The Future of China Exchange
Long-awaited excitement ended just like that
Credit: CHEX member, Michela Cino
March 3, 2020
China Exchange cannot seem to catch a break.
There have been multiple issues with the China Exchange Program in the past. Unfortunately, last year due to President Trump changing visa laws, the girls from China were unable to come to Darien. This put a damper on the program last year and our students’ trip to China had to be cut short because of the absence of the actual exchange.
China Exchange started off great this year as the exchange students spent a couple of days with us and overall they had a great experience here at Darien. Unfortunately for the CHEX members, it is confirmed that due to the Coronavirus, the trip to China now has been canceled.
There are a lot of questions around the Coronavirus – what is it and how truly dangerous is it? According to The Guardian, the Coronavirus comes from animals, the people who were initially infected worked in the seafood market. As of now, the virus is not a pandemic. It is in multiple regions of China, and there have been confirmed cases in 25 more countries. Also, experts do not know the real danger of the virus. All they know is that it has a 2% mortality rate, that people with a strong immune system are recovering rather well and experience fewer severe symptoms. Christina Maxouris, a CNN writer, on travel restrictions due to the coronavirus states that there is no actual travel ban to China. That Americans are encouraged not to travel there and can expect two weeks of mandatory quarantine, screening and monitored self-quarantine if they do.
In order to learn more about the future plans of the program, I talked with history and CHEX teacher, Ms. Muprhy. When I asked her, “What will the plans be instead of going to China?”
She responded, “more day trips to local sources Chinese culture….[like] the Met Art’s of Chinese Gardens, Chinatown in Flushing Queens, a Buddhist temple and a formal tea ceremony.”
Ms. Murphy expressed her frustration as well as the class’ by mentioning, “we were disappointed….looking forward to more time” with the students and teachers from Shanghai. A member from CHEX, senior Michela Cino,
talked with me about the whole cancelation. I asked her how she felt about the trip being canceled, she replied with “I am super sad.”
“We are all sad, of course, we all wanted to go to China and now that we can not experience that is upsetting”, Cino said.
“Personally, I have wanted to go since freshman year. However, it is safer to not go and we know that class is still going to consist of really fun activities, like trips to the city as well as dumpling making”, she added.
Later, I asked her what the Shanghai girls’ reaction was like to the news that they no longer will see their new friends from Darien. Cino responded that only a few girls knew about the cancellation so far. Those girls are “extremely sad but completely understand, due to their own precautions living in China with the virus.”
It is very unfortunate that the CHEX members will no longer be able to visit China and experience and learn the Chinese culture. Although, it does sound like they have exciting plans to come! Hopefully, in the future years, the China Exchange Program will not run into any problems.
