From tea rituals to bamboo dances, a Guangxi village becomes a living classroom for over 260 students.

December 5, 2025 | Guilin, China

Forget the textbooks. More than 260 international students from 37 universities across Guangxi recently swapped lecture halls for village lanes, trading notes for rice mallets in a hands-on immersion into China's rural transformation.

The cultural tour, co-organized by Guangxi Normal University and Zhongfeng Town, was framed as "Touching the Pulse of Rural Revitalization." Its real lesson was simpler: to understand modern China, you must step into its countryside.

A Living Classroom

In Baocaiqiu Village, students strolled along pristine paths, past neatly arranged houses and vibrant agricultural plots. Conversations with villagers and local officials flowed naturally, covering everything from eco-friendly farming and community-run businesses to how better roads and internet have changed daily life.

"You can read about ‘rural revitalization,’ but here you see it-in people's faces, in new community centers, in the pride they take in their work," shared Liam Chen, a business student from Canada.

Tradition in Action

The atmosphere shifted at the Dashazhou Study and Practice Base, where observation turned to participation. Students gathered to sample rich, aromatic oil tea-a local gesture of welcome often called "a bowl of tea for a dear friend."

The real test came next: making bab, a traditional sticky rice cake. Armed with wooden mallets, students took turns pounding steamed rice in a rhythmic, collective effort, their laughter mixing with the solid thud of the mallets. Later, they learned the lively bamboo pole dance, navigating the clapping poles with cautious, then confident, steps.

"It's one thing to see a dance on video,"said Ananya Sharma, an exchange student from India. "It's another to feel the rhythm under your feet, to mess up, to laugh, and to get it right together. That's when you feel the culture."

A Student's Lens

For many, the trip reframed their perception of China. “This has shown me layers I never knew existed,” reflected Chen Jiahao, an Indonesian student at Guangxi Normal University. "There's a narrative of constant urban growth, but here is a conscious effort to grow sustainably while holding onto soul and tradition. That’s a story I want to help tell."

More Than a Field Trip

Zhongfeng Town, part of the Long March National Cultural Park, was designated a "Perceiving China" practice base in 2024. Since 2021, it has hosted over 1,500 international students. These programs are a cornerstone of Chinese universities' efforts to facilitate direct, unfiltered cross-cultural encounters.

The impact of the trip is intended to linger long after the buses depart. Organizers note that the experience often sparks ongoing campus discussions about sustainable development, cultural preservation, and global citizenship.

For the students who walked those village paths, pounded that rice, and danced between those bamboo poles, China is no longer just a place of study-it's a place of lived, shared experience.

International students visit Zhongfeng Town. (Photo by Pu Miao)

International students pose for a group photo on Lianxin Bridge. (Photo by Pu Miao)

International students try the bamboo pole dance at the Dashazhou Study and Practice Education Base. (Photo by Jiang Nan)

Source: Guangxi Cloud-Guangxi Daily

Correspondents: Li Pengcheng, Sun Zhonghui

Editor: Jiang Jiefeng