Being a student is a central part of children’s lives and many aspects of being a Chinese student are beautifully unique. We hope you love this box – here’s some helpful tips to help you get the most out of it!
大红袍茶 Da Hong Pao tea is a type of Wulong tea. Da hong pao tea leaves can be brewed and re-brewed 7 or 8 times without losing their flavour. Simply add a large pinch of the tea leaves per person to the infusing bag, add boiling water and brew for 1-2minutes. Drink and enjoy! For more tips on brewing all kinds of Chinese tea see our guide below:
Your Young Pioneers pin and the iconic Red Scarf.
Young Pioneers [中国少年先锋队 zhōng guó shào nián xiān fēng duì] is a membership based club in China that most kids join during elementary school. There’s an estimated 130million members!
Being a Young Pioneer is a big deal and a huge source of pride. Members promise to always be honest, courageous, full of life and to support unity.
The red scarf (红领巾 hónglǐngjīn) is the only uniform item of Young Pioneers, in fact, Young Pioneers are often just called “Red Scarves”. Spend any time in China and you will see red scarves EVERYWHERE.
The scarf is worn around the neck and tied, but as there’s a very specific way of tying them, we’ve provided the simpler zip kind.
Red scarves represent the missing triangle of the Young Pioneers flag, suggesting that there’s a completeness when the scarves [the kids] and the flag are brought together.
This Chinese calligraphy set allows your whole family to practice simple Chinese characters as many times as they like with this paint-with-water and reuse-when-it-dries set. It includes multiple sheets; some plain and some with simple characters, two calligraphy brushes and a brush stand.
The sheet featured in the 2nd photos is a famous poem by China’s beloved poet Li Bai that’s known by most Chinese students. Here’s the poem and a translation:
李白 《独坐敬亭山》
众鸟高飞尽，zhòng diǎo gāo fēi jìn
孤云独去闲。gū yún dú qù xián
相看两不厌，xiāng kàn liǎng bú yàn
只有敬亭山 zhǐ yǒu jìng tíng shān
Sitting Alone in Jingting Mountain by Li Bai
Flocks of birds fly high and vanish;
A single cloud, alone, calmly drifts on.
We never tired of looking at each other—
Only the Jingting Mountain and me.
You can hear the poem being read in Chinese here: https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDU1MTgwNTI5Mg==.html
Rock, paper, scissors is played by Chinese students as 剪刀 jiǎn dāo [scissors], 石头 shí tou [rock], 布 [cloth].
Just as in the West; rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock.
Here’s some game variations for your rock, paper, scissor dice!
Variation 1: [2-5 players] Each person takes a dice and rolls it, if there’s no single winner all players roll again until there’s a clear winner.
Variation 2: [1 player] Choose a color to represent yourself and another color to represent your opponent. If your die wins you keep that color and choose another to represent the opponent. If you lose, ‘the opponent’ gets your color and you pick a new one. The one with all/most dice at the end of the games wins. This can also be played as best of five.
Variation 3: [2 players] same as variation 2 but with an actual opponent.