The Albuquerque Team and Lanzhou Team met up on the app WeChat about every two weeks to talk about current events and personal experiences with culture and country. Below is a timeline complete with pictures that capture our conversations on the Chat as well as significant events during the course of this project.

- October 26 2019
Our First Meeting
Our First Meeting
October 26, 2019The project officially started at 9pm on a Saturday in Albuquerque, New Mexico and 11am on a Sunday in Lanzhou, Gansu. Displayed above is our first meeting agenda. This meeting mainly consisted of each person sharing about themselves and ice breaker activities for group bonding. Though we quickly learned that language would be a big barrier, the struggle and cooperation between all of us in this first meeting led to the formation of amazing friendships and the beginning of great learning experiences. Take a look at the Cross-Cultural Contrasts page to view some of the lessons and knowledge we gained from one another. 我们的第一次会议,该项目于周日上午11点(甘肃省兰州),周六晚上9点(新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基),正式开始。 上面显示的是我们的第一次会议议程。这次会议主要由每个人介绍有关自己以及与小组成员 进行的破冰活动。尽管我们很快就知道语言将成为一个很大的障碍,但我们所有人在第一次会议中的奋斗与合作却导致了惊人的友谊的形成和良好学习经验的开始。查看“跨文化对比”页面,以查看我们从彼此中学到的一些课程和知识。 - October 26 2019
Our First Introductions
Our First Introductions
October 26, 2019We all introduced ourselves over the app WeChat after our first meeting.
第一次见面后,我们都通过应用程序微信进行了自我介绍,以便每个人都知道谁是群聊中的谁。
- October 31 2019
Weekly Conversations – Halloween
Weekly Conversations – Halloween
October 31, 2019In the weeks following the first meeting, Halloween for the Albuquerque students arrived. We took this opportunity to share about our costume and trick or treat traditions. In the Albuquerque team’s school, Albuquerque Academy, everyone was allowed to wear their costumes to school, with a few restrictions, and teachers often gave less homework that night so kids could go to Halloween parties or trick or treating.
在第一次会议之后的几周里,阿尔伯克基学生的万圣节到了。我们借此机会分享了我们的服装和捣蛋传统。在阿尔伯克基学院阿尔伯克基学院的学校中,每个人都可以穿上服装,但受到一些限制,而且老师们晚上的功课通常少得多,因此孩子们可以参加万圣节派对或捣蛋或请客。
- October 31 2019
Weekly Conversations – Lanzhou Art Class
Weekly Conversations – Lanzhou Art Class
October 31, 2019Intermittently between the Halloween conversation, the Lanzhou students also shared their art class experiences. Instead of taking an art class as one of many classes in a regular school like the Albuquerque students. The Lanzhou students, if they choose, decide to take the path of art early on in their school career and by high school, they are already going to a school that specializes in art and design. The Lanzhou students in our project took even more art classes with a group member’s father, 沈翔老师. In their class, the students often take group trips to scenic places for inspiration and to sketch nature and buildings.
在万圣节对话期间,兰州的学生们间歇性地分享了他们的美术课体验。而不是像阿尔伯克基学生那样,将美术课作为普通学校中的许多班之一。兰州的学生,如果选择的话,决定在他们的学校生涯的初期和高中时就选择艺术之路,他们已经去了一所专门从事艺术和设计的学校。我们项目的兰州学生与小组成员的父亲沉翔老师一起上了更多的美术课。在课堂上,学生们经常参加风景秀丽的地方团体旅行,以启发灵感并勾勒出自然和建筑物的轮廓。
- October 31 2019
Weekly Conversations – Halloween (2)
Weekly Conversations – Halloween (2)
October 31, 2019The Albuquerque Team shared many Halloween photos of the parties that we went to and people’s costumes, including ones when we were about 8-9 years old.
阿尔伯克基小组分享了许多万圣节派对和人们穿着的照片,包括我们8-9岁时的照片。
- November 2 2019
Weekly Conversations – Holidays
Weekly Conversations – Holidays
November 2, 2019The Lanzhou students told us that they do not celebrate Halloween, which launched us into an amazing discussion about holidays and clothing in China in comparison with the United States.
