In den angenehmen Räumlichkeiten der Stadtbibliothek Chengdu bietet das Chengdu Festival 2009 den Teilnehmern und Besuchern ab 9:30 ein abwechslungsreiches Programm zum Erleben Mitmachen, und Staunen.

Festival-Programm

9.30-12:00   Auftritte chinesischer Schüler in deutscher Sprache

14:30-17:00  Workshop-Erlebniswelt: Firmenprofile zum Anfassen

19:00           Symphoniekonzert 
Kooperation des
Jugendorchesters der Freien Waldorfschule Wendelstein und des 
Sichuan Symphonieorchesters
Leitung: Tang Qingshi
Künstlerische Gestaltung in Zusammenarbeit mit Volker Felgenhauer

Christoph Willibald Gluck, Auszüge aus „Orpheus und Eurydike“ 
Peter Tschaikowsky, „Nussknackersuite“ 
Howard Shore, Filmmusik zu „Herr der Ringe“

 

Ende Oktober konnten endlich die zwei seit dem Erdbeben „verwaisten“ Kindergartengruppen in die wiederaufgebauten, wunderschönen Gebäude einziehen, die mit Hilfe der vielen Freunde auf der ganzen Welt ermöglicht wurden! Diese Gebäude sind wirklich – man wagt es kaum zu sagen – viel schöner als alle anderen Gebäude der Schule zusammen! Sie sind ein wahres Geschenk! Ein Geschenk von Menschen, die uns ihre Gedanken und Hilfe geschickt haben, damit die Waldorferziehung in diesem gewaltigen, geschundenen Land einen Ort hat, an dem sie arbeiten und von dem sie ausstrahlen kann.

Für diese Hilfe danken wir von Herzen den Freunden auf der ganzen Welt!

Diese Hilfe hat uns viel Kraft gegeben und wir fühlen, wie neue Möglichkeiten entstehen, wenn viele Menschen in die selbe Blickrichtung schauen und daraus arbeiten wollen, jeder an seinem Ort.

 Vor einer Woche konnten endlich die zwei seit dem Erdbeben „verwaisten“ Kindergartengruppen in die wiederaufgebauten, wunderschönen Gebäude einziehen, die mit Hilfe der vielen Freunde auf der ganzen Welt ermöglicht wurden! Diese Gebäude sind wirklich – man wagt es kaum zu sagen – viel schöner als alle anderen Gebäude der Schule zusammen! Sie sind ein wahres Geschenk! Ein Geschenk von Menschen, die uns ihre Gedanken und Hilfe geschickt haben, damit die Waldorferziehung in diesem gewaltigen, geschundenen Land einen Ort hat, an dem sie arbeiten und von dem sie ausstrahlen kann.

Für diese Hilfe danken wir von Herzen den Freunden auf der ganzen Welt!

Ihre Hilfe hat uns viel Kraft gegeben und wir fühlen, wie neue Möglichkeiten entstehen, wenn viele Menschen in die selbe Blickrichtung schauen und daraus arbeiten wollen, jeder an seinem Ort.

Es war an einem heißen Sommerabend des Jahres 1994. Ein australisches Ehepaar, das durch China reiste, hielt eine ungewöhnliche „Konferenz“ mit zwei jungen Chinesen in einem der typischen Sichuan-Teehäuser. Später berichteten die beiden Australier Benjamin und Than Cherry über diese Unterhaltung in ihrem Buch „The Panda and the Wondering Geese“. Das Gespräch begeisterte die jungen Chinesen Huang Xiaoxing und seine Frau Zhang Li so sehr, dass sie sich entschlossen, die Waldorflehrerausbildung am Emerson College in England zu machen. Sie studierten danach außerdem in Sunbridge College in den Vereinigten Staaten.

Bald darauf hörte Li Zewu, ein Bekannter von Zhang Lis Cousine, der gerade als Lehrer an einer chinesischen Mittelschule unterrichtete, von dem Gespräch. Er beschloss ebenfalls, nach Emerson College zu gehen. So waren die ersten Keime für die Schule gelegt worden.

