Chinese Gardens Visit

Today our student teacher, Miss Gibson, took us the the Early Settlers Museum and to the Chinese Gardens.

At the museum, we had to find heaps of objects that the Chinese people used when they first came to New Zealand.  It was a bit like a scavenger hunt and some of the things were quite tricky. We saw a picture of Mr Chin, our mayor, when he was just a baby.

Did you know that when the Chinese first came to New Zealand, they weren't liked very much.  Because they looked different, wore different clothes and talked differently, 

the white people here thought they were not as good as they were.   Even children teased them.

Here Aiden, Brin, and David are sketching their designs for the Chinese lanterns that we are going to make.

After the museum we went to the Chinese Gardens. 

Did you know that there is a male lion and a female lion that guard the entrance to the gardens.  The male lion has his paw on a ball and that represents the world.  The female lion is carrying a cub.  

In the gardens we saw heaps of Chinese buildings and there are goldfish in the lake.  We learnt that the garden is based on a scholar's garden and he had places

where he could study quietly and places where he could see the trees and the water.  

Our guide said that everything, except the water and the concrete, came from China, even the big heavy rocks that make up the mountain.

  She said that there are no nails in the whole place - we hope the buildings don't fall down.

We had a cool time there.  Thank

 you to Sydney and Camble's mums who came with us.