Learning

It's harvest season again, when everything is gathering, and the branches are filled with autumn's bounty. These fruits hanging from the branches are autumn's poem to the National Botanical Garden, and they are also the botanical world's "family archives" and "life heritage."

Have you ever observed the differences between them? If you were a botanist, how would you classify the fruits harvested in the garden? This weekend, come to the National Botanical Garden's "Fruit Taxonomy" workshop. Let's peel back the layers of autumn fruits, decipher nature's taxonomic codes, and become little taxonomists, exploring the natural secrets of fruits and seeds!

Activity Instructor

Activity Highlights

Fruit Hunting in the Garden, Understanding the Diversity of Autumn's Fruits: Collect or forage for different types of fruits and seeds in the garden, and understand why fruits have different shapes by relating their morphology, structure, and function.

"Little Taxonomists" Practice Classifying Fruits and Seeds: Groups receive "fruit and seed packets," observe and record from a "botanist's perspective," and discuss classification criteria in groups.

Exploring the mysteries of autumn fruits through microscopic observation and dissecting the codes of empirical classification: Using a magnifying glass to observe seed patterns, students will uncover fascinating questions like "Why do some fruits have hard cores?" and "Why do grapes grow in clusters?" This will allow students to closely connect taxonomy with autumn harvest life.

Activity Schedule

Exploring the Autumn Garden: Follow the instructor to search for "classification cases" in the botanical garden, observe the fruit morphology of different plants, and understand the practical application of taxonomy in plant identification.

Learning Fruit Classification: Returning indoors, students will be divided into groups and receive mixed fruit samples. The instructor will encourage students to think about classification logic from multiple perspectives and discuss the development of classification standards.

Dissecting Typical Fruits: Observe the cross-sectional structure of the fruit, annotate key classification features, and gain a deeper understanding of the classification criteria for different fruit types. Through practical application, students will gradually establish the logical chain of "observation - induction - classification - verification," which is the core thinking model of the taxonomic knowledge system.

Event Date and Times

October 8, 2025 (Wednesday)

9:30 AM - 12:00 PM; 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Event Fee

RMB 298 per group (includes tickets, materials, instructor, etc.)

Families with children aged 6-12 (one adult and one child per group)

Why do plants in tropical rainforests have unique buttress roots and dripping leaf tips? Why do cacti in deserts, covered in thorns, manage to survive so tenaciously? Throughout their long evolution, plants have developed a series of unique survival techniques to adapt to diverse environments! Let's visit the National Botanical Garden (North Garden), step into the greenhouse, and embark on a fascinating journey exploring the "environmental adaptations" of plants!

Event Instructor

Event Highlights

Leading by a leading expert: Ecological conservation expert Chai Yongbin, drawing on his expertise in wetland conservation, scientific research management, and the production of millions of words of scientific research reports, he will guide your study with a scientific research mindset, deeply improving your ability to explore nature and your overall scientific literacy. He will also explain profound knowledge in language that children can understand.

Uncovering the Survival Wisdom of Plants: From the structural characteristics of plants in different habitats to how they adapt to their environments and develop survival strategies based on these characteristics, this comprehensive tour reveals the wisdom that plants use to survive and thrive in nature.

Immersive Ecological Journey: Journey through diverse habitats in the greenhouse, such as rainforests and deserts, like opening a natural codebook, making the abstract concept of "adaptation" vivid and tangible.

Scientific Inquiry Methods: Learn basic scientific methods such as observation, comparison, classification, and recording to cultivate scientific thinking. Students will become "little researchers" and gain a deep understanding of the "environmental adaptation" of plants.

Activity Schedule

Immersive Habitat Journey, Become a Plant Explorer: Embark on a fascinating journey through rainforests, deserts, shady corners, and aquatic environments in the greenhouse. As "plant explorers," each journey is like opening a natural codebook, allowing you to intuitively experience the differences between different environments and get up close and personal with various unique plants.

Unlock survival secrets through multi-dimensional observation and interaction: In the tropical rainforest, observe how buttress roots, like "strongmen," support tree trunks against wind and rain, and how dripping leaf tips transform into "mini umbrellas" to quickly drain water; in the desert, decipher the dual survival wisdom of cacti: "water storage and water conservation"; in shady corners and aquatic environments, observe and discover the unique structural characteristics and survival strategies of plants.