Nach einer langen Vorbereitungszeit traf sich eine kleine Gruppe von Menschen im Sommer 2004 in Chengdu. Dank Li Zewu war ein Gelände am Stadtrand von Chengdu aufgetrieben worden, das als Wochenend-Resort gedient hatte und inmitten dessen ein verwahrloster Teich lag. Dort wurde im September 2004 die erste Waldorfschule Chinas mit vier Kindern und der erste Waldorfkindergarten mit fünf Kindern eröffnet.

Inzwischen ist das Gebiet um die Schule herum schon recht dicht bebaut. Auf dem dritten Autobahnring, der nur 2 km entfernt liegt und erst vor 2 Jahren in Betrieb genommen wurde, ist regelmäßig dichter Verkehr mit langen Staus.

Seit das neue Schuljahr am 1. September 2009 begonnen hat, ist die Schule um eine neue 1. Klasse mit 13 Kindern größer geworden. So sind nun insgesamt 55 Kinder in den Klassen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 und 7. Im Kindergarten gibt es inzwischen sechs Gruppen mit insgesamt 80 Kindern. Aber nicht nur das; die Veränderungen betreffen auch die Gebäude und die Spielflächen.

Am Ende des letzten Schuljahres war es noch eine bange offene Frage gewesen, wo im neuen Schuljahr die Kindergartengruppen und die Klassen untergebracht werden könnten. Denn nach dem verheerenden Erdbeben vom 12. Mai 2009 waren zwei der Kindergartengebäude unbenutzbar geworden, so dass sie abgerissen werden mussten. Das Schulgebäude war zwar glücklicherweise nicht beschädigt worden; aber die Baupläne konnten mit einem Mal durch neue Auflagen der Stadt nicht mehr umgesetzt werden.

Mit sehr viel Glück und durch gute Beziehungen konnte dann ein ehemaliges Rathaus angemietet werden, das direkt neben dem Schulgrundstück liegt. Es musste nur die Mauer aufgebrochen werden, und schon konnte wir das stattliche Gebäude in das bisherige Gelände integriert werden. Dadurch ist das Schulgrundstück um eine erhebliche Fläche größer geworden, und der Kindergarten und die Verwaltungsgebäude (der alte Teil der Schule) liegen nun sicherlich 5 Gehminuten vom Eingang des Schulhauses entfernt. Das sind völlig neue Arbeitsbedingungen, denn die Atmosphäre war bisher sehr überschaubar und familiär. Die Anzahl der Elternhäuser hat nun auch die 100er-Marke überschritten. Die Schule ist in jeder Hinsicht größer geworden.

 Back to school 

After having 4 weeks Chinese  New Year break, children are  happy to be back in school  again. This was the coldest  Chinese New Year in 40 years. There was a snowstorm in 

south China, Many people suffered from getting stuck in  the railway station, airport and  high ways. There were power  cut and water pipes broken for weeks in some cities, it seems none of our teachers who come from those cities suffered from that. But, many  stayed at home in the cold weather. Finally, the spring comes, the lawn turns green again. 

Master plan 

The school master plan has been layout after a year process.  Thank to Mr. Qing, a parent of our school who is an architect for a real estate company. The school authority has given their specification we can go ahead to build our classrooms. It will meet the requirement to grant our full license to operated the as an elementary school once the building is completed. The first stage of building is build 12 classrooms. It will startto lay the foundation by the end of March; we hope that the grade school will be able to move to the new building in this fall.  

The Kindergarten 

       

The kindergarten has expended to five classes. There are 63 children in the 

kindergarten. We have stopped the enrollment and register for next year for they are a long waiting list. We do not have enough trained teachers and classrooms to take those in the waiting list in. There is a high expectation for our teachers.  Most of parents are very happy with their children in our kindergarten though there was two children were pulled out this semester. Teachers are getting more experiences, but they donot get enough support from experienced teachers. We are expecting an experienced kindergarten teacher come from Europe for a year in July. 