兰州的学生告诉我们,他们不庆祝万圣节,这使我们进入了一个漫长而令人惊奇的讨论,即与美国相比,中国的假日和服装。
- November 2 2019
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Dress
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Dress
November 2, 2019The Lanzhou students shared images of traditional costumes and clothes with the Albuquerque students.
- November 2 2019
Weekly Conversations – Ugly Christmas Sweaters
Weekly Conversations – Ugly Christmas Sweaters
November 2, 2019The Albuquerque students shared some of the types of conventional clothing around the holidays in the United States such as ugly Christmas sweaters. There was a continued discussion of the differences between the United States and China on the topic of national traditional outfits for different holidays.
- November 2 2019
Weekly Conversation – Traditional Patterns
Weekly Conversation – Traditional Patterns
November 2, 2019The Lanzhou students shared some traditional and historic patterns that often are stitched onto Chinese clothes.
- November 2 2019
Weekly Conversations – Casual Wear
Weekly Conversations – Casual Wear
November 2, 2019The Lanzhou students shared clothes worn in different times of the year, casually and for special occasions. They described that the color red is usually worn for special events such as New Year or weddings. But as of the different patterns on the clothes, it would depend greatly on the ethnic group that designs them. Over the 2,000 year history of China, there have been many fashion trends and popular patterns. Modern day dress in China is a mix of historic designs and new day style. Through the discussion about patterns, the topic of school uniforms was also brought up. The Albuquerque team said that at Albuquerque Academy, there are no school uniforms, just a school dress code. The Lanzhou team said that the school uniforms are the same not just in their school, yet most schools in China and that there are three versions of the uniform, each worn in different seasons.
- November 9 2019
Weekly Conversations – Lanzhou’s Speciality Noodles
Weekly Conversations – Lanzhou’s Speciality Noodles
November 9, 2019Two of the Albuquerque students, AnaMaria and Melinda, went on an AP art trip to New York City with their school. We visited many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History, the MoMa, the Whitney, and many more. Here we are talking about when we went to a food court after museum touring one day and decided to eat at a place that sold beef noodles. The restaurant had a big sign in front of it talking about Lanzhou, calling it the “Golden City,” and describing the 160 year old art of the Lanzhou pulled noodle. The Lanzhou students were super excited to share about their city’s speciality dish: Hand-Pulled Noodles with Beef.
- November 10 2019
Weekly Conversations – MoMa
Weekly Conversations – MoMa
November 10, 2019From the museums in New York, AnaMaria and Melinda shared pictures of different art pieces from various historic movements, including cubism, impressionism, realism, expressionism, etc.
- November 10 2019
Weekly Conversations – Famous Artists
Weekly Conversations – Famous Artists
November 10, 2019The Lanzhou and Albuquerque Teams conversed about different artists and which artists each culture revered. The Albuquerque students shared that Monet, Van Gogh, Starry Night, Mona Lisa, Picasso, Frida Kahlo were household names for many US families.
- November 12 2019
Weekly Conversations – Famous Chinese Painters
Weekly Conversations – Famous Chinese Painters
November 12, 2019The Lanzhou students told us that they did study Monet and Picasso in school as well as many famous Chinese painters such as Qi Baishi, who most of the Albuquerque students had never heard of.
- November 12 2019
Weekly Conversations – Oil Paintings
Weekly Conversations – Oil Paintings
November 12, 2019The Lanzhou students shared images of Chinese oil paintings in a recent exhibit at their provincial museum. The oil paintings displayed portraits of soldiers, musicians, farmers, women, and also a texture-filled painting of the nomadic lifestyle of present-day Mongolians.
- November 15 2019
Weekly Conversations – Art in School
Weekly Conversations – Art in School
November 15, 2019The Albuquerque students and Lanzhou students compared the differences in the teaching style of art in school between the United States and China. The Lanzhou students’ studies seemed more focused on individual artists and their various styles. The Albuquerque students found that in their art classes, assignments were given one after another with less time focused on learning about these specialized artists. Assignments were also just given with an overarching theme or open ended goal and gave the Albuquerque students a lot of room to add in their own thoughts about the project. The Lanzhou students spent more time in the studio trying to master certain skills such as color palette and realism.
