The 2011 Cross-Strait Middle School Nature Summer Camp coordinated by BMNH and Taichung Museum of Natural History officially started on July 28 and concluded successfully on August 6.

The 2011 Camp was composed of 22 teachers and students from Chinese Taiwan and 18 teachers and students from Chinese mainland. During their first stop in Beijing, they visited such popular science and sightseeing sites as BMNH, the Geological Museum of China, Beijing Planetarium, the Juyong Pass of the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs and thePalaceMuseum.

On July 30, the camp members arrived at Xi’an and explored the natural and cultural sceneries in International Horticulture Expo, Qinling Mountains Protected Zone, theMuseumofTerra Cotta Warriorsand Horses of Qin Shihuang and Huaqing Hot Springs. The camp members from Chinese Taiwan were really amazed, “as a previous capital city for 13 dinasties,Xi’anis enveloped in a profound cultural aura which is reinforced by the beautiful natural sceneries.” And they felt that the Horticultural Expo gave a grandiose display of so many plants and the area was much more popular and larger thanTaiwan’s Lantern Festival.

On August 1, the camp members got an exciting experience when they arrived at the depth ofQinlingMountainsand had an opportunity to see the pandas in close range. At theQinlingMountainsPandaUndomesticationTrainingCenter, two 4-year-old pandas named Abao and Dabao ate bamboos while playing with each other in the bamboo forest with creaks running silently. According to the expert in the conservation area, the two pandas, a female and a male, were hurt badly when they were found by foresters in 2007 and 2008 and now they are healthy thanks to the special care the staff in the center paid to them.

Apart from that, the camp members visited Niubeiliang Forest Park inQinlingMountainsand with the help of the experts carried a study on the ecology, vegetation and water sources of the Qinling central region.

The 2011 Camp has put up a platform for students across the strait to communicate and exchange ideas. And the activity enables the children to have a field experience of the natural science learned from books and allows them to horn their teamwork and academic skills.