Last week 3 representatives of the Scottish Young Icebreakers returned from a 10 day trip to China on the last leg of the UK/China mission. Lucy Keany (Ricefield), Rachel Kinloch (Edinburgh Napier 2009 Ambassador to China) and Fiona Macintyre (Scottish Enterprise Saltire Foundation Alumni) spent 10 days on a tour of China with a group of 100 young high flying Brits. At several high profile events across the country the delegates met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss their personal commitment in issues affecting the debate in the environment; the health of future generations, and the material heritage of our culture. Please read on to hear about the mission from two of the Icebreakers.
I had an invaluable experience in China, giving me a much greater sense of what I can achieve working in a Chinese focussed organisation. Being further introduced to aspects of Chinese arts and culture has provided a solid base from which to create exciting arts and education programmes in the future; as well as allowing me to build the reciprocal connections to implement cross-cultural exchange.
Lucy Keany
Project Coordinator
Ricefield Arts and Cultural Centre
China was great, not at all what I expected but great. The Shanghai Expo was definitely a highlight and even just getting to know such a variety of people on the trip was brilliant. We did the traditional sight seeing stuff but also saw some more in depth things that you would never discover other wise. We had a trip to a man made dam, to a low carbon building and also a trip to see where farmers have been moved to as there old accommodation was apparently not suitable for living.
I was one of ten that went to a building that was built for the olympic games and we had a brilliant debate about the media and on the last day they took us to a community that had literally shut down for the day and opened up lots of work shops for calligraphy, traditional singing, exercise, cooking and even their homes so we could wonder around and see what they got up to.
Thanks again for giving me the opportunity,
Rachel Kinloch
Scottish Enterprise Saltire Alumni