- November 16 2019
2nd Meeting – Agenda
2nd Meeting – Agenda
November 16, 2019During our 2nd meeting, we planned to discuss possibilities for a new group project name, ideas for our each individualized half pieces, and do a group activity surrounding art from the place you live (by country, city, state, or province). However, due to a mix up in the timing, the meeting was delayed to the next weekend and each team talked, individually, about their process and place they were at in their pieces.
- November 21 2019
Weekly Conversations – Testing
Weekly Conversations – Testing
November 21, 2019The Lanzhou students had testing during the week of November 18th, and they described their testing days to start at 8am in the morning and end at 5pm in the evening with lunch served in between. The Albuquerque students were a bit surprised because, as they replied, the maximum amount of testing within a day for Albuquerque high school students was approximately two AP tests that are three hours long each with an hour in between for lunch . The day would start around 8am and most likely end by 3pm.
- November 23 2019
3rd Meeting – Agenda
3rd Meeting – Agenda
November 23, 2019Our 3rd meeting was a continuation of our 2nd meeting agenda. We discussed possibilities of a new name, but everyone voted to keep Cross-Cultural Art Exchange the group title. The Albuquerque group also shared the culture of luminarias in New Mexico, and soon the discussion diverged into kinds of traditional foods served around the holidays.
- November 23 2019
3rd Meeting – Notes
3rd Meeting – Notes
November 23, 2019With discussions about individual ideas for art pieces to traditional foods to Japanese anime, our 3rd meeting lasted for over an hour. ZiXuan even wore a traditional white outfit for the Albuquerque Team to see, complete with silk sashes and a decorated hair style! We also unexpectedly discussed the differences between the KFC in China and the KFC in the United States. The Albuquerque students were surprised to learn that in the morning, the KFCs in China serve hot soy milk with 油条 (You tiao – fried donuts without sugar and shaped in long sticks). The KFCs also serve 木耳 (Mu er – black mushrooms), 稀饭 (Xi fan – rice porridge), 粥 (Zhou – congee), and many more dishes specialized for their market. The Lanzhou students were in turn surprised to hear that many Albuquerque students also watch or read Japanese anime for fun during their free time. The Albuquerque Team all knew names such as One Piece, Naruto, and Manga.
- November 23 2019
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food
November 23, 2019The Albuquerque Team shared photos of their preparations for Thanksgiving such as roasting turkeys. Meanwhile, the Lanzhou Team sent photos of different delicacies such as 粽子 (Zongzi – rice wrapped in bamboo leaves), eaten at the Dragon Boat Festival, and 月饼 (Yuebing – mooncake), eaten at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
- November 23 2019
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (2)
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (2)
November 23, 2019The Lanzhou students and Albuquerque students continued discussing traditional foods which included dumplings, spaghetti, chilaquiles, etc. Food was always a great topic to talk about because each family had a different way of cooking different dishes and had varying degrees of influence from their own culture and surrounding cultures.
- November 23 2019
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (3)
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (3)
November 23, 2019As the Albuquerque and Lanzhou Teams’ traditional food conversation evolved, it turned in the direction of not only foods eaten across each country, but rather dishes special to the state of New Mexico and the province of Gansu.
- November 23 2019
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (4)
Weekly Conversations – Traditional Food (4)
November 23, 2019Food was always an interesting and captivating topic because it brought up discussions of how the delicacies are traditionally prepared and why, how the preparations of the dishes change from region to region, how the meanings and stories behind each of the foods change and shift across families, and much more.
- December 21 2019
4th Meeting – Agenda
4th Meeting – Agenda
December 21, 2019Our 4th meeting consisted of each group member presenting a sketch of their progress so far in their pieces. Because the Lanzhou students had not met yet as a group class, they hadn’t completed their sketches for the meeting. However, the Albuquerque students were able to individually work and send their sketches into the group chat. You can find pictures of their sketches on the Albuquerque Team or Lanzhou Team pages under Individual Pieces. Talk of when the pieces were to be sent also started and because the Albuquerque Team had just finished their semester exams, conversation about testing became an interesting topic of discussion as well.