 How we will build  

 

The kindergarten room must be over 65 square meter and with a nap room. The ideal 

is to have the main room build with a big bunk inside for napping. It will save a lot of space and work for the teachers. We have to work it out with the teachers and architect more in detail. We will need sixes more trained kindergarten teachers   next year. We  will be able to build although the fund is not yet in the place.  We may collect the tuition from those who are in the  waiting list  and build the kindergarten before them can come. 

 

The grade School

 

The grade school has a few children moved to abroad  after the Chinese new year break. Some of them return. Some of them are not. But, we will have a few more adopted Chinese girls come from the United States join in the grade school in the fall. The population of English speakers is getting bigger in our small school. Some parents start to worry if we still teach in Chinese to their children.  

 

The grade school is still in the process to grant the full license in order to be operated as an elementary school.  We have got the promise from the government that as long as the classrooms and the sport field  are built  they will give it to us. So far, we are under some kind of protection. The major work for this semester is to build the classrooms for the 

grade school. 

    

Of course, we still have a long way to get our teachers training.  It is a great that Guoming who had completed her teacher training in Australia now is back in the school. She was the very early founder of the school. We also will get an waldorf trained teachers to teach English from Canada in the fall. There will be six teachers going to attend 9 weeks course in Australia in the summer 

 

 The  teacher training

 

The grade school teacher training is coming to the 3rd model in July. Ben will lead the course  Elizabeth Swisher will teach music and Kristin 

Ramson will  teach Eurythmy. We are worry getting to  many  student  to manage it . We do not have enough space to host more then 100 people in the school.  There is a first grade school in Guangzhou.  There are few mothers are preparing for the first grade in Beijing.  We would like to move the teacher training course to more independent to the school  for the 

trained course carried by the school is too much for the teachers in the school. We are looking for a new course leader who can commit  

oneself for overseeing the course for three years since Ben has committed too much somewhere else. Please keep asking and pass the 

information around. The kindergarten teacher training program is coming to the 4th  model. There are still 56 people coming to the course. Many of them had set up a home kindergarten to practice Waldorf education. The course really serves the need of  them. Susan and Michael Howard will come to conduct the 4th model in May. marjorie theyer will come to do the 5th model in August.  We will complete the first three years kindergarten teacher training program next May. 

 

The Biodynamic work 

The gardening teacher had subdivided some of  our school garden into small lot rent to the parents and friends to start a community farming and gardening program. They bring children to the field after the school or in the weekends. They have some fresh vegetable from the garden for their own or exchange with others. It really helps building up a sense of community. The biodynamic course that was sponsored by Hong Kong Green Field Foundation stopped. One reason is that the founder of Green field Foundation past and we have not yet found more founding for the 

course. The other reason is that those who are interested in the program do not have land to do the physical farming work. And the farmers who do the physical farming work cannot comprehend the idea of Biodynamic 

work because farmers are uneducated 

 

 Community gardening program 

 Food coop and backing sale   

 

The food coop initiated by parents and carrying by some volunteers. They work with an NGO organization that can provide organic food and educate people consume organic product to support the organic farmer. They order organic food and share. The school also sales organic 

vegetables on Friday afternoons.  There is an American mother also organize children to bake and sale that the time. A mini market has  been  

very attractive.  Parents and children  do not want to go home for weekends.  

 

SUMMER 2 0 0 8  

Rebuilding 

Two kindergarten rooms were 

damaged that could not be repaired. 

We have torn them down and are in the 

process of rebuilding them. In their 

place, we are building four kindergarten 

rooms, with the support we have 

thankfully received from all over China 

and from the Waldorf community all 

over the world. They will be ready to be 

used in October. 

The roof of the office that was damaged 

in the earthquake, has been replaced. 

And there are some quake-cracks on the 

walls that have been fixed. We are very 

busy this summer because of the 

earthquake! And the school is about to 

make another major step. 

This was the kindergarten that 

was damaged in the earthquake 

This was the first day of the school. These 

two buildings have been torn down after the 

earthquake damage 

Looking to the new school building from 

the old school building. 