Summarize patterns to deepen understanding and understand adaptive logic: By observing the structural characteristics of plants in different habitats, summarize the underlying patterns, clarify the close connection between plant survival strategies and the environment, and deeply grasp the core principle of "environment shapes structure, and structure adapts to environment."

Event Date and Time

October 7, 2025 (Tuesday), 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Event Fee

RMB 398 per group (includes tickets, materials, instructor, etc.)

Families with children aged 6-12 (one adult and one child per group)

The National Botanical Garden's "Green Planet - World Insect Diversity Salon" has been upgraded and launched! This all-new course features instructor Pan Xiaochang as he journeys into a miniature kingdom of insects, showcasing the world's most unique treasures. This exhibition features over 1,500 rare insect specimens, along with a large exhibition area featuring live insects. This allows you to observe the exquisite details of the specimens up close while witnessing the vibrant movements of live insects, embarking on a fascinating journey of in-depth dialogue with insects!

Event Instructor

Event Highlights

Expert-led immersive knowledge exploration: Instructor Pan Xiaochang, with 24 years of experience in insect research, will lead the course, combining professional insect knowledge with practical demonstrations. From insect identification characteristics to defining benefits and harms, from conservation significance to practical methods, the course delves deeper into the subject, ensuring both professionalism and engaging learning.

A stunning combination of new specimens and live insects: This exhibition features a selection of remarkable and unique insects from diverse regions and environments around the world, showcasing over 1,500 rare insect specimens, 40% of which are being exhibited for the first time! Numerous live insect exhibits, showcasing the wonders, intrigue, beauty, size, and microscopicity of insects, will be added to the exhibit, allowing participants to directly experience the multifaceted charm of the insect world.

Up-close-and-personal experience: Breaking through traditional cognitive boundaries, students, under the guidance of teachers, will be able to touch insects from different groups, feeling the lightness and wonder of life in their hands. This immersive experience will inspire curiosity and love for the insect world, making learning more heartwarming and memorable.

Digging for a Giant Insect to Take Home: In-depth lectures will help students develop a new understanding of insects. Students will personally dig up the hidden insects, fill them with soil, and pack them into boxes, alleviating the anxiety of being home without insects during the winter. Students will also experience the miraculous changes in the insect life cycle.

Activity Schedule

Check-in and Entry: After checking in, families will enter the venue in an orderly manner, explore on their own, and wait for the group to gather, warming up for the subsequent learning.

Expert Lecture: Decoding Insects (approximately 60 minutes): Teacher Pan Xiaochang conducts a professional lecture, focusing on the core identifying characteristics of insects (six legs and four wings), and using real-world examples to analyze the logic behind defining the benefits and harms of insects. He also provides an in-depth explanation of the supporting role insects play in the ecosystem and shares practical methods for daily insect conservation.

Specimen Exploration: Live Interaction (approximately 30 minutes): Teacher Pan leads students in an up-close exploration of precious collections. Under safe conditions, students can personally handle beetles, gently placing them in their palms to experience the texture of their shells and the movements of their limbs, immersing them in the wonder and lightness of life.

Q&A: Group Photo Exit (approximately 30 minutes): Students raise questions, and Teacher Pan answers them. A group photo is taken, and the students depart in an orderly manner.

Event Dates

October 4, 2025 (Saturday)

9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

October 5, 2025 (Sunday)

9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

October 6, 2025 (Monday)

9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

October 7, 2025 (Tuesday)

9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

October 8, 2025 (Wednesday)

9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Event Fee

RMB 298 per group (includes admission, materials, instructor, etc.)

Families with children aged 6-12 (one adult and one child per group)

We would love to welcome you to ISB for a morning of discovery and connection. Take a closer look at our Early Years and Elementary programs as you explore our learning spaces, hear from teachers and students, and meet members of our leadership team.

We are looking forward to sharing a glimpse of life at ISB with you - hope to see you on campus soon.

SCHEDULE

Early Years and Elementary School  | 

9:00 am - 11:00 am 

Middle School/High School | 

12:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Discover the vibrant learning community at Beijing City International School (BCIS) through our upcoming Open Houses! Parents are invited to explore our engaging programs, meet experienced educators, and learn about our innovative curriculum. Join us on Oct 18 for Elementary and Secondary School, and Oct 25 for ECC Toddler & Nursery.