- December 21 2019
4th Meeting – Notes
4th Meeting – Notes
December 21, 2019Through the 4th meeting, we all discussed our sketch designs and the meaning the specific features we chose to illustrate about our culture. We also talked about upcoming holidays and winter breaks. The Albuquerque student’s winter breaks were about two weeks long, while the Lanzhou students’ winter breaks were supposed to be around three to four weeks long; however, due to the pandemic, the Lanzhou students spent an extra two months at home. More about this on the Cross-Cultural Contrasts page.
- December 21 2019
Weekly Conversations – Winter Holiday Foods
Weekly Conversations – Winter Holiday Foods
December 21, 2019As the Albuquerque Team got closer to celebrating their winter holidays, we shared the foods that we usually eat during these times including ham and eggnog. Eggnog was one of the hardest foods to describe to the Lanzhou Team. But after many failed attempts, the Albuquerque students were finally able to get the concept across and the Lanzhou Team even sent some pictures of viscous drinks in China made from eggs such as 蛋昔 (Dan xi – egg shake).
- December 26 2019
Weekly Conversations – Holiday Decorations
Weekly Conversations – Holiday Decorations
December 26, 2019As winter holidays came up for the Albuquerque Team, we shared some photos of our decorated homes. For those families that celebrated Christmas, we sent pictures of the traditional decorated mantelpiece with stockings and Santa cookie jars.
- January 4 2020
5th Meeting – Agenda
5th Meeting – Agenda
January 4, 2020In this meeting, we discussed the completion of our half-pieces because we only had less than one month left before the mailing deadline. We also talked about the types of imagery we enjoy such as realism, abstraction, cubism, etc, what materials we like working with, and what kinds of materials we are using for our pieces.
- January 4 2020
5th Meeting – Notes
5th Meeting – Notes
January 4, 2020During our meeting, we happened to discuss red envelope culture in comparison to the tooth fairy. On one hand, in the United States, when a child loses a tooth, they put their tooth under the pillow before they go to bed and their parents sneak into their rooms that night to leave some amount of money. Parents usually tell their children that the Tooth Fairy had come to visit them afterwards. On the other hand, in China, on New Year’s Eve, parents would sneak into their children’s rooms and slide the red envelopes with money in them under their pillows. In return, the next day, the children would have to 拜年 (Bai nian – pay Happy New Year respects) to their parents. Although, in decades past, the children would get the money right after paying respects to their elders on New Year’s Day, the pillow tradition displays an incredible example of modern-day syncretism between our two cultures. More about this on the Cross-Cultural Contrasts page.
- January 21 2020
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Decorations
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Decorations
January 21, 2020As the Albuquerque students started their third week back to school, the Lanzhou students just began their winter breaks. The Lanzhou Team now started sharing their traditional decorations for the New Year and the Spring Festival. Instead of leaving out some milk and cookies so Santa Claus would pay a visit, the Lanzhou students decorated their windows and doors to keep out bad luck for the coming year.
- January 22 2020
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Traditional Foods
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Traditional Foods
January 22, 2020The Lanzhou students also shared their meals during this time and even labeled the pictures so the Albuquerque students would know what each dish was. Their foods included preserved eggs, auricularia (a type of jelly fungi), cabbages, and many more interesting dishes.
- January 23 2020
The Albuquerque Team Celebrates Chinese New Year!
The Albuquerque Team Celebrates Chinese New Year!
January 23, 2020On January 23rd in Albuquerque, which was January 24th in China and Chinese New Year’s Eve, the Albuquerque Team got together to celebrate the Chinese New Year! We had hotpot complete with taro, tofu, oyster mushrooms, lamb, beef, pork, green bean noodles, and much more. We made 肉燕 (Rou yan – traditional Fujian soup meat-dumplings) while listening to old 80s-90s Chinese songs. More about our day is detailed in the Highlights section on this page.
- January 23 2020
Albuquerque Team Makes Dumplings and Eats Hot Pot
Albuquerque Team Makes Dumplings and Eats Hot Pot
January 23, 2020The Albuquerque Team made dumplings using 燕皮 (Yan pi – pounded meat flour) as the dough for the dumplings. There were also two hot pots, one spicy and one not for all of us. More information about this event is in the Highlights section on this page.
