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2026年寒假，2025级博士巴西留学生Lucas Alves Maciel（路昇煜）积极参加了教育学部贵州榕江县社会实践活动，深入探究中国少数民族文化与乡村教育。通过调研“班超”足球教育体系，他观察到体育课程如何提升学生身心健康及社区凝聚力。在苗、侗、水等民族聚居地，他亲历传统歌舞、村超足球赛等文化活动，感受到传统与现代教育的融合。团队协作与跨文化交流让Lucas反思巴西乡村教育问题，并深刻体会到中国教育者的奉献精神。实践经历使他重新思考教育本质，强调开放对话与共情的重要性。

Reflections on My Immersive Experience in "Exploring China"

——Turning life into a work of art, and sharing it with the world

As an international student of the 2025 cohort, I was fortunate to participate in the winter social practice researchhold by the Faculty of Educationbetween January 7 and 20, 2026.This gave mea greatopportunity to deeply appreciate China’s excellent traditional ethnic minority cultures. I went to Rongjiang County, Guizhou Province, China, to discover, observe, conduct research, and exchange ideas while learning on-site about rural education through its actors and narratives.

The aim was to observe how local rural schools and districts are using a specific educational system to improve educational quality. The city of Rongjiang in Guizhou has a cultural intellectual property (IP) called Cunchao (Village Super League), a municipal football competition that unites dozens of villages around a locally organized tournament, attracting tourism and generating income for the region at both national and international levels. The city is also home to ethnic minorities such as the Shui, Miao, Dong, and Yao, who live in harmony with the Han (the country's majority ethnic group). Thanks to this IP, many families have been able to return to work in their villages due to the economic activity brought by tourism; they can also promote the local rural lifestyle through festivals that showcase Cunchao culture. For example, Cunniu (Village Bull) is a local bullfighting event featuring regional buffaloes, held in a sustainable manner that promotes a culture of living in harmony with nature.

First, the group gathered for literature research, discussions, and learning about rural culture at the Chongqing Bayu Farming Agriculture Museum. We were invited by local schools to study the Banchao system, an educational model that provides subsidies to implement 5 physical education classes per week focused on football practice, with the goal of building school teams. These teams compete internally and are selected for municipal inter-class competitions. The policy promotes a reduction in mobile phone addiction, prevention of vision deterioration, greater emotional intelligence by handling group conflicts, opportunities in the development of social interactions, greater emotional control, responsibility, and mental well-being; among other benefits observed by the interviewed teachers and principals. Such a system is designed to promote the integration of culture and arts in elementary education, extending to secondary education, where the initiative evolves into training professional athletes, generating sustainability for the local communities.

Some of the experiences were lived collectively, turning them into colorful communitarian memories. The color and life of the Bayu Farming Agriculture Museum can be found in Liu Gang (Brother Gang) and his family. Every morning, small groups would go to the museum to host social media livestreams about rural life. How can one understand that the foundation of Chinese culture lies in rural life and agriculture without thinking of this family? Without their teachings that even for a livestream, tool cleaning must be done systematically, not just performatively? Without the script changes made in the heat of the moment to accommodate new teachings that Gang Ge wanted to share, in his natural and spontaneous way? Without the delicious, abundant home-cooked lunches, accompanied by conversations about country life under January’s shy sun? An important piece of knowledge encountered us in this stage: we must prepare as much as possible for every element we can control, and be open to the possibility of transforming the experience and ourselves through everything we cannot control. The unexpected gives color to life, and navigating it is exciting and intense.

This opened our hearts to emotions, and to the singularities of people – they permeate our lives, and we must let ourselves be permeated by them. To understand this was essential to prepare for the schools we visited next. At the first school, we were able to spend four days with staff, teachers, and children: more than 350 perspectives and worlds, beautifully clashing with each other every day. Now, how to describe how bubbling, exciting, and simply “alive” was the experience? Translating it into clichés like “a mountain of smiles” is not eloquent enough, because the kids would really agglomerate fiercely like a mountain of affection around us, open to the new experience, trying to be part of this special disruption we brought to their daily lives. Living in that welcoming, talkative and playful atmosphere for four days made the winter-cold, simple environment

suddenly come alive. Together, we all chose the colors we used to paint those memories. Waking up to a disembodied gentle voice from the loudspeakers, sharing the moment of eating surrounded by eager and curious students, the moment of watching classes while trying earnestly to understand what the teachers mean; and the moment when language barriers and daily routines broke down simultaneously, allowing everyone to simply gather to build something new and unexpected: dancing the life of Miao traditions. This dance was a breakthrough moment in aesthetic education. It started timidly as a performance from the professional dancers; but suddenly, each teacher, each student, each group member, started to join and breathe life, seriousness, shyness, playfulness, into tradition. In that moment, art was collectively built, and the past was actively lived.

At subsequent schools, we heard principals and teachers passionate about their work, describing how their personal lives merge with their profession, earnestly asking for suggestions to improve their schools, or proudly showing their campuses. It became clear that the more beautiful and harmonious the school is, the more likely there is an educator behind it who makes their own life an art form. These special beings see no distinction between their personal goals and the well-being of the school community. It is truly an art to dedicate one own’s energy, time and passion to a collective dream, to something that is fully enjoyed by the whole community of children and adults. Meanwhile, those professionals would lay back, admiring proudly the final result of turning their own abstract dreams and ideas into concrete forms of harmony that bring joy to all. I want to be one of these educators, one day, translating my personal dream into a piece of art that can be enjoyed by all and bring warmth to the society.

