SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Swarthmore College Volleyball is preparing to tour China in the beginning of August for competition and the cultural experience.
The two-week adventure begins on Aug. 6 when the Garnet travel to Shanghai. From there the team will also visit Suzhou, Nanjing, and Beijing. In addition to sightseeing, the Garnet will be teaching volleyball clinics and will be playing matches on the trip.
AUG. 18, 2017__Beijing (Rachel Vresilovic & Mehra den Braven)
BIG. If we had to sum up Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city, it would no doubt be that. We are talking tens of thousands of square meters big, like, Tiananmen Square alone can fit one million people. Crazy! We can barely fit 1600 students on campus. It certainly felt like there were one million people there yesterday, well maybe slightly less, but thankfully Chris had a tall white panda flag to lead the pack with.
We had some newcomers to the group as well: Kitty, our hilarious, witty, totally-instilled-the-fear-of-climbing-the-Great-Wall-in-us tour guide, and Guin's family members including her uncles, her crazy cross country running brother, and her adorably wonderful grandmother, and her sweetheart mom.
On the drive over to the Square, Kitty made it very clear not to discuss the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square, but nevertheless it is difficult not to associate the two together. In high school we both learned about the protest—it led us to wonder how many people in the Square yesterday actually grasped the historical significance of where they stood. What do we ourselves miss in our everyday life?
While we meandered through the various gates and courtyards (the buildings in the forbidden city are all made of wood—no nails used at all—and adorned with beautiful colors and patterns) we had fun playing with the crazy hats some girls found on the street, trying to complete Guin's scavenger hunt, getting some pretty cool photos, and listening to Kitty describe to us life at court from how the city was built to withstand stand assassins and how the concubines were picked. After reaching the far end of the city, which took a good amount of time, we hustled on the bus to make it to a lunch of the highly reputable Beijing duck. At this point in time the rain decided to make a splashing appearance and our party we got thoroughly soaked. Nevertheless we persevered, reaching the temple of heaven where the rain simply added to the marvel of the place, and also made for prime music video making and dancing.
While there's always much to admire about the architecture and history here, there's also much to say about the girls we are getting to spend time with, be that sightseeing all day or watching the Chinese version of The Voice and munching on the biscoff we bought at the Russian market next to the hotel. China wouldn't be the same without them.
AUG. 16, 2017__Nanjing (Malia Scott & Emily Kibby)
Coming to Nanjing has surprised me and challenged my preconceived notions of what I expected from China. I never knew that such a large city could exist in harmony with so much nature and greenery. Reinforcing this aspect, we visited and ate at a greenhouse restaurant. The restaurant grew all their own food as well as distributed their crops throughout Nanjing. It was cool to see how close to the city we could be, while also being in the midst of a farm. There are aspects of a faster paced city life mixed in with a slower, simpler and more rural life. This juxtaposition is something I didn't expect at all but have been so pleased with it.
One of the first things we got to do in Nanjing was practice at the Jiangsu Professional Women's Volleyball facilities and catch a glimpse of the team practicing. We were all a bit star struck by being in the presence of pro volleyball players and four Olympic gold medalists. It was one of those moments from this trip that catches you off guard and makes you appreciate the craziness and the awesomeness of being in China with an amazing group of people and getting to play the sport we all love.
On Monday we also had the opportunity to visit a portion of the imposing wall that surrounds the central part of Nanjing city. Each brick in the wall was labeled with the name of the craftsmen, supervisor, and king at the time of production, as a sort of "quality control" (in short, it let them know where to place the blame if a brick broke). From upon the wall we had a breathtaking view of Xuanwu lake and the Purple Mountain. Adjacent to the wall sits the Jiming Buddhist temple, a sacred place of peace and prayer run by female devotees. The complex housed a towering pagoda and several buildings to shelter the various Buddha's. Kneeling at the feet of 10(ish) foot tall golden statues, we and the other pilgrims offered wishes to improve our own lives and the lives of the people we love. In the peace of the temple I felt more connected to my spirituality than I had expected to be, and felt like I forged a deeper connection with my teammates and friends.
AUG. 14, 2017__Nanjing (Emma Morgan-Bennett)
On Sunday, our volleyball team went to visit the Nanjing Massacre museum. Approaching the entrance in our bus, a towering sculpture of a mother, her neck craned towards the sky, wailing with her dress torn from her breast, cradling a limp infant at her hips, somberly greeted us. Her mouth, ajar with a scream, released no sound, but we all heard her pain.
The Nanjing Massacre, also known as the rape of Nanking, occurred in 1937. Previous to Beijing, Nanjing had been the fortified capital of China. A capital sealed and safe behind an impregnable wall. But in 1937, following a series of won advantages, Japan managed to invade the city's walls. Perhaps ecstatic over their first victorious invasion, perhaps hoping to avenge comrades who had died in earlier, failed, attempts to overtake the city, the Japanese army brutalized Nanjing. Dying from gunshots, bayonet stabs, rape, and bombs, 300,000 Chinese men, women & children perished. Their remains, buried in mass graves, rotted until their rediscovery in the 1970s. In fact, the museum we walked through yesterday was the fossil of a pond that had been drained and used to bury 10,000 of the dead.
