Sixth grade Social Studies students, who are about to embark on a study of Chinese history, met Tuesday with five AFS upperclassmen who are international students from China. Senior Ken Wang, sophomore Selina Zhou and freshmen Simon Shan, Joie Li and David Dai taught the Middle Schoolers how to write a dozen Chinese words and answered questions about life in their home country. Among the queries were these: “What is served for lunch in Chinese schools?” “What chores did you have to do when you were little?” “Can you abbreviate when writing Chinese characters?”

The question that struck the biggest nerve, though, was whether Chinese food in America is the same as the food served in China. Not even close, the Chinese students said emphatically, noting that American Chinese food is much sweeter. Ken also said, “We don’t have fortune cookies in China!”