Summer camps helping to build cultural bridges
China National Bluestar employees’ kids get chance to expand horizons
Chemical company China National Bluestar Group Co Ltd offers its employees’ children the opportunity to make new friends from across the world at its summer camps, with which it aims to build cultural bridges to boost understanding.
The company also invited 10 campers from Gulang county, Wuwei in Northwest China’s Gansu province, as part of its poverty alleviation program.
Frequent bursts of laugher and thunderous applause ring out from a hotel in suburban Shunyi district of Beijing, one location of the chemical giant’s 29th Bluestar International Summer Camp.
On stage, groups of children perform plays, musicals and fashion shows to demonstrate their respective countries’ unique cultural and geographical features.
The performers, aged from 7 to 14, are from China and another 21 countries where Bluestar affiliates or its parent company China National Chemical Corp operate, such as France, Norway, Australia, Germany, Israel, Switzerland and Ghana.
The audience are mostly children of the same age, except for the instructors and media representatives.
“The camp has become a bridge between different cultures to boost understanding, as children naturally bond with each other and are great cultural ambassadors,” said Wu Min, a publicity executive with the chemical giant.
“At the camp, they make friends with children from other countries, experience different cultures and share what they saw and experienced with their family and friends when they get home. It is in line with our hope that our employees can understand each other and feel part of a big family.”
Bluestar launched its first summer camp in 1990 to help take care of its Chinese employees’ children during the summer vacation, as they are often on business trips.
The camp started including overseas employees’ children in 2009 following several acquisitions, and has attracted more and more children from around the globe since, according to Wu.
This year, the camp, lasting from July 19 to August 9, welcomed 840 campers in 17 camps across China.
Camp activities included sightseeing, such as trips to the Great Wall and Summer Palace in Beijing, safety training and interest-oriented classes such as learning the lion dance, Chinese calligraphy, ink painting and dumpling making.
“It is cool and exciting to be here in the camp, although a little scary because I’m far from home,” said 10-year-old Hester Verbeek from the Netherlands. “I have tasted Chinese food, seen a lot of things, visited a lot of places and made a lot of friends.”
Laura Pohlmann, 12, from Brazil, said she did not know anything about China or the Chinese language before coming to the camp, but now she is at least familiar with Mandarin pronunciation, although she still cannot speak it.
Their friend, 14-year-old Anna Martin from Spain, agreed with their sentiment. All three girls said they have made friends from other countries they have never visited, and will keep in touch with their friends through social media, since they cannot visit them in person.