What an amazing place. We were blown away by the scale and energy of Beijing and how friendly, skilful and confident the Chinese people are and how full of wonder the city is.
We attended ITEC 2018, the International Tinkering & Education Conference, organised by Mr Yule Zhang who was our gracious host for the week. Mr Yule runs the Beijing based Star Group, developing creative links and friendships across the world and we hope to work with him again in the future.
After the conference, we opened Microworld to the Chinese public on Saturday afternoon (see our short video below). In two and a half hours over 350 children and adults joined us and had fun playing with the art. Thanks to the Soong Ching Ling Technology & Culture Centre for making this happen. Here are some shots of people making Animats, becoming Squidlets and even trying out coding.
And, here’s Nicola having a rest after a busy days work.
We also got to see some of Beijing’s cultural treats including the Summer Palace, World Museum, the Forbidden City at night and the 798 Art Quarter where we saw some intricate video work by Beijing artist Tian Xiaolei.
We were shown around Beijing’s newest Science Centre with its impressive exhibition spaces and heard about all the new plans China has to bring science and culture to the people.
The food was amazing and plentiful. This meal was accompanied by Opera singers and you can see some of the other conference attendees whose logos have been drawn in sugar. The Beef and honey candy floss dish was our favourite.
So thanks again to Mr Yule and his staff, Maggie, Mint, Coco, all the technicians, enablers and translators for giving us such a good time, supporting our work and providing us with great equipment.
Special thanks to Kate Kneale & Richard Houghton from Marine Studios Margate who invited us to join them.
The sights and sounds of China were epic – this photo of Northern China was taken from the airplane on the way back. We feel privileged to have been invited to Beijing to make a Microworld.