- January 23 2020
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Fireworks
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year Fireworks
January 23, 2020As the Albuquerque Team celebrated their version of the Chinese New Year, the Lanzhou Team sent many pictures and videos of their fireworks and firecrackers going off at the same time that night in China.
- January 24 2020
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year’s Eve
Weekly Conversations – Chinese New Year’s Eve
January 24, 2020The Lanzhou Team sent pictures throughout their Chinese New Year’s Eve celebrations filled with Chinese New Year foods such as dumplings and hot pot.
- January 25 2020
Coronavirus Challenges
Coronavirus Challenges
January 25, 2020As we neared the mailing deadline, the coronavirus started sweeping across China. In the chat above, 子煊 told us that the deadline would most likely have to be postponed because the Chinese government had just issued stay-at-home orders. Currently in the United States, most people had not heard about the virus, or had only heard very little. All schools were still open and people carried on with their regular lives. It was not until three months later would businesses and schools start closing down in Albuquerque.
- January 25 2020
Coronavirus Challenges (2)
Coronavirus Challenges (2)
January 25, 2020As the coronavirus progressed in China, it was hard to keep up the group meetings because WeChat only allowed nine members to join a meeting and in past meetings some of the Lanzhou students and Albuquerque students would meet up in groups to all call on one device. However, due to stay-at-home orders, the Lanzhou students couldn’t gather and we had to switch out between people. Some students would stay for a quarter of the time and then leave so others could join. This made the meetings very hard to coordinate and organize.
- January 25 2020
6th Meeting – Agenda
6th Meeting – Agenda
January 25, 2020During this meeting, we planned to discuss the Chinese New Year and New Year’s Eve celebrations. We also had to talk about the logistics of continuing this project with COVID-19. Mailing between the countries had gotten more sparse and more expensive and we were still trying to stay within the project budget. The video call meetings also needed coordination in terms of who would be rotating so that everyone in the project could be in the meeting for at least a quarter of the time.
- January 25 2020
6th Meeting – Notes
6th Meeting – Notes
January 25, 2020Through the meeting, we conversed about the Albuquerque Team’s Chinese New Year’s Eve celebrations along with the Lanzhou Team’s celebrations. We delayed the finishing of the first half of the art pieces to January 31st for Albuquerque students and February 1st for Lanzhou students and planned the mailing date.
- February 8 2020
7th Meeting – Agenda
7th Meeting – Agenda
February 8, 2020In this meeting, we planned to talk about the art pieces and the mailing date had been delayed another week due to the worsening conditions of the coronavirus. Most of the Lanzhou students had left their art supplies in their respective classrooms, fully expecting to return after their winter break, but school never opened again until May. This meant a much slower rate of completing the art pieces because supplies had to be acquired first and shared somehow.
- February 8 2020
Coronavirus Challenges (3)
Coronavirus Challenges (3)
February 8, 2020We couldn’t gather for our 7th meeting because as schools in China started online classes, the times that the Lanzhou students were available varied dramatically. In addition, the Albuquerque Team still had sports practices, clubs, and other activities that made arranging a meeting where many students could be present very difficult.
- February 17 2020
Albuquerque Team Receives Lanzhou Students’ Art Pieces!
Albuquerque Team Receives Lanzhou Students’ Art Pieces!
February 17, 2020Within the last few weeks, the Lanzhou students had found a way to mail their art pieces to Albuquerque! The package took about two weeks to arrive; however all the pieces were present without damage and because of the two-week long delivery, there was no trace of the coronavirus.
- February 22 2020
The Lanzhou Team Receives Art Supplies!
The Lanzhou Team Receives Art Supplies!
February 22, 2020The Albuquerque Team sent the Lanzhou Team six boxes of Prismacolor pencils as a thank you for participating in this project. The pencils were covered by the project budget detailed on the Cross-Cultural Art Exchange page.
- February 29 2020
Coronavirus Challenges (4)
Coronavirus Challenges (4)
February 29, 2020COVID-19 safety measures had started being taken in the United States and the Post Office had stopped Express Mail. DHL, UPS, and FedEx had all raised their prices and packages were being delayed by weeks. Though out of the initially planned budget, the Albuquerque Team decided to mail the pieces by Priority mail which was supposed to take two weeks instead of the one week originally expected.
