Waldorf Education in South-East China: First Impressions

Rita and Snow, the two assistants and Auntie Xia the cook warmly greeted me at the gate that first morning. I had already met Zhang and her husband Wang and their daughter Wen earlier when I arrived as a guest at their home. Wang is the bus driver, grocery shopper, repairman, assistant when needed and support person extraordinaire for the program. Daughter Wen is a student at Sunny-Yard.

I took in the lovely open faces as the children arrived and gathered around the table for breakfast that first morning. I of course could not understand anything that was said but was touched by the beautiful way they sang the breakfast blessing. Zhang sings with ease the high E of the mood of the fifth scale as do the assistants and hence do the children. They sounded like angels and that was my first of many goose bump moments. I knew I had come to a good place.

Sunny-Yard is a full day kindergarten with three girls and eleven boys, ranging from age two plus to six. They arrive and leave at staggered times as Wang makes two trips every morning and evening. The first carload arrives at 8:00 am and the last one leaves at 5:00 p.m.. It is a long day, but the program is well established and imbued with love so that the day progresses with seeming ease.

As I have discovered in China, food is central to the culture and this is also true in the kindergarten. A healthy warm breakfast is served every morning. There is a mid morning snack of local fruit which is always delicious though not always familiar to me. I was particularly impressed by the star fruit which when sliced gave each child a perfect star on his/her plate. Lunch is a major event with rice, soup and at least three vegetable dishes usually including meat or fish. After a two-hour rest, when every child falls asleep, there is another snack of a cooked vegetable. Desserts, other than fruit are not served to the children except on special occasions. This echoes the habits of the outside culture and may contribute to the fact that one rarely sees an overweight child (or adult) in China.

At playtime, building cars is a favorite theme. I have taken pictures of many car designs, some simple and some elaborate, since I arrived. The process of building a car can go on for over an hour as it transforms and as shifts of builders come and go. I attach a couple of samples complete with drivers though not the sound effects. I have never seen (or heard) so many amazing cars in a kindergarten!

The Moon Festival - a highlight

The highlight of my kindergarten experience to date was the Mid-Harvest Moon Festival celebrated at the school last Friday evening with children, teachers, parents and grandparents. This is an important festival in China dating back 3,000 years and includes a week’s holiday beginning on the first of October. The class and teachers busily prepared all week for the event. Rita with help from children made harvest decorations to adorn the room. Snow made corn dollies from cornhusks, which held a place of honor on the nature table. Everyone participated in making paper mache lanterns with tissue paper and painting them. The children made corn necklaces from the kernels they assisted in taking off the corncobs. On Friday morning, they made bread with Zhang for the evening’s feast. I busied myself for much of the week making silk marionettes for the story of Chang Re, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality.

What a celebration it was!! The children arrived in traditional dress and were greeted by the glowing lanterns hanging in branches at the entrance. Outside in the semi-darkness, a huge circle was formed with everyone (over 40 people) joining hands. Zhang led the group in singing the songs and dancing games the children knew and it was a magical time. Later inside, the Moon cake Feast was served. At this special occasion, traditional moon cake, contributed by parents, was plentiful as were several varieties of fruit including pomelos. The pomelo, which looks like a very large grapefruit, is traditionally associated with the harvest moon festival in Zhuhai as it ripens in this season.

The evening culminated with a beautiful marionette play performed by the teachers and Wang. It was one of the versions of the myth of the Moon Lady who came to earth in the form of a rabbit with transformational powers to help the sick. The children who were very excited and uncommonly full of moon cake became silent when the veil was lifted from the stage and the story unfolded before their eyes. The adults in the room were equally engaged and this adult had another attack of goose bumps.

Following the marionette play the families left for home. The parents took down the glowing lanterns from the branches and each child carried his/his light on the end of a stick through the gate and out into the dark evening.

Although I am still struggling to pronounce the children's’ names and the few Mandarin words I am beginning to learn, I understood the language of a community festival and rejoiced with everyone in the singing, dancing, socializing, feasting, candle lighting and storytelling.

Conny White

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