Just before Christmas Eve, on December 23rd, around 30 international students joined a hiking journey to Nanshan’s famous Tang Lang mountain organized by the CA program on a perfect mild-weather day.
Tang Lang is most well-known on campus because of its southern position in the splendid green vista of the University Town. The mountain is 430 meters tall. From the top visitors can enjoy a lovely view of Luohu, Futian, and Nanshan districts of Shenzhen. Even in the midwinter, Tang Lang mountain is still covered by vivifying green trees. There are two routes to get to the top of the mountain: one is the mountain plate, and the other is the mountaineering path.
The group picked the steeper mountaineering path with very fitting rocky stairs. Everyone, including Cole Agar and Dina Yehia, the two faculty members who joined from The School of Transnational Law along with their two young children, quickly proceeded the way up the mountain. In the middle of the path, there was a route constituted of natural rocks that was not easy to climb. Even in the slight chill of the winter, it was enough to work up a satisfying sweat. Without the oppressive humidity that is normally experienced on hikes in Shenzhen, the excitement of the group did not fade away as everyone headed to the top.
When the group reached the beautiful summit, with its striking red pagoda, everybody went to take in the vast landscape to be seen from the top. Nearly 500m from sea-level, the buildings of the PKU Shenzhen campus lay below in the Nanshan District like Lego bricks. The weather turned cool and as the sun went away light fog enveloped the city, making the scenery more like a water painting.
Soryane Soussie, an exchange student at PHBS from France, said that the hike was “exhausting but refreshing.” While Noam Peleg, PHBS exchange student from Israel, said she likes this scenery a lot, and that it carried extra meaning seeing it near the end of her exchange program. On the way down the mountain, some students also saw monkeys from the Tang Lang mountain, eating bananas from the other hikers.
When talking about their life in the PKU Shenzhen campus and in Shenzhen, Anas Ksabi, an exchange student from Belgium, said that Shenzhen is a typical modern city, and he felt at home in Shenzhen. “It is just that Shenzhen is so much bigger”. Rasmus Behnk, another PHBS exchange student, also said that he will miss the cheap subway in Shenzhen. Everyone has to learn how to take advantage of all the methods of transportation to enjoy the great offerings of the city. One student mentioned that he even tried to ride a Mobike from the campus to North Shenzhen station.
No matter how you like to get around, it is important this time of year to get outside and experience the natural beauty of the water and mountains here in Shenzhen. A special thanks to the Campus Advisors, Jimmy Xiao and Zhou Jian, who joined the event and the rest who helped organize the outing!
Written by Dahlia Wang
Photos by Anas Ksabi
The Nanyan Observer 