- March 6 2020
Weekly Conversations – Completion of Pieces
Weekly Conversations – Completion of Pieces
March 6, 2020Though many of the members from the Lanzhou Team could not be present, we still had a short video call meeting to decide who on the Albuquerque Team would complete which Lanzhou Team’s piece. During this meeting, the Lanzhou students also shared their ideas behind their pieces before the Albuquerque Team selected the pieces that they were most inspired to complete.
- March 27 2020
Coronavirus Challenges (5)
Coronavirus Challenges (5)
March 27, 2020On March 18th, Albuquerque Academy officially closed school due to COVID-19. The Albuquerque students were told to pack everything we would need during the weekend, expecting to be back by Monday. But the school stayed closed until the end of the year. Luckily, the Lanzhou pieces each Albuquerque student wanted to complete had already been passed out; however, some students didn’t take the piece home because they planned on picking it up the next week. This delayed the project by a few weeks until Albuquerque Academy scheduled a day for students to clean everything out of their lockers.
- April 7 2020
The Lanzhou Team Receives the Albuquerque Art Pieces!
The Lanzhou Team Receives the Albuquerque Art Pieces!
April 7, 2020After over two months of waiting for the package with the Albuquerque Team’s art pieces that was supposed to take two weeks to deliver, the Lanzhou students finally received the art pieces! We kept checking the tracking number and all it said for seven weeks was that the package had been processed through the Los Angeles International Distribution Center on February 22, 2020 at 7:51pm. It was quite an intense wait for the last three weeks because we believed that there was a good chance that the package had been lost. This would mean that either the project would only be able to be completed by the Albuquerque side or that the Albuquerque students would have to complete another half piece within a week’s time. Thankfully though, the package passed customs and was delivered safely.
- May 2 2020
8th Meeting – Agenda
8th Meeting – Agenda
May 2, 2020In our 8th meeting, after over a month of no meetings due to COVID-19 challenges, we conversed about current events and everything that had happened over the past few weeks from activities we did at home to stay sane to what the governments allowed the citizens to do. Lanzhou had started opening back up while New Mexico was still in the midst of stay-at-home orders with no schools, restaurants, or shops open. We also talked about which Lanzhou student would be finishing which Albuquerque piece.
- May 3 2020
8th Meeting – Notes
8th Meeting – Notes
May 3, 2020Our video call only lasted around half an hour this time because as the Lanzhou students started school in person again, the Albuquerque students were nearing their end of the year to be completed fully online and had many assignments and tests to finish up. Though the call was short, we still all talked about the activities we were doing at home and nearly everyone had been spending more time outside in nature as well as the differences in the situations with the coronavirus between both countries. In New Mexico, gatherings of over ten people were prohibited while in Lanzhou, students were going to school in person again.
- May 29 2020
Coronavirus Challenges (6)
Coronavirus Challenges (6)
May 29, 2020Due to the difficulty of online testing and finishing up the school year, meetings were delayed and the deadline of the art pieces were pushed back into July. Though the Albuquerque students would have finished all their AP tests and final exams by early June, the Lanzhou students’ school year was extended by two months because their winter breaks were extended by an extra three months. These events combined pushed the deadline to around the middle or end of July where by then both teams would have completed their Junior year.
- June 6 2020
9th Meeting – Agenda
9th Meeting – Agenda
June 6, 2020In this meeting, we planned to talk about the designs each student was creating to complete their pieces. The task this time was not only to create half a piece about your culture, but to also continue the flow and design of the other side of the piece into your half, making the painting stand together as a whole.
- June 7 2020
9th Meeting – Notes
9th Meeting – Notes
June 7, 2020In this meeting, we discussed our different designs and talked about what the end of school looked like for the Lanzhou students and what it was like for the Albuquerque students. The Lanzhou students were expecting to complete school in person while all the Albuquerque students finished school solely online. We also conversed about summer activities during quarantine.
- June 8 2020
Weekly Conversations – Historical Landmarks
Weekly Conversations – Historical Landmarks
June 8, 2020The Lanzhou students shared with us some well known landforms in their province such as the Zhangye Danxia.
