The entrance to my elementary school, which has been remodeled since I was there.

While I was at my parents’ house for dinner this past weekend, I rummaged through a bunch of my old books and came upon a gem: A two-volume collection of student essays published by my elementary school in Guangzhou, China, in 1995 (five years after I left China for America). The books’ title, “Easterly Wind Unfurling the Sail”, is a play on my school’s name — Dong Feng Dong Lu Xiao Xue (东风东路小学), or literally E. Easterly Wind Road Elementary. The unfurling sail image, as far as my fifth-grade-level Chinese comprehension can tell, is meant to convey the metaphor of starting a voyage.

It had been so long since I laid eyes on these books that I had forgotten they existed, nor did I remember how they came into my possession until my parents reminded me: There is an essay from me in there! Actually, it was a letter, the first one I had written to my teacher and classmates after I came to America. It was basically a travel essay about my stops in San Francisco and Chicago on my way to North Carolina. My teacher submitted it for inclusion in the publication and sent me a copy.

While I won’t bore you with the content of my letter, I think I will post the translated text for some of the essays on my blog because they are a nice window into what it was like to be a kid in China back in the late 80s and early 90s. The essays are about the students’ experiences in and outside of school, covering everything from a cryogenic experiment gone awry to how much one kid loves the school’s flag pole (yes, flag pole) to taking up donations for a terminally ill classmate. It’s kind of a nice stroll down memory lane for me, too. I’ll apologize in advance for small mistakes in the translations. Remember, I left China with a fifth-grade-level grasp on Chinese, and some of these essays were written by sixth graders, so I may be in over my head at times.

In the mean time, you can check out some pictures of the school here. It certainly didn’t look this nice when I was a student there. Also, here’s some information on the school, translated from an excerpt from this profile of the school.

E. Easterly Wind Road Elementary School in Guangzhou is a high-quality, modern campus with a long history, elegant environment, high-quality teachers, and an excellent reputation. It was founded in 1948 and originally named Guangzhou Cumberland Private School. In the 1960s it served as the elementary school affiliated with the Guangdong Teachers College. In the late 70s it was designated the Dongshan District primary school. In the 80s it became the district’s central elementary school. In 1984 it was renamed E. Easterly Wind Road Elementary.

Starting in August 2006, the school was divided into three campuses: the E. Easterly Wind Campus, the Jincheng Garden Campus, and the Easterly Wind Square Campus. The E. Easterly Wind Campus (built in 1948) occupies 6,703 square meteers, with a building area of 6,950 square meters. The Jincheng Flower Campus (built in 2000) occupies 4,000 square meters, with buildings covering 3,553 square meters. The Easterly Wind Square Campus (built in 2006) occupies 4,675 square meters and a construction area of 6,113 square meters. The school currently has 2,028 students (divided into 47 classes). First and second graders are on the Jincheng Flower Campus, and the third through sixth graders are on the E. Easterly Wind Campus. The Easterly Wind Square Campus serves first through sixth graders.

The school has always been committed to the “Little Citizens” moral education, with strict requirements that students follow rules and learn to seek knowledge, learn how to act, learn how to get along, and learn life skills.