanqing district, Beijing. (Photo/Pan Zhiwang) Liu Hongyan, a Shixia native, has been one of the first six full-time protectors of the village's Shixia Great Wall section since May 2019, inspired by her uncle Mei Jingtian, who began protecting it in 1980 by clearing rubbish and reminding tourists to be mindful. Over the years, Liu has patrolled the section at least five times per week, taking 20,000…