The Friends and their co-operation with the Waldorf initiative in Chengdu
On 22nd May 1996 we received a handwritten letter from Huang Xiao Xing, in which he informed us that he was studying in the Foundation Year at Emerson College in Forest Row and was in need of financial aid for his studies, which we subsequently granted him. We have also supported him after his move to Sunbridge College in Spring Valley/USA. Meanwhile, his wife and children were still in China and it long remained unclear whether they would manage to come to Spring Valley, which they did in 1998. Li Zhang, is another student we have supported during her studies at Sunbridge College.
When Huang Xiao Xing returned to China in 2001, he experienced the materialism that had spread quickly as a great shock. Also, other bad habits had become common. How would he be able to take the next step? He looked for potential partners and together with Li Zewu, who had also studied at Emerson College, and his wife, a group got together with the vision to establish a kindergarten, a school and a biodynamic farm. On 26th February 2001 we as friends then signed an agreement of cooperation with Huang Xiao Xing, in order to promote Waldorf education in Chengdu and in China, which subsequently served as the basis of the funding which took place during the following years.
On 13th September 2004 the time had come and the kindergarten started with six children on a property, which then was located seven miles outside of the city. In order to make this beginning possible, the buildings, which had been empty for six years, had to be renovated, garbage had to be cleaned up and everything had to be prepared so that the initiative could welcome the children. For this purpose the Friends of Waldorf Education transferred donations worth € 11,340. During this time, Eckart Loewe, who represented the Friends of Waldorf Education in China for some years, also actively supported the initiative in Chengdu and especially helped in making sure that despite of all the material tasks, the internal preparation and the deepening of Waldorf education also took place.
In the following years we then helped individual teachers with their training. Li Honyu, for example, had suddenly appeared in Chengdu, after she had read about Waldorf education on the Internet. Today she works in a different city and is building up another school. We also supported many other teachers of the Waldorf School in Chengdu for short training courses or an internship in Australia or a conference attendance.
On 21 June 2005 the registration of the kindergarten took place, granting the initiative an official approval and as a result made Waldorf education in Chengdu legal. From September 2006 onwards the kindergarten had already grown to three groups.
Also in 2005, the colleagues in Chengdu published our book "Waldorf Worldwide" in Chinese, which had been kindly translated by Professor Tian. We hope that this introduction in Waldorf education has proved helpful.
Every year we have given many grants and forwarded donations, partly also to secure the property and buildings for the school. But then the tasks started to reach far beyond the needs of the Waldorf School in Chengdu in particular. Thus, we have also promoted the first training courses for kindergarten teachers, which began in 2007 and have developed in such a way that there are now several courses around the country. The school continued to grow, needed more space and had to assure itself on the countryside. These were and are major challenges.
Therefore in 2007, we made great efforts in order to fund the construction of a school building, which we managed to do in cooperation with several foundations.
On 12 May 2008, an earthquake hit the province Sichuan and the Waldorf School in Chengdu was also affected, but fortunately only in a material sense. There were no lives lost. As a result of the earthquake all the attention for many months were then focused on rebuilding and helping in those areas, which were much more affected.
In summer 2008, the Friends of Waldorf Education released a call for help for the reconstruction of the Waldorf School in Chengdu and subsequently received financial aid from many individuals. At breakneck speed, the ruins were cleared away and new buildings built, so that the kindergarten was able to open its gates for the children just a little later than usual in the fall.
In order to finally also obtain an official license for the school, the construction of a new school building, which meets the stringent building regulations for school buildings after the earthquake, had to take place. This required more effort from all sides. The new school building is being used since spring 2011.
We as friends of Waldorf Education have donated a total of 355.118 € between 2004 and 2010 to Chengdu and therefore essentially contributed to the establishment of the first Waldorf school in China.
Meanwhile, the focus is not so much on the external tasks that have to do with the maintenance of property and buildings, but rather on the training and cooperation of the many initiatives that have now emerged in China. A first conference in September 2010 followed by a teachers' conference in July 2011 express these increased efforts to improve the quality of the Waldorf movement in China.
Nana Göbel
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