Life Lessons from a 1,000 Year Old Tree

When teaching her students the idiom -- 沧海桑田 (Cang Hai Sang Tian tr. seas turn to the land, meaning great upheaval), Chinese Language Lecturer Gu Beilei brought them to a 1000-year-old Gingko tree that has grown in Shanghai through wars, floods, and urbanization. By tying language to history, Gu hoped to instill an appreciation of nature’s perseverance alongside the city’s rapid development.