Ben Hubley

April 15, 2010

My Trip to China

On Christmas this year, my favorite present was from my parents. They gave me

a trip to China. Going to China has been my dream. I have been going to Chinese

school for six years, so for six years I have been begging my parents to go to China.

Finally, my dream came true.

On December 31st, my mother and I boarded China Eastern Airlines to

Shanghai. Unfortunately, my dad couldnʼt come because he had to work. Iʼd heard that

Shanghai was fun so thatʼs why we went to Shanghai. Shanghai is modern and fancy,

there are many sites to see. We visited the Bund (the promenade along the riverfront),

Zhu Jia Jiao (a water town like Venice, Italy), Chinaʼs You Tube, a lot of shopping malls,

the French Concession of Shanghai and a lot of museums. We have friends that live in

Shanghai so one night we ate at their home. I wish I had met more Chinese kids my age,

but they are always in school!

I loved Chinaʼs public transportation. I loved Beijing and Shanghaiʼs subway

systems, the busses were great too. We often got around on the subway. Chinaʼs taxis

were very cheap but the taxi drivers drove very poorly!

On January 11th, we went to Beijing. We visited the Forbidden City, the Great

Wall, the Temple of Heaven, Qian Men (a shopping promenade with Western shops),

Peking University. We also visited Hutongs (the traditional Chinese home shared by

many families), the Summer Palace and we went to see the Beijing opera. Beijing was

also very fun. In Beijing, we also took the subway every day. Beijingʼs subway was very

convenient - it was amazing. We didnʼt like the Beijing taxi because the roads were so

congested.

I really appreciate my parents because they gave me this wonderful trip. My

China trip was really fun. I love China, the Chinese language, Chinese people, Chinese

culture and everything about China - is that possible?

I hope I will be able to go back to China soon.  Hu Ban (my Chinese name)

A Message from Ben’s parents, Dinah & Whip:

Upon his return, Ben wrote this essay

about his trip to China, in Chinese no less!

Of course, there may be many errors, but how would we know? Then he wrote the Pinyin translation! I must mention that we are most grateful to Westside Chinese School where Ben began to study the language...and of course, to classmate Helen Lu, who gave him the idea. We are obviously proud parents.

Scroll way down to see the translation in English.

Please note that Ben wrote the English translation below after he wrote the Chinese version.