Looking back to the old school building from 

The new school building 

 

We are very excited to have the grade school 

ready to move into the newly rented building 

in the fall. There will be six classes, and each 

classroom will be big enough to hold a full 

class of twenty five children, and we will 

have room to grow! 

 

Many of you received the master plan of our school in the spring 

newsletter. We applied to build a grade school building but were 

not granted the necessary building permit. The government has a 

new zoning plan (our school leases the land; we do not own it).  

In the mean time, we have run out of space and cannot register the 

school without a proper school building. Luckily, we have been 

able to rent a village government office building right next door to 

our school, which is a perfect size for the grade school. 

It just needs minor modifications and can be a proper school 

building. Best of all, it shares one wall with the existing school. All 

we have to do is break down this separating wall. Now, with the 

new school building, we will be able to register the school by the 

end of the summer. The Chengdu Waldorf School will then 

become a legitimate school, providing full time elementary 

education to our children. 

The new gate of the school 

The first time we used the new building was the 

last day of the school in the summer.  

 

We are helping NGOs to supply materials for the 

victims of the earthquake.  

Greenfield Foundation in Hong Kong has been 

in partnership with the Chengdu Waldorf  

School to promote ‘green’ Education and  

Biodynamic work. This time it is led by the 

Buddhist Master Ci Wan who is conducting 

relief efforts in the earthquake disaster area. 

They are collecting donations of purchased food 

and household goods to store in our school 

before delivering the loads to the people in 

need. There are over 50 tons of materials stored 

in our school. The unloading and reloading of 

the trucks  happened during our summer 

Waldorf Teacher Training Program. Over 80 

people come from all over China to participate 

in this program. On two mornings, our activity 

was to help off-load, then re-load the goods into 

the trucks.  Three fully loaded trucks left our 

school, and we were able to give all the 

participants an experience of joyful, energetic 

teamwork! Despite the hot, humid weather, we 

all were thrilled to be working so constructively 

together.  

The Greenfield Foundation intends to build an 

ecological school for children in Shi Fang. This 

town is very close to the epicenter of the last 

earthquake. We will help them by providing 

trained teachers and will continue our 

partnership with them in the future. (NGO stands 

for Non-Government Organization) 

We are expecting another full truckload of cloth, 

food, and other household. We will store in the 

school and help distributing to people who are in 

need. 

In the mean time, Chengdu Waldorf school have 

been become famous on the relief effort which was 

conducting by the government. Our teachers who 

helped in the relief work have shown their love , 

care and professional skills as Waldorf trained 

teachers. The way we had understood the soul and 

spirit in the light of Anthroposophy gives us very 

insight of suffering. It was enable us to offer 

effective support to other human soul.  

Relief effort after earthquake 

Die Freunde Der Erziehungskunst 

On July 21, a group of six germans arrived in 

Chengdu to bring their professional expertise to the 

relief work for the earthquake victims. They came 

from different parts of Germany, and one came 

from Israel! Their intention was to mainly work 

with the Chinese 

Meeting with Chinese Relief workers 

Relief workers and teachers who will continue their  

efforts after the German group returns home. This      

proved to be a very fruitful and positive meeting of 

two worlds, and many of the Chinese who met this 

group were moved simply by the fact that a group of 

people would care enough about the situation to travel  

such a long distance to be of help!     

The group was varied in their professions: Bernd Ruff, a 

therapeutic teacher and the leader of the group; Olaf 

Kob, an anthroposophical medical Doctor; Baria ,a 

psychotherapist, Stephanie Allon, a kindergarten teacher, 

Christoph, a Waldorf High School teacher, and Sebastian 

Tschammer, a Therapeutic Eurythmist. 

   Visit in Shi Fang to the tent school 

Two of our teachers living near the disaster area 

have started a tent school in Shi Fang for the 

children who are suffering great loss or trauma 

in the aftermath of the earthquake.                 

‘Die Freunde’ group provided support, 

encouragement, advice and practical help. 

 

We are helping delivery foods and materials to the

people who are in need in earthquake areas 

We are rebuilding from kindergarten classrooms 

The rebuild is undertaking.

 

 

More pictures

more pictures