Volunteer China: Sichuan

Sichuan state is located in Western China. It covers most of the huge Sichuan basin and is bordered on 3 sides by mountains - Tibet and the Himalayas to the west, Qinling to the North and Yunnan to the South.

In May 2008 the province was hit by a massive earthquake reaching almost 8 on the richter scale, killing over 70,000 people and making 100,000's homeless. Mian Yang City, where Travel to Teach volunteers are based was around 120km's east of the epicenter. Although the city didn't suffer anything like the huge devastation felt further west it was still badly affected with over 5000 killed. Life in the city is slowly beginning to return to normal and Travel to Teach will begin to send volunteers back to the area in October 2008. Please see map of worst affected areas or Wikipedia ariticle on the earthquake for more information.

Photo Gallery: Sichuan

Cheng Mian Lu Primary School

Classroom at Cheng Mian Primary School

Street food in Mian Yang

Street food in Mian Yang

Open Market in Mian Yang

Typical Mian Yang food

People in central Mian Yang

First T2T Sichuan volunteer George.

George and the headmaster of his school.

Playing Ping Pong

More Sichuan images.

Volunteer Projects in Sichuan

In Mian Yang city. volunteers teach English in a variety of schools, working with local teachers to plan and teach lessons. Volunteers can be placed at schools within the towns and villages surrounding Mian Yang, and at larger schools within Mian Yang city itself.

The quality of the schools and the level of English vary greatly. Schools in the villages outside of the city are generally very poor with little equipment and generally very basic standards of English. Within Mian Yang city itself the schools are generally much better equipped, and usually have correspodingly higher levels of English.

General Sichuan Info

Where Will I Stay?

Volunteers will share a flat in Mian Yang city. The flat is located between 10 and 20 minutes walk away from most of the schools we work in and has one bedroom, air conditioning, a washing machine, shower and a TV.

Food

From Monday to Friday volunteers will receive 3 meals a day at their school. On weekends the volunteers are responsible for purchasing their own food. Sichuan is famous for its food, particularly the internationally renowned Szechuan cuisine, which is based around the spicy Sichuan peppercorn, chili and ginger. Like most Chinese cities there is a huge variety of food available in Mian Yang, ranging from cheap although usually excellent street food at around 1 to 2 dollars, through to more expensive restaurants.

Weather

The Sichuan basin has a subtropical monsoon climate with long summers and short winters. Summers are humid although not too hot with average temperatures between 25-29 degrees. Winters tend to be cool and cloudy.

Free Time

Sichuan is known as the home of the giant panda, and includes the famous Wolong Panda reserve. The reserve was founded in 1980 with the help of the World Wildlife Fund and covers over 200,000 hectares. It houses over 150 pandas both captive and wild, with one of the world's most successful breeding programs. As well as the giant panda the park is home to a number of other rare and endangered species including red pandas, golden monkeys, white-lipped deer and gnu.

Many of these species, including giant and red pandas are also found in Jiuzhaigou a narrow 400 kilometer valley in the Minshan mountain range in the west of Sichuan. Jiuzhaigou is famous for its spectacular senary, lakes and waterfalls and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Other famous sites includes the Leshan Giant Buddha. The Buddha is the largest stone status in the world at 71 meters tall and was cut into a cliff face during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). For anyone with an interest in archaeology there are a huge number of sites both surrounding Mian Yang and throughout Sichuan province.

Where Is?/ Getting To Sichuan

Mian Yang airport has regular flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Kunming. The city also has excellent rail links including high speed links to Beijing and Shanghai.