MDI teens dazzled by journey to China

TRENTON – Beggars and beauty. Rich history. And unnerving censorship.

The China experienced by a recently returned group of Mount Desert Island teenagers was a sharp cultural contrast.

“It’s like we were instantaneously on the other side of the world,” Scott Farley, 15, of Tremont said Thursday.

“Not only geographically, but when we were there, the culture was different and we had to accept different things than we were accustomed to.”

Scott and three of his fellow globetrotters gathered at the oceanside camp of teacher and chaperone Bob Chaplin of Bar Harbor to share some of the vivid memories they had of their two-week journey.

Seventeen Mainers went on the tour, which brought them to the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Xi’an, famous for its terra cotta army: 6,000 statues of warriors and horses which date from 206 B.C. and which were rediscovered in 1974 by peasants digging for water.

The group’s tour guide was able to answer their questions about the terra cotta army, which was not the case for some other, more controversial topics, according to the kids.

There were seven “forbidden” subjects, Chaplin said, that their state-licensed guide could lose his license for discussing: the Three Gorges Dam, Taiwan, Tibet, abortion, the Cultural Revolution, Chinese politics, and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

This kind of censorship seemed strange to the students.

“We knew about them,” Scott said of the forbidden topics. “We just wanted to hear the views of the Chinese person.”

The students also noticed the heavy smog that obscured some of Beijing, which was in marked contrast to the better air quality they found in Hong Kong.

“If you were to look at one of the pictures we have of Tiananmen Square, you can barely see it because the smog’s so bad,” said Abe Gladstone, 15, of Bar Harbor.

The Mainers also were surprised by the many beggars they saw.

“There’s a huge gap between those who can get by and those who have nothing,” said Heather Murad, a mother and chaperone from Bar Harbor.

From checking out the Great Wall of China to teaching some Chinese people the Y.M.C.A. dance to witnessing prayer at a Buddhist temple, the students tried to immerse themselves in the experience, even audio recording their tour guide’s comments. Some hope to study the Chinese language, and all said they hope to go back someday.

“I was very proud of them,” Murad said of the teenagers. “They really took it in and thought it over. … Not only did they learn a lot while they were there, but it also piqued their interest.”