XINSCHOOL Summer Salon: Handmade Fans and Shell Wind Chimes Bring Learners Together

Handmade Fans and Shell Wind Chimes Bring Learners Together

XINSCHOOL’s “Summer Senses — DIY Fan and Natural Shell Wind Chime” cultural salon brought together Chinese and international learners at the school’s Changchun campus on August 18, offering a hands-on afternoon of traditional Chinese summer crafts. The event turned ordinary materials — palm leaves, floral fabric trim, hemp cord, and six kinds of natural seed pods — into personal fans and wind chimes, and into a lively cross-cultural exchange.

XINSCHOOL was founded in Changchun, China in 2012 and is officially licensed by China’s Ministry of Education. With 13+ years of teaching Mandarin and more than 15,000 learners on its online platform, the school regularly extends classroom learning into real cultural experience through events like this one.

A salon that goes beyond vocabulary

Language classrooms often stop at words on a page. This salon started where textbooks leave off. Under the guidance of XINSCHOOL teachers, learners from different countries worked side by side with Chinese participants, asking questions in both Mandarin and English as they shaped their crafts. The room filled with conversation — sometimes careful, sometimes laughing — and the language being practiced was the one being lived.

Two crafts rooted in Chinese summer

The first project was a traditional palm-leaf fan (蒲扇, pú shàn). Participants chose green palm leaves, trimmed them, wrapped the edges in floral fabric, and tied flowing hemp tassels to finish a fan they could take home. For many international learners, it was their first time holding this everyday summer object, and tying the tassels became a small lesson in patience and Chinese aesthetic taste.

The second project, a natural seed-pod wind chime (果壳风铃, guǒ ké fēng líng), turned out to be the more surprising one. Six different dried seed pods — from plants including Cudrania, Mallotus, and Nerium — each produce a different sound when they knock together. The teachers explained that in Chinese tradition these pods carry wishes for peace (平安, píng ān), smooth sailing (顺遂, shùn suì), and good fortune (鸿运, hóng yùn). Learners strung the pods on hemp cord, balanced the sounds, and adjusted the lengths until the chimes rang true.

Why cross-cultural moments matter for language learning

Cultural events like this salon are not separate from language study — they make vocabulary stick. The words 蒲扇, 风铃, 麻绳, 平安, 顺遂, and 鸿运, learned in a textbook, suddenly feel real when learners have just tied them into something they will hang in their room. That kind of embodied memory is hard to get from a flashcard app.

XINSCHOOL’s online tiered Mandarin program — HSK 1 through HSK 6 plus Pinyin, Hanzi, and Business Chinese — brings the same culture-aware teaching into small 4–8 person live classes on ClassIn. Learners anywhere in the world can join from home, with experienced native Chinese teachers guiding every step.

FAQ

I missed the salon. Can I still join this kind of activity? XINSCHOOL plans more cross-cultural salons and online cultural tours throughout the year. Follow MandarinClub汉语平台 for announcements, or ask during your free trial about upcoming activities.

Do I need to speak Chinese to attend? No. Beginners are very welcome; teachers use pictures, gestures, and the simplest Chinese so the language feels approachable, not intimidating.

Read more about XINSCHOOL’s approach to culture and language. Book a free online trial to experience small-class, culture-rich Mandarin learning from anywhere in the world. Follow MandarinClub汉语平台 for more Mandarin-learning content.