As a bilingual international school, Haidian Kaiwen Academy, since its inception, has attached great importance to cultural diversity. While respecting our own culture, we also value that of other ethnic groups. By guiding them to understand individual characteristics and get along well with each other, the academy has created an atmosphere suitable for fostering students’ capabilities to communicate across cultures. The goal is that they will become talents with national feelings, international perspectives and capabilities in cross-cultural communication. On May 8th 2019, a splendid show of folk costume took place at Haidian Kaiwen Academy.

Origin: “Colorful Ethnic Cultures” in the Chinese Class

In the Chinese class, sixth-graders of Haidian Kaiwen Academy learned about the “colorful ethic cultures”, increasing their knowledge about the rich customs of the minorities.

In order to get in-depth understanding on the tradition of different ethnic groups living together, build up confidence in Chinese culture and invoke their national awareness and pride, the students learned the “colorful ethnic cultures” with full vigor and put them into practice creatively.

The students were divided into teams and each team chose one ethnic group of their interest to conduct intensive study. They searched for information about their language, belief, diet, living conditions, culture and art, among others. Then they prepared handmade posters on the costume features and cultural meanings of the minorities they selected. Appreciating their works, all of the students felt the same emotion that “The 56 ethnic groups are as beautiful as 56 flowers; all of them are brothers and sisters of one family.”

Eco-friendly: Making Clothes with Eco-friendly Materials

When the posters were completed, students started to make clothes by hand. Students of Kaiwen have a high sense of environmental protection. With the purpose of environmental protection, the student turned waste into wealth by using discarded fabrics, old clothes, plastic paper, shopping bags and eco-friendly paper as raw material to make beautiful folk costumes. The design gave full expression of the idea of protecting the environment in a low-carbon way.

Making clothes by hand

“Environmental protection can become a positive lifestyle,” said a sixth-grader, “We can carry forward this spirit of environmental protection!”

Creativity: Creative Designs and Walks

For some students, it was the first time for them to use needles, to make handicrafts, to draw sketches and even to use sewing machines. They worked carefully on every detail, including the shape of a button and the lace on the hemline. Based on the rules of design for folk costumes, the students added a lot of fashionable elements and creative ideas, creating the combination between fashion and tradition.

Costume is the culture we wear and the history we write on ourselves. The unique designs and rich colors make it an enjoyable form of art. On the runway, students of the sixth grade in beautiful folk costumes were walking with energetic steps. With the lively music of ethnic features, the models walked to the front and made postures characterized by  each ethnic group. The students were rather creative and prepared interesting movements and the audience could not refrain from laughing.

Diversity: Diversity in Culture

A number of ethnic groups were present on the show, including Mulao, Miao, Yi, Naxi, Shui, Dai, Bai, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazak, Han …… Students of Kaiwen demonstrated the beauty of fashion and traditional costumes with elegance, pushing the atmosphere to a new high. In this feast for the eyes, teachers, students and parents looked back to the history, appreciating the brilliant civilization of our great nation and the glamor of various ethnic cultures.

The Chinese nation consists of a multitude of ethnic groups. The number, content and complexity of these groups make the Chinese civilization extensive and profound. The cultural heritage of folk costumes manifests the diversity of culture. Its core value is the motive power for China’s modernization and the symbolic resource for the construction of an exchange mechanism among diversified cultures in the context of globalization.

Voices: Feel the Diversity of the World

Anna Zhang, who took charge of this project, said with emotions: “We had prepared this show for nearly a month. With the efforts made by students of the sixth grade, the folk costume show ended with success. What we saw, beyond techniques, were coordination, patience, meticulousness and practice. By hands and with their actions, the students obtained knowledge that cannot be learned from books and felt the diversity of the world.” She believed that the closure of the show was the beginning, instead of the end, for the kids to know the world on a new phase.

Jack Chai from the sixth grade attended the show with his mother. She applauded for their great performance through the whole event. After the show, she posted in her WeChat Moments that: “It is fortunate for the kids to have such caring teachers. They made the kids confident and taught them to love the diversified ethnic cultures. Good job!”

The Folk Costume Show of Haidian Kaiwen Academy integrated amusement, display, creativity and eco-friendliness. The students made folk costumes out of wasted materials by hand. In this campus atmosphere filled with ethnic features, the students were fascinated by the extraordinary traditional culture. Having a higher sense of national cultural recognition and national confidence, they will become teenagers with generous and inclusive minds.