ABOUT THE EVENT: You’re a Jesuit missionary in the 16th century who’s been on a leaky ship for eight months, spending every waking moment trying to learn a new language. Arriving in Macau, your strategy is: cosplay as a Buddhist monk and impress people with your mastery of maps and mathematics before your audience realizes your HSK level doesn’t quite match your ambition.

Also, Jesus. If they ask you about Jesus, that would be awesome.

For over two centuries, the Jesuits were all-in on China. They mastered Chinese, translated hundreds of texts, and grew fabulous beards. They spent decades embedding themselves in a culture, appreciating Chinese civilization for what it could teach them, and sharing their knowledge. Matteo Ricci is remembered as the prototype for foreign friends and the guy who always had his hand up in your Chinese class. Adam Schall and Ferdinand Verbiest rearranged Chinese conceptions of time and space. Giuseppe Castiglione painted emperors (and a lot of horses) while helping create a new aesthetic blending East and West.

But it wasn’t all just translations, win-win outcomes, and baijiu toasts to eternal friendship. Ricci had to convince people he was not a body snatching sorcerer. Schall and Verbiest did a little time in prison. And the inability of Papal representative Charles Maigrot to read the room at Kangxi’s court threatened to undo centuries of Jesuit good will and hard work.

Historian Jeremiah Jenne sits down with Sarah Keenlyside to talk about the Jesuits as cultural astronauts, intellectual sojourners, and civilizational crash-test dummies. Why do Chinese historians still give them more credit than the missionaries who came later? How did Europe’s shifting view of the rest of the world twist their mission? And what do their stories tell us about the grit, gamble, and fallout of cultural exchange? Let’s talk about how ideas and people travel and what gets found, lost and, occasionally, warped along the way.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Jeremiah Jenne is a historian, writer, and educator who lived in Beijing for over twenty years, where he taught Late Imperial and Modern Chinese History. He shares his gift for making history relevant to contemporary audiences and skill as a historical storyteller with companies, school groups, travel programs, and audiences around the world. He is the co-host of the Barbarians at the Gate podcast and with Sarah Keenlyside is launching a new podcast, By Their Own Compass focusing on historical travel, travelers, and the past journeys that continue to shape our world.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR: Sarah Keenlyside is a journalist and travel expert with 20 years’ experience building brands, stories and cultural experiences that connect deeply with audiences. She is the founder of Bespoke Travel Company, one of the leading providers of luxury travel services in Asia.

ABOUT THE EVENT: British historian Roger Crowley will present an online talk on his book, Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World" (Yale University Press, 2024). Drawing on vivid eyewitness accounts of adventures, shipwrecks, and sieges that formed the first colonial encounters, he will show how this struggle shaped the modern world and remade the global economy for centuries to follow. This event is co-hosted by the Yale Center Beijing and the RASBJ.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Roger Crowley is a British historian and a graduate of Cambridge University. He is the author of six bestselling books on maritime and global history — including1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, Empires of the Sea, and City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas— which have been translated into many languages.

HOW MUCH: For RASBJ members, registration is free as a membership benefit. If you're a non-member (or a lapsed member) but wish to become an RASBJ member in order to join the event, please sign up at https://rasbj.org/membership or scan the QR code on the poster below.

Members of the Yale community in Beijing should sign up directly via YCB

HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: RASBJ members should click “Register” or “I will attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration you’ll receive a confirmation email. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder. Successful registrants will be emailed the login link and other details 24 hours before the event. Please check your spam folder to ensure you see all RASBJ emails.

Path to yourself always begins with the body. Breath is one of the most powerful ways to release tension and journey deeper within. To hear how the tissues of the body truly sound — a truly fascinating experience. We rarely pause to wonder: what does my body sound like? And with the simplest tool of sound, we can restore our psycho-emotional balance.

Sanyuanqiao Campus is located in the high-end residential area of the Northeast Third Ring Road in Beijing and has a safe, serene environment. In addition to the nine learning centers based on the multiple intelligences theory, the campus is equipped with a multi-function hall, a small theater, a STEAM classroom, an art classroom, a creative art space,  a reading library, a lending library, and a music classroom to satisfy student curiosity.
  
Will hold open houses for the 2026-2027 school year to answer parents’ questions about kindergarten selection.
We look forward to seeing you!