ADNU administrators, faculty and students
go to China for a 10-day Benchmarking Tour
<click here for the picture gallery>

A group of administrators, faculty, alumni, students and friends of the  Ateneo de Naga University (ADNU) and Ateneo de Davao University(ADDU) headed by Fr. Joel E. Tabora S.J. and Dr. Rebecca C. Torres, Academic Vice President,  recently completed a 10-day Cultural Exposure/Benchmarking Tour to China last April 10-19, 2008.  Dr. Dominador Peralta, Director of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) – Region V accompanied the group on this memorable journey of discovery and novel experience to a country previously considered as a sleeping giant but is now rapidly awakening to become one of the world’s super economic power. 

The main objective of the tour was to strengthen the relationship between ADNU and the Fujian (China) Provincial Education Association for International Exchange. Mr. Juiyuan Zhang, Secretary General of FUJIAN personally arranged and even joined the group’s itinerary which included official visit to two (2) Chinese universities – Jimei and Fujian Normal University. He assigned an official of FUJIAN to act as tour coordinator and interpreter.      

The first university visited by the group was Jimei University (JMU), a public university in Xiamen City, Fujian Province.  JMU has over 20,000 students and is an amalgamation of five former colleges located in the Jimei Study Village, Xiamen City’s major center of education and culture established in 1913 by Mr. Tan Kah Kee, the Henry Ford of Asia.  Mr. Guanghuang Ye, Vice-Secretary General of the JMU Board, Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Department and Dean of Overseas Education College, warmly welcomed the Ateneo group. He conducted a tour around the 90-hectare campus consisting of rows and rows of lecture buildings, dormitories, sport grounds and a huge and beautifully erected library donated by none other than Filipino-Chinese businessman and philanthropist, Mr.Lucio Tan.

Next stop was at the Fujian Normal University (FNU), a university with over 30,000 students, two campuses and 230 hectares of total land area, located in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province.  A meaningful and fruitful interaction took place between the ADNU contingent and the FNU officials composed of its President, Prof. Li Jianping, Mr. Chen Weizhen – Chief, International Cooperation and Exchange Office. Next school year ADNU will welcome two (2) faculty members of FNU who will teach Mandarin for a year.

FUJIAN also tendered a farewell lunch for the ADNU/ADDU delegation where the most exotic of foods like fried scorpion and silkworm, giant clams, lobsters and other denizens of the sea were served.

The group was also able to visit the scenic wonders of China. Highlights of the tour included the following: 

A breathtaking Li River Cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo where hundreds of hills stand in different poses and are uniquely named such as Moon Hill, Mural Hill and Schoolboy Hill.  The Yangshuo River with its numerous hills served as a natural stage for the world famous opera “Impression on Sanjie Liu” which the group had the opportunity to watch;

A visit to the Museum of the Terra-Cota Warriors and Horses - “a sensational archaeological find” where over an area of 16,300 square meters,  seven thousand (7,000) clay soldiers, horses, chariots and even weapons were unearthed;

An adventurous climb a top Wuyi Mountain to reach the Heavenly Tour Peak;
A two-hour bamboo rafting excursion along the Nine Bend Stream;

And a challenging trek through two very closely adjacent mountains just to get a rewarding glimpse of the “Ray of Sky”.

Other interesting places visited were the Gulangyu Island, an island renowned for its delicate natural beauty, the Reed Flute Cave, known as the Art Palace of Nature, the Piled Brocade Hill and Elephant Trunk Hill of Guilin, Xian’s Ancient City Wall and Huaquing Hot Spring.

The cultural exposure provided by the tour was an experience of a life-time for all the members of the ADNU group. To quote Ms.Janet Badong-Badilla, ADNU’s Deputy Academic Vice President for Formation, in her reflections on the China trip:  “In the climb to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xiamen, in the visit to the Museum of the Terra-Cota Warriors, and in circling the hills and mountains of Guilin, I realized how the Chinese people must have laboured to be able to combine the value of preserving nature and going after economic progress.…. I was moved to admire how the Chinese elders and leaders have truly harnessed what God gifted them with”.