Meet Ancient Syria: A Secondary Art Adventure 中学艺术之旅——遇见·古叙利亚文明

On December 16th, our middle and high school students embarked on an inspiring educational journey to the Xiamen Museum’s exhibition, “Narrating Civilization: Syrian Antiquities.” For Middle School Social Studies and Art students, as well as our Pre-AP, AP Art, and Ceramics students, this was an opportunity to step into a world where history and art intersect. They encountered nearly one hundred artifacts that tell stories tens of thousands of years old, ranging from statues and tablets to early writing systems. The experience sparked genuine fascination, with many students expressing surprise at the advanced craftsmanship, symbolism, and engineering evident in objects created millennia ago. Standing before artifacts previously seen only in textbooks helped them connect classroom learning to the tangible history of human creativity and innovation.

The visit was rich with cross-curricular opportunities. For our Middle School, High School Art, and Ceramics students, it served as a class in curation and presentation techniques—perfectly timed as our Ceramics class prepares to create and present its own first exhibition. Our AP and Pre-AP students connected the experience directly to their projects. One AP student, exploring the concept of rewilding and nature reclaiming human-made objects, found inspiration in the weathered artifacts and the exhibition’s themes of civilizational rise and decline. Pre-AP and Middle School Art students reflected on their recent projects, which often appropriate historical art styles, through this new lens.

A major highlight was the opportunity to visit all of the museum’s other permanent and special exhibitions. This allowed students to delve into local history, trace the ceramics heritage of renowned centers like Dehua and Jingdezhen, and appreciate exquisite traditional Chinese paintings. These additional viewings provided a powerful comparative perspective, enabling students to exchange cultural understandings and reflect on the commonalities and contrasts between these artistic traditions and their own. As they moved through the galleries, students actively compared early Syrian pieces to later works, discussing how civilizations evolve in their art, technology, and storytelling. They asked thoughtful questions about ancient tools, materials, and what the artifacts revealed about daily life and belief systems.

A poignant symbol of deep historical ties was a Ming dynasty blue-and-white porcelain plate inscribed in Arabic—a fitting illustration of the ancient trade and cultural exchange between China and Syria.

We are proud of our students for engaging thoughtfully with this world-class exhibition. In-person experiences like this, which connect classroom learning to the wider worlds of art and history, make these concepts relevant and vividly alive. Their excitement has carried into post-visit discussions, with many eager to research more about ancient Syria, writing systems, and the development of human civilization.

(Article by Ms. Rosie, Secondary Art Teacher.)

12月16日，我们的初高中部学生进行了一次鼓舞人心的教育之旅，参观了厦门市博物馆举行的《叙·说文明：叙利亚古代文物精品展》。对于初中社会学和艺术的学生，Pre-AP和AP艺术课，以及陶艺课的学生来说，这次机会让他们走进了一个历史与艺术交汇的世界。他们遇到了近一百件讲述数万年历史的文物，从雕像和泥板到早期的书写系统。这次经历激发了他们真正的兴趣，许多学生对那些数千年前制作的物品所展现出的精湛工艺、象征意义和工程技艺表示惊讶。站在那些之前只在教科书中见到的文物面前，可以帮助他们将课堂学习与人类创造力和创新精神相关的有形历史联系起来。

这次观展体验充满了许多跨学科的机会。对于我们初高中艺术课和陶艺课的学生来说，恰逢陶艺课学生正在准备创作和展示自己的首次展览，这次参观也成为了一堂策展和展示技巧的课程。我们AP和Pre- AP的学生将这次体验与他们的正在进行的项目直接联系起来。一位AP学生探索了重新野化的概念以及自然如何重新夺回人造物品的灵感，从天气侵蚀的文物和展览中关于文明兴衰的主题中找到了启发。Pre-AP和初中艺术课的学生通过这一新视角反思他们最近的项目，这些项目需要常常借鉴历史的艺术风格。

本次看展的一个主要亮点是学生们有机会一同参观博物馆其他常设展览和特别展览。这使学生们得以深入当地历史，追溯像德化和景德镇等著名地区的陶瓷遗产，并欣赏精美的传统中国画。这些额外的观展体验为学生提供了强有力的比较视角，使学生能够互相交换文化理解，反思这些艺术传统与他们自己之间的共同点和差异。当他们在画廊中穿梭时，学生们积极地将早期叙利亚作品与后来的作品进行比较，讨论文明如何在艺术、技术和叙事中不断演变。他们也提出了关于古代工具、材料，以及文物揭示的日常生活和信仰体系等非常有意义的问题。

一个深刻的历史纽带象征是一个明代的青花瓷盘，上面刻有阿拉伯文，生动地展示了中国与叙利亚之间古老的贸易和文化交流。

我们为学生们在参观这个世界级展览过程中表现出的认真和投入而感到自豪。像这样身临其境的体验将课堂学习与更广泛的艺术和历史世界连接起来，让这些概念变得具有相关性并且更生动。学生们的兴奋延续到了参观后的讨论，许多人渴望进一步研究古代叙利亚、书写系统和人类文明的发展。

(文章由中学部艺术老师 Ms. Rosie 撰写)