Headed to China

A Chapel Hill 12-year-old studied Chinese culture, history and geography three days a week with her classmates and more with her mother at home.

“She made me study how deep the lakes are,” Caroline Liu said of her mother.

All of that hard work paid off.

After scoring near perfect on a national test, Liu has earned the right to represent the United States in an international competition held in China next month.

Liu, a seventh grader at Smith Middle School, took the 100-question test in February 2008 when she was in the fifth grade.

Out of the 218 test-takers nationwide who earned a passing score, Liu was selected for one of three spots on the U.S. team.

The test was given in eight other countries and administered in Mandarin Chinese.

The students in Liu’s class studied 300 questions after school for two months.

Liu was rewarded with a free trip to Chengdu, China for the World Chinese Culture Contest Final.

She will tour cultural sites for a week, then compete for more than a week.

“I think it’s pretty cool to go by myself,” Liu said of her trip.

Her parents, originally from the Hunan province of China, aren’t going, but nine international teams are expected to attend.

“It will be really nice to experience this with other kids who are good at Chinese,” Liu said. “Maybe I could learn something from them.”

Xiaoyu Liu, Caroline’s mother, said the family speaks Chinese at home. She said her daughter was also enrolled in a Mandarin-English dual language program while at Glenwood Elementary School.

Liu began the dual language classes when she started kindergarten. It was the program’s first year.

“We feel Chinese study for her is very important,” said Xiaoyu Liu. “The world changes so much, you never know; you may have to go back to China and work there.”

Dual language classes are taught for half of the day in English and half of the day in Mandarin, beginning in kindergarten.

 José Nambo, the dual language program coordinator for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said Glenwood’s program began with a federal grant in 2002 and has been funded by the district since 2005.

Liu’s fifth grade teacher, Judy Ouyang, asked her class to participate in the test.

“I’m just so proud,” Ouyang said. “At first I thought she wouldn’t be able to make it because she’s not a high school student.”

Two others, an eighth grader and a ninth grader, both from Texas, also qualified for the U.S. team. This was the first year students from Glenwood attempted the test.

Liu, who has been to China five times, said her favorite thing to learn about Chinese history was the greed and violence of the Chinese emperors.

 “It’s important for them to learn something, not just get a high score,” Xiaoyu Liu said.


Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.