De Xin Magazine Showcases Our Best Chinese Writing

Mandarin learning has long been a strength of our College. At the end of each academic year, our De Xin Magazine student editorial team publishes a collection of the very best student writing in Mandarin, showcasing the full range of talents from all three of our Mandarin learning streams: Chinese Native Language (CNL), Mandarin as a Second Language (MSL), and Mandarin as a Foreign Language (MFL).

Writing as a demonstration of cultural literacy is core component of Mandarin learning at Dulwich Pudong. De Xin magazine was founded in 2015 as a way to showcase our students’ Chinese writing skills. The publication is student-led - it is compiled, edited, and designed entirely by our CNL students - and its name "De Xin" underscores this.

The first character 德 is taken from the Chinese name of our College (德威) while the second character 馨 translates as “pervasive fragrance”. The two characters together highlight the beautiful writing created by our students. 德馨 also relates to the Chinese saying 德艺双馨, a phrase dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 B.C.) which means to pursue both professional excellence and moral integrity, two keys value we wish our student writers and editors to demonstrate.

Says Ms. Lei Yang, Assistant Head of Senior School Mandarin and lead teacher for the CCA, “The De Xin CCA offers our native Chinese learners the opportunity to gain a range of skills which can motivate and benefit their own Chinese learning such as editing and proofreading. The student editors also work closely together as a team, developing their leadership and collaboration skills throughout the year.”

Over the years the De Xin editorial team has developed a number of columns to highlight students’ work in different literary styles, building a link to our Senior School CNL curriculum. Featured columns this year such as “The Magic Pen” and “Relishing the Joys of Literature” demonstrate this link. Under these themes we see very impressive examples of creative writing and deep engagement with ancient literary works.

Year 9 student Michael G, one of the De Xin editors, says, “I joined the De Xin magazine editorial team because I wanted to use my skills and passion in Chinese writing to serve the greater community by contributing to our school’s Chinese magazine. I have improved key skills in grammar and character writing as a result. At the same time, I have also gained a greater understanding of how to change editing approaches depending on the author and the subject of work to reflect the true intentions and style of the author.”

Year 8 student Tyrone H found inspiration for finishing his science fiction story through the De Xin CCA. He says, “I wrote a short novel that introduced a person called 'Pa', who transports to another world every 30 days. I didn’t how to end my novel, though, so I stopped writing it a week before the due date, but I got the most important idea when I was chatting with my friends during the De Xin Magazine CCA.”

One of the biggest challenges the De Xin editors faced was deciding which submissions would be accepted for publication.

"The greatest challenge we encountered when compiling the magazine was selecting works from those submitted to enter the final edition," says Michael G, "This was difficult as we understood that everyone wished to have their work in the magazine, and the submissions were completed to a high standard. We were able to solve this difficulty by establishing clear criteria for evaluating each submission, where we not only considered the quality of the submission but also its relevance considering the context of the magazine and the section it would be incorporated under."

We are greatly impressed by all the work published in this year's De Xin Magazine, showing how deeply our students are engaging with the Chinese language and culture, empowering them to thrive wherever they choose to study and work after graduation.

To read the entire publication, please scan QR code on the De Xin Magazine cover below.