Yinghua International School Visit- Chinese Mission and United Nations Headquarters
02 March 2018, New York, United States - Students and teachers from YingHua International School, a Chinese-English dual language school dedicated to providing full-time language-immersive education has visited the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China and the United Nations Headquarters under the guidance and accompany of the staff from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on 2 March 2018.
At 10:45am on Friday 2 March, the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China has welcomed the Yinghua International School’s students - ranging from the second grade to the seventh grade. The students were accompanied by their teachers and some of the volunteered parents. A group of 47, also known as the youngest visiting group in history to the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, were warmly received by Ms. Yuanchun Ma (Claire), the spokesperson and the counsellor of the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China. Considering the fact that the students were fluent in Mandarin, Ms. Ma has delivered a comprehensive introduction in Chinese to the visiting students. The introduction has covered several aspects of working in the Permanent Mission of People’s Republic of China which included: the responsibilities of the Mission, expectations and the daily work routines…etc. The talk was well-received by the students and they have actively engaged in the conversations with Ms. Ma and Mr. Yang Zhang, the Press Officer of the Permanent Mission of People’s Republic of China. Students were extremely enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the field of international relations and their questions were answered in detail by Ms. Ma and Mr. Zhang. The questions have involved a wide range of topics such as identities, the United Nations system and the importance of being bilingual. Before Yinghua International School’s departure to the United Nations Headquarters, two parties have exchanged the gifts to memorize this fruitful and meaningful visit.
The United Nations Headquarters tour was led by Ms. Tianyi Zhao and Mr. Pelayo Alvarez from UNITAR New York Office. The extensive bilingual tour was given in Chinese and English. To ensure the better understandings of the content, the tour has especially considered the knowledge and the needs from the students. After a brief introduction on the history and the mission of the United Nations, students started off from the third floor in the United Nations Headquarters. Afterwards, students got a chance to visit the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council. The visit of the council has given students a more straightforward explanation on how the conflicts were mitigated within different councils depending on different issues. Then, students and the teachers headed out to the disarmament exhibition within the United Nations Headquarters. The staff from UNITAR has explained the budgeting gap between disarmament and the war expenses, which has provided students and teachers a more intuitive insight on the importance of promoting the progress of disarmament. The highlight of the tour was the statue that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The statue was exhibited in the disarmament area. The special exhibition of the statue has showed students the power of atomic bomb, thus increased students’ sense and pursue for the world peace. The tour of the United Nations Headquarters ended in front of the board of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)– where the UNITAR staff has given a detailed explanation and encouraged the students to contribute to the achievements of SDGs by 2030.
It is thrilled to see young generations are passionate about promoting world peace and a career in International Relations. The collaborations and the communications between the UNITAR New York Office, Yinghua International School and the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China has guaranteed the success of this visit. Students, parents and the teachers have expressed their gratitude and believed the tour was extremely informative, and they have benefitted significantly from the two visits.
Photo 1: The group of Students from Yinghua International School at their arrival to the mission of China.
Photo 2: The group of Students from Yinghua International School next to the United Nations Book Shop.
Photo 3: Mr. Shawn Watts, Columbia Law School Professor, and Mr. Pelayo Alvarez and Ms. Tianyi Zhao from UNITAR New York Office were awarded by luck charms by the students.
Photo 4: The group of Students from Yinghua International School visiting the Trusteeship Council.