Quinn Asta Shanahan is graduating from Northside College Prep this summer. She had her last Chinese class at high school at the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago on Tuesday when some 60 high school students from the Chicago Public School (CPS) district had an experience of being immersed in Chinese culture.

Chinese folk dance, Tai Chi performance, and playing of Erhu and Guzheng -- both traditional Chinese music instruments -- brought Chinese cultural concepts vividly to the American students.

Face-changing, part of the more general Sichuan Opera, drew exclamations every time the player had his face changed in an instant in front of the audience. A student stood appalled as her slight touch of the player's face led to a change of the performer's colored mask.

Students also tried their hand at making dumplings, practicing Chinese calligraphy, and playing the Chinese Yo-yo and shuttlecock. Rounds of laughter and applause were given to Evanston Township High School students who sang a song in Chinese adapted from "Call Me Maybe."

The students were also thrilled that they had an opportunity to compete against three Ping Pong world youth champions from China's Hebei Province. With their table tennis paddle in hand, the students stood in line to play against the champions. A match between the two champions was closely watched and wowed.

"It is amazing," Shanahan marveled at all the activities offered at her last high school Chinese class. Fourteen other graduates from Northside attending this last class shared Shanahan's feelings.

Gabriel Lorynowicz, who is going to De Paul University majoring in finance this fall, attributed his passion for learning Chinese to his teacher Lu Wenya and told Xinhua that he wanted to serve as a bridge between China and the United States in business.

Shanahan went to China with her parent in 2019 and stayed there for nearly two weeks. She plans to keep taking Chinese language courses after entering the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) this fall. "I hope to go back to China and study," she said.

There are 120 out of 1020 students at CPS Northside College Prepare taking Chinese classes, said Lorynowicz's teacher Lu, a 20-year veteran Chinese teacher at CPS.

By holding the Chinese class on Tuesday, Consul General Zhao Jian hopes to attract more American students to learn the Chinese language, and further understand and experience the Chinese culture.

"With more and more students of foreign countries learning Chinese, experiencing Chinese culture, the world will have a better understanding of hard-working and friendly Chinese people as well as an open and inclusive China," Zhao said. 

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