When the blazing of summer has just elapsed , there were senses of coolness mixing in the air. Everything was quiet and peaceful , including the indigo sky , the breeze , and the scent of cereals. It has been a long time for us to feel the nature.
On 3rd and 4th November 2022 , all of the G1 teachers and students went to the Avignon Eco Park in Huizhou , to embrace the chance of camping in the autumn rain .
It was nearly noon when we arrived at the campsite. After the exciting Warcrying activity , students in Fire house and Metal house were going to have their DIY cooking first. It was a really tough work to prepare meals for so many people in one and a half hour,but everything was perfectly done by our diligent students. Our spirit was totally inspired by the unexpectly delicous food such as the spicy pork and the meatball soup. In the evening cooking activity , students in Wood and Water did as well as them. With the valuable experiences , such as the image of blazing flames , the screaming and laughing , we were deeply touched.
After a short break , every form groups went to the teambuilding sites with fully vigour. Speed , power, and teamwork were entirely expressed in the various activities. We planned intently in the Tug of War , cheering with others when playing the Angry Birds , or pay extremely large effort during the Caterpillar Relay , and playing with the Yoga Balls delicately. Flags were rising in the wind , and time elapsed to the dawn.
The sky was pured as a canvas painted by ink . Light illuminated the stage, while a song of Blues announced the begin of the KTV performance.It was an amazing picture which contains the gentle singers , the energetic dancers , and the audience who hold the cameras and the glowsticks.
When the moon was hanging on the sky , we came back into our small tents , and ending this exhausting trip for the first day. It was a pleasure to fall asleep while hearing the sound of raindrops and breeze.The air was fragant with the scents of forests.
“ The real warm beauty of the world , is combining with the land , and lurking in deep valleys.”—-by Qiuyu Yu
At six o’clock , the twittering of birds and the fresh air woke us up. It was time for the Scavenger Hunt , and our mission was taking pictures at specific places which were set by the prefects. We touched the warmth of life , hearing the heartbeats of grand land , and discovering the childishness that hided in the deepest place in our hearts. Sometimes it can be fun to watch the interesting animals with form tutors.
As SCIErs , we cherish the nature and the unique innocence.
The morning elapsed during the process of making rice cakes and having lunch . The most exciting oart come— The champion house award in 2022 camping. Eventually , the champion belonged to Metal House. The teddy bear , which is the symbol of honor , was putting on the Metal shirt. The campite was filled with clapping , cheering and laughters.
“ Let’s take a photo together before we leave , shall we ?” appealing by the form tutors.
Our bright smiles and this two-day camping were finally combined as the memory of this autumn.
My essay is on the recent development of China’s mental health care system and how it can help address this question. Though, I actually parried the question raised by the prompt, and I did not in the end emphasise too much that more care should be devoted to the socially vulnerable. Rather, I intended to underscore the complexity and ambiguity in any employment of these two notions — “socially vulnerable” and “responsibility” — in the concrete working of society. Through my study I discovered that the train of legislative efforts made in the 1980s to 2000s to legally recognise, to enhance public knowledge of, and to erect new asylums for, “the mentally ill,” in fact coincided spatiotemporally with government efforts in putting new agendas of foreign policies and city development to work. Thus, the recent development of China’s mental health care, from scratch to full maturity, is not solely the consequence of “humanitarian effort,” but also of some other ulterior motives. In my conclusion, I hinted that any answer to this question would entail empirical investigation into the concrete working of social institutions, and depending on the nature of this “socially vulnerable” group, claims of “responsibility” may be leveraged as veils for other purposes.
Before starting my research I did not by then have a well-formed hypothesis, but I did have Michel Foucault’s intriguing study on madness in mind. Due to the rather peculiar nature of the object of my study, I was not able to apply the sociological theories (Marxism, Functionalism, e.g.) I learnt in class to my own research. I must thank my sociology teacher for his encouragement and provision of many textbook resources and classical studies done in the field of mental health care. In addition to that, he prepared a statement of the school for my application to conduct short interviews at a local mental health hospital — this application, however, though quite expectedly, sank into oblivion — without his help this project would be very difficult.
I made a documentary “The Definition” about the situation of elderly in Shenzhen to enter this competition. As I have some previous knowledge in filmmaking, learning from TBU studio, I though it would be meaningful if I combined my filmmaking skills with sociology knowledge. In the meanwhile, after learning the very first chapter of sociology, The Family, I found out that the situation of elderly in the UK is different from that of elderly in Shenzhen. For instance, elderly have the responsibility taking care of their grandchildren and dance in the park for entertainment is distinctive in China. Therefore, I decided to make a documentary to record the interesting culture.
I learnt a lot during the preparation for the competition. I learned a lot about how to carry out an individual primary research when I was filming “The Definition”, which helps a lot in my current sociology study. Also, I understood sociology theories better. For instance, postmodernism used to be only a vague theoretical perspective for me, yet it amazed me knowing that elderly people participate actively in public activities can be considered as view of postmodernism.
Most importantly, I realized filmmaking can make some impacts on people, portraying problems of society. Experience of BSA opened my eyes and led me rethink about my future major in college. I want use my skills and knowledge to help more people, so I will probably try a major with humanity and filmmaking combined instead of pursuing the dream of being an artist alone.
Learning sociology gives me a new perspective in seeing how the world works, and it also lets me care more about the vulnerability in the society. Thank you to my sociology teacher, Richard Driscoll, who gave me lots of inspiration such as filming the dancing in the park, which is interesting to British people, and recommenced lots of sociological books about the elderly.
By listening to his advice, “The Definition” eventually divides into two parts: one is about the elderly in nursing home and the other is about people dancing in the park. Also, there is many interviews in the documentary to give a more well-rounded perspective.
I would like to thank my Math teacher Michael Jin and my friend Franchaska, who helped me with the voice over. Also, thanks to my family members, especially my dear grandmother, who gave me lots of insights related to the issue of elderly.
I made this documentary just before the deadline, thus it’s not so perfect. I’ll probably elaborate some shots and reedit it in the future.
If you are interested, you can click the link below and watch it.
Teng Xun Video:https://v.qq.com/x/page/u0862usad2v.html
Bilibili:https://www.bilibili.com/video/av38188271?from=search&seid=10452775157822232568