Report from a Chinese city

In the online magazine Sigla, Kilcullen-born Garreth Byrne goes from Mao to now, charting the massive changes that have taken place in Chinese culture since the 'Cultural Revolution'.

"I teach children in Grades 1, 2, 5 and 6 — ages 7 up to 14 — in a state-established, fee paying boarding school only five bus stops from the centre of a city in North East China. There are 2,400 children here, about 95 percent of them boarders.

"Parents come to the side gate to collect the younger, primary school children on Friday afternoons. The children in Grades 7-9 stay on for Saturday morning lessons and are then taken home to enjoy the taste of home cooking. Some children attend extra-curricular English and science classes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

"I teach a little at weekends and get Monday off." More here.