- June 27 2020
Weekly Conversations – Design
Weekly Conversations – Design
June 27, 2020As the Albuquerque students completed their first month of summer, the Lanzhou students started more testing and end of the school year work. Instead of a meeting, due to the availability of the Lanzhou Team during exam times, we just uploaded sketches of our designs for the other half of the piece with an explanation of why we were choosing to complete the piece the way we sketched. You can find these sketches on either the Albuquerque Team or Lanzhou Team subpages under the Individual Pieces page.
- July 25 2020
10th Meeting – Agenda
10th Meeting – Agenda
July 25, 2020In this meeting, we planned to discuss about events that have happened in the last few weeks such as the end of school, summer activities, and testing. We kept the meeting quite short because the Lanzhou students were preparing for a test. We still planned to cover topics such as the deadlines for the art piece and the next meeting date.
- July 25 2020
10th Meeting – Notes
10th Meeting – Notes
July 25, 2020In this meeting, we talked about end of the school year for all the students. For the Lanzhou students, as art-specialized students, they only have to complete the math and language sections (cutting out chemistry and physics) for the national test in June. However, they have to submit their artworks to a national board for review by December of this year. For the Albuquerque students, we finished AP testing by the beginning of June and prepare on our own for the ACT and SAT tests, many of which are being cancelled due to COVID-19. As of school, China has opened up completely and all the Lanzhou students’ classes will be normal their senior year while each state in the US has different plans, but at Albuquerque Academy, the school year has been divided up into trimesters and each class is now limited to twelve people. The Lanzhou students also showed us how they were planning on finishing each Albuquerque piece. We discussed to have the next meeting as well as the deadline for the all pieces on August 8th. I also showed everyone the beginnings of this website that is scheduled to be launched on Monday, July 27th.
- August 8 2020
11th Meeting – Agenda
11th Meeting – Agenda
August 8, 2020In this meeting we planned to discuss the progress of our pieces and the new multilingual feature of the website created so the Lanzhou students could apply for grants and create their own gallery space. We also wanted to touch on the United States’ decision to ban transactions on WeChat as well as the closing of consulates in both countries due to escalating relationship issues between the United States and China.
- August 8 2020
11th Meeting – Notes
11th Meeting – Notes
August 8, 2020Due to a big art assignment that the Lanzhou students had to complete, this meeting was cut very short. However, we were still able to see the progress that the Lanzhou students had made on their art pieces! To see a video of this meeting, scroll to the end of the Highlights section on this page.
- August 15 2020
End of Project Party!
End of Project Party!
August 15, 2020The Lanzhou and Albuquerque students got together one last time for a party to celebrate the ending of the project! The Lanzhou students all gathered together in their art class and shared the completed art pieces and the Albuquerque students played Chinese ’80s music while eating mooncake!
- August 18 2020
Weekly Conversations – 西安 (Xi An)
Weekly Conversations – 西安 (Xi An)
August 18, 2020The Lanzhou students took a class art trip to 西安 (Xi An) and sent us videos and pictures of their visit! They saw statues, walked town streets, and toured temples including the famous 大雁塔 (Wild Goose Temple).
- August 25 2020
Weekly Conversations – 西安 (Xi An) (2)
Weekly Conversations – 西安 (Xi An) (2)
August 25, 2020The Lanzhou students sent more sightseeing pictures from 西安 (Xi An) and Melinda shared photos of her trip with her grandfather to 西安 in 2012.
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Highlights
The entire project was extremely eventful and fun-filled. However, some events stood out more than others. Below are some highlights of the project, click on the images to scroll through the photo gallery.
The Lanzhou Team made the Albuquerque Team a video about a day in their life!
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Albuquerque Team Celebrates Chinese New Year!
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Lanzhou Team’s Class Trip to 西安 (Xi An)

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Lanzhou Team Celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival
Light shows at the 黄河塔 (Yellow River Tower)
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I am so pleased and impressed with your rich exchange program by looking your timeline displays. This is not only an art exchange but also broad cultural experiences for students of the both sides. Congratulate to all participates !