The museum was a solemn reminder of the violence within our history. Surrounded by hundreds of others similarly learning about World War II and the rise of fascism, I felt exceptionally young and foreign. Born in 1998, I have been lucky enough to only know violence in the abstract. A native New Yorker, my friends and I are regarded as the last generation to have concrete memories of 9/11—my own only a great plume of smoke from a window. Unlike citizens of Nanjing, I've never seen blood violently shed, or guns, or the rubble left from bombings. Born too young to feel directly impacted by WWII, the Vietnam War, or even the Iraq war, I've received the gift of distance from violence.
As a foreigner, I felt both discomforted and united by the museum. As a tall black woman, more than a dozen Asian tourists took pictures of me. Their fascination magnified my otherness; who was I to take space in this place of Chinese history and grief? Who was I to look at the bones of their dead? I especially noticed the keen absence of information relying active US sympathy and alliance. Yet I also felt my identity expanding from the national to the human. Although American, although six-foot tall, although chocolate skinned, standing next to a Chinese mother, I sensed a kinship. We both shared disbelief at the demonstrated loss of life. We shared heartache over these souls' last moments shrouded by violence. And I suspect we both whispered a prayer that neither of our families or friends will ever have to endure the same end. The concluding plaque made a promise to "forge a community of shared common destiny for all mankind… let us bear in mind the great truth of history: Justice will prevail! Peace will prevail! The People will prevail!" Even when I fly back to Swarthmore, halfway around the world, I, the girls on my team, and my peers at Swarthmore will surely dedicate ourselves to the same promise.
AUG. 12, 2017__SUZHOU (Alice Liu)
Our matches in Suzhou have been a whirlwind of wondrous experiences, full of nervousness, excitement, competiveness, and joy. After our games, we usually take photos with the opposing team, intermixing ourselves and attempting to converse across language barriers. Occasionally, we'll take selfies with them, using the Chinese beautifying app of course, and then exchange Wechat contact info (the Chinese version of Facebook). As one of the team translators, I was often swarmed by Chinese players who wanted my teammates' contact info – Mehra was especially popular.
Since many of my relatives reside in Shanghai and Suzhou, they came to watch us play. It was the first time my 84-year-old grandma saw me play volleyball live, and I was grateful that I could share one of my passions with her. We also got to sample delicious dishes with exotic ingredients ranging from lotus roots to pig feet. Occasionally, we bought a few street snacks - mooncake biscuits filled with red bean or dates, pearl milk tea, and some stinky tofu. Most were not a fan of the smell.
After lunch, we explored the Humble Administrator's Garden, a traditional family residence built for a high-ranking official. Bridges connected elegant, wooden pavilions overlaying a huge pond of blooming pink and yellow lotus flowers. Our tour guide showed us how family dynamics were reflected in the garden's pathways: men walked on scenic, zigzag paths while women could only view the gardens through windows, walking on a straight path set with square tiles.
On our last evening in Suzhou, I enjoyed some bonding time with my cousin from Suzhou. She took me for a ride on her electric scooter to a nearby lake, and we spent time chatting while walking across bridges. Numerous building lights were reflected on the lake's surface, twinkling with the water's delicate movements. When we left Suzhou, I said goodbye to my cousin and now we're off to our next destination, Nanjing.
AUG. 10, 2017__SHANGHAI (Molly Fennig and Bridget Scott)
As excited as we were for our trip, our plane to Dallas changed its mind after we had boarded, causing us to have to switch to a later flight and miss our connection to Shanghai. We got to spend the night in Texas, though, in real beds (such a luxury compared to our other potential accommodation, the airport floor) and took the flight to Shanghai the next day. The ZZY volleyball club welcomed us to their gym for practice once we arrived in the city, handing us beautiful fans and pins. They even had made a "Welcome Swarthmore College" banner, which hung above the entrance. The next morning we went to Yue Gardens which was surrounded by koi ponds flowing under curving bridges. There were also souvineer shops with beautiful silk scarves and aromatic tea, and food venders with trays overflowing with fried meats, warm dumplings, and soft rice. It was almost like we were celebrities at times with people taking pictures of us as we lined up to take our own, just raising their cameras as we passed, or asking to pose with us. Afterwards the SCIS International School let us use their gym for practice and allowed us to spend a half an hour running a clinic for some of their players.
After our time at SCIS, we visited the URBN Hotel, a carbon neutral hotel made of completely recycled materials in Shanghai. After a team dinner we visited the SWFC observatory. The observatory was on the 100th floor of the building--the sixth tallest in the world! We were lucky to have a clear night and had an incredible view of the city and beyond. What a great way to end our first full day in China!
Swarthmore Volleyball is coached by Harleigh Chwastyk, who is assisted this year by Julia Malseed and Linda Zhang. The Garnet enter the 2017 season having won two straight ECAC Championships. Swarthmore returns 15 players from last season, including all-conference athletes Sarah Girard, Sarah Wallace and Mehra den Braven.
