Ethan Coplan with a calligrapher in Xi’an, the city in west central China where the Terracotta Warriors were unearthed. The calligrapher wrote him a poem which says, “To see far, you must climb high.” This is an ancient poem which means: Study hard! It is hanging now in Ethan’s room.

Last year, when he was in third grade, MCPK graduate Ethan Coplan spent the year living in Beijing, China while his mother had a job in a university. He wanted to share his experience with the Montclair Community Pre-K student community and MCPK Executive Director Eve Robinson kindly invited Ethan to visit the school to present his 15-minute slideshow to the students, with a Chinese musical soundtrack, called, ”An American Boy in China.” The children were fascinated by Ethan’s presentation.

Ethan shared what it looked like in Beijing, a giant city of 23 million people, much bigger than NYC. The slideshow showed what it looks like on Beijing’s busy subway, how to makedumplings, and what it looks like when you visit a Chinese farms, bike in a mountain village, or pray at a Buddhist and Taoist temple. The children saw slides of Ethan hiking on the Great Wall. He showed the children that some days, he had to wear a face mask because the air pollution was bad.

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