All this while we understood the spirit of the city was deeply connected to their concrete manifestations of culture. The exciting Cunchao football system made me feel back in my homeland, Brazil: it was thrilling to see the passion for football echo in all the villages and bring competitive teams to intense matches, under the lazy Sunday atmosphere. The love for animals was also evident in Cunniu, where we saw crowds gathered to watch their beloved water buffaloes showcased to the entire crowd in friendly competitions. There is something deeply artistic in a place where different people all gather for the same reason, and engage in the same emotion, a specific type of thrill towards something concrete, vibrant.

We also learned more about the Dong, Miao, and Shui cultures - the ethnic minorities who inhabit and build the city, giving meaning to its rivers and mountains, gently weaving stories into the unique geography and wrapping collective memory into a shared imaginary. Everything is alive, everything has meaning. Rivers, mountains, or even simple rocks and trees carry the proud legacy of early generations and sustain the living practice of today. A people story is enriched by ancient love stories and narrative of heroic adventures that shape their present. The past is alive in the city, and I believe we came close to truly experiencing it in the best moments of collective action.

In the final days, while invaded by an inner emptiness as we felt art and collective life fade away to give way to the systematic research, we were suddenly confronted with ourselves: who is this diverse group of students passionate about rural education? The experiences sparked visceral conversations and debates about the future of education and philosophical ideals every night until 3 a.m. We would go to bed exhausted, barely able to speak or stand, but with a diffuse impression that something had changed inside, colored by the intense contact with ideas that were now shared and concrete. These were the moments that transformed us into a group: not always cohesive, but always with bubbling ideas and a profound sense of humanity and empathy.

This is the perfect timing to add yet another perspective, which has been underlying this text since the beginning, but has not yet been fully acknowledged - it is time to leave the plural for a moment, and return to the lonely first-person singular, “I”. I am an international student from Brazil. So, during the whole practice, I have been struggling with the language barrier, the culture barrier, and the social norms. I could not have learned, felt and experienced any of this if it was not for the sheer generosity of prof. Li, the Faculty of Education, and the fellow Chinese students who were there, every day, struggling with me, embracing my presence, and, even though each was busy with their own work, they found time to guide me, translate for me, help with my research, keep me company at moments of loneliness... Everyone worked very hard so that this lonely first-person singular (“I”) and that solid collective of a third person plural (“they”) could turn into a “we”. I believe I would not be able to write this essay, with this collective perspective, if it was not for this generous act of inclusion. This is yet another example of how this social practice, in Confucian terms, not only discussed theory, but embraced the practice of virtue.

Allow me to briefly reflect upon what I believe is a common experience for several international students. Leaving one’s country and hitting the button “pause” on your personal life is not always easy. Even though coming to China is the fulfillment of a dream, going back to college and living a steep routine of studies can make one feel out of touch with reality. I firmly encourage all international students to pursue this: instead of staying only in theoretical study, seeing your days and weeks go by through the window while sitting in a chair; to be actually able to open up the routine a little and immerse yourself in China. If one does that, the borders of what they consider as the “self” will expand, and the work of art that is each of our existences will be enriched with the different tonalities provided by the different people we meet along the way.

When I say this, I am not only referring to the long, engaging discussions about the meaning of life, ethics of research, Chinese traditions, rural education, andXin Fathat we had, building together a knowledge that has not yet been written in any books. I also am not only referring to the opportunity to be in such a diverse and vibrant group that is completely dedicated to the educational cause, with undeniable and intense passion. And I am not only referring to the fact that, since we are in China, we must actually learn and try our best embody the Chinese spirit of education, the culture present in each object, each place and each relationship, the spirit of how to live and conduct life. So, what am I referring to?

Even far from our hometowns, we can still find deeply kind and warm relationships, in every corner, waiting to be fully developed. And they often lead to life-changing epiphanies we would not have if we were alone, locked inside ourselves. For instance, the trip made me think and rethink Paulo Freire’s power of dialogue, Nel Noddings’ power of care, and Confucius’ power of example. Every human experience can be treated as a learning opportunity, and everyone we meet has a universe within them (“when three people walk, one can be my teacher”). If we can step away from the rush of daily life to talk with them, or simply share some moments with them, always carrying empathy and openness in our hearts to the new; the world will undoubtedly become a more harmonious place, where every dialogue can become a work of art, and every experience can turn into warm memories of intense shared moments.

Objectively speaking, the social practice and research were successful, identifying model schools for the application of the Banchao system and describing it, as well as finding possible solutions for specific improvements in the visited rural boarding school. It demonstrated how differentiated education programs that value local traditions and promote the sustainability of rural areas are essential. The practice also presented interesting points for reflecting on rural education in Brazil, especially in my home state of Roraima, where the Basic Education Development Index is the worst in the country for high schools, and dropout rates are alarming. I intend to deepen the research, and find specific points that could be explored as potential enhancements to my local issues; while still contributing in what I can to China’s rural education. The schools we visited were models on how to conduct Basic Education correctly, with nutritious meals, safe housing and proper care for the students’ holistic education.

The group, collectively and through every one of its individuals, continues its struggle to transform rural education. But everyone will carry the awareness that every interaction, every experience, and every person is part of the thread that weaves this transformation. All these memories are now shared, and are eagerly waiting to come to life again, bringing the chaos of life to our falsely built routine. This is, in a sense, harmony.

撰写人：Lucas Alves Maciel（路昇煜）

初审：李雪垠

复审：王  雪

终审：王正青