Not a typical tourist mecca, one of the more surprising stops on our tour of Shanghai was the Children's Palace of Xuhui District.There are several such schools throughout the city.
This particular Children's Palace and its grounds were the former residence of Rong Desheng, a famous Chinese industrialist. In the 1950's, this
residence was converted into an extracurricular activities center where children can go after school or on the weekends to study things like the Beijing Opera, theatre, ballet, dance, singing, chess, calligraphy, painting, sketching, music and martial arts.
The Children's Palaces are not free of charge, but the class fees are fairly cheap and anyone who can pay can attend. You don't need to be elite or a child prodigy. I wish I could enroll in some of these courses - what fun!We got to look in on a couple of classes and watch the students at work. In several classes, mothers and fathers were there to provide extra instruction and encouragement. Because it was completely new to me, I found the erhu class especially interesting. Erhu is something like a two-stringed violin. It is a very expressive instrument, often used for playing sad songs.
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