Two IESD students, Nick Benitos Goll and Dauglas W. Juma of IESD represented Tongji University at the BIT-TU9 and E9 summer school that was held in Guangzhou, Tianjin and Beijing cities respectively. The Summer school comprised of visiting students form Germany’s TU9 universities and China’s E9 universities, with a total of 35 students.

From August 24-27, the school was held in Guangzhou. While in Guangzhou, the students had the opportunity to visit Guangzhou Museum where they learned about the cultures, traditions and working of the Guangdong people and the Cantonese language. They also got an opportunity to visit Forshan city and had a first-hand experience on traditional brick making using the tradition kiln for burning bricks. Traditional worship in the temple and the martial art of “kungfu” and “Taichi” were also witnessed by students during their visit to the IP Man Museum Gallery.

On the 27th and 28th of August, the students were in Tianjin city (“emperors port”). At Tianjin, they visited now Tianjin University (formerly Peiyang University), the first modern university in china. While at the university, the students toured the History Museum that showed how education in china was developed overtime, and the Fengjicai Research Institute of art and culture which helped in understanding the way of life of Tianjin people. The students also visited the Exhibition Hall of Tianjin city planning where detailed plans of the city are laid down on a visible model. To compare the tradition and modern life in Tianjin, the students also visited the ancient culture street and the modern Italian-Style Street.