Balerno High School’s Beijing exchange had an unlikely start. It began at a party on the banks of the River Tiber in Rome when headteacher Rory Mackenzie spotted - in the midst of the crowd - two interesting-looking Chinese women who weren’t drinking.

“We introduced ourselves and it turned out that they were the headteacher Xhang Fenlan and a translator from Beijing No 8 Middle School (S3-S5 equivalent),” Mr Mackenzie recalls.

“We got around to talking about exchanges. Later Mrs Fenlan wrote and things started happening. That was in October last year.”

Someone funded by the Department for Education and Skills in London is based at the British Council in Beijing and the organisation says there have been youth delegations between China and Scotland before. Girls at St George’s school in Edinburgh are learning Mandarin; but the Balerno-Beijing exchange is the first of its kind.

Scotland’s deputy first minister, Jim Wallace, made a visit there several months ago. There is considerable interest in Scotland from the Chinese, but while they have had a consulate improbably situated in Edinburgh’s Corstorphine for 10 years, it is still getting to grips with the scale of Scotland and the size of some of our local authorities.

When the Chinese group of 10 pupils and two teachers arrived to visit Balerno High in late August, they were captivated by the Scottish landscape. Having visited the Trossachs and Edinburgh Castle, 14-year-old Chen Moyang commented: “There are vast expanses of green which aren’t so evident in Beijing. The piped water is also very good. We can’t drink the water in Beijing.”

He also praised the Scottish air: “If I could, I would take back the fresh air. I wouldn’t say the air at home is polluted but it is poorer.”

Cultural differences caught the group’s attention too. They had never heard of a community school where adults and children learn at the same institution, but were reluctant to admit whether they warmed to the concept. They were also taken with the choice of teas and coffee for breakfast.

The Chinese pupils’ conversation came around to pupil numbers. Class sizes at No 8 middle school average 40, double those at Balerno High. And while No 8 is a prestigious, well-resourced school, the youngsters remarked on how well-equipped Balerno’s library is, with computers, books and periodicals equally accessible when you want to check facts and references.

English teacher Gao Kun reflected on the marked educational disparities between China and Scotland. “In China, teachers are given set texts which they must use, whereas here there is a lot of freedom about what materials teachers can adopt. We must stick to the set texts, so even if we find other useful resources there just isn’t time to incorporate them into our courses,” she said.

Miss Kun thought that Balerno High encouraged creative thinking and instilled confidence by displaying pupils’ work in the classrooms. She mentioned how two senior students were assigned to them as guides around Edinburgh and was impressed by how independent they were, due in no small part to greater flexibility within the curriculum, she believed.

One contrast of the exchange visits that stuck Balerno High was the extent of financial support No 8 middle school had received from Chinese companies for its visit to Scotland. Mr Mackenzie had contacted two of Scotland’s largest financial institutions with interests in China but almost no support was forthcoming for his school party.

“They’re critical about the quality of what we produce yet they don’t support us. It annoys me,” says Mr Mackenzie. As matters stand, the school will have to make up the financial shortfall.

The 10 S3 Balerno High pupils arrived in Beijing on a national holiday and spent four days sightseeing. When they turned up at No 8 middle school five days later they were surprised by the morning routine, though soon slotted in. A song and a salute to the Chinese flag at an outdoors assembly was swiftly followed by some rigorous, military-style exercises before they retired to their classrooms. There they spent the entire day while the teachers moved from class to class. The Balerno pupils rather liked the idea because it cut out the time wasted moving between classes.

Both visiting pupils and teachers commented on the way that the Chinese children suddenly stopped work to do special eye exercises twice daily to relieve eye strain.

During both legs of the exchange, the teenagers were taught two of the strongest international languages, music and art, though even there dialectal differences emerged. “We started the art class with paper cutting as we might make snowflakes at home,” said Balerno pupil Emily Robinson. “Then we progressed to Chinese painting, which is more difficult than it looks because they hold their brushes really straight.”

The Chinese are very excited about hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and Balerno High had a foretaste with the school sports day. Incredibly for one school of 1,600 pupils (the middle school has about 700 and the high school 900), it had a sports ground the size of Edinburgh’s Meadowbank, where they held a procession and flew flags.

Mr Mackenzie was bowled over by a school they visited which was funded by a property development company. A child is secured a place at the upmarket boarding school when its parents buy one of its flats.

“It was flooded with computers. The science room had enough for every one of the 40 pupils, the music room had computers and keyboards for everyone and they had multi-media projectors in the classroom,” Mr Mackenzie says.

He likened it to a public-private partnership in Scotland.

“Beijing is buzzing economically,” he says. “Someone said the 19th century was European, the 20th was American but the 21st is going to be Chinese. They are very talented, capable people and it’s exciting to see that happening.”

During the visit, scant news from home about the Afghan-American crisis meant the Balerno teachers were alarmed when local police officers voiced concerns for their safety. But the school simply increased security measures.

Hopefully, while appalling toilets and a cold chicken burger for breakfast might become distant memories for the Balerno pupils, the reality of Tiananmen Square crowded with people and the giant curved architecture which sends your voice echoing back so strongly that you feel it reverberate, will prevail in their minds.

Balerno High’s relationship with Beijing No 8 school is flourishing. “We’re going to continue the exchange and some of our sixth year have expressed an interest in going, so we’ll look at links with the high school,” says Mr Mackenzie.

EXTRACTS FROM A PUPIL’S DIARY

Day 2 We got on the bus and started our journey to the Wall. It took about an hour-and-a-half.

The weather was warm and sunny, so I was too hot. I had been told to wrap up warm as there was snow yesterday. Instead of freezing, I was blistering with heat and even got burnt on the back of my neck.

The Wall was unbelievably crowded as it was China’s National Day on Monday and it’s a week-long holiday. Thousands were there and the Chinese are terrible for pushing, so we didn’t have to physically move because you are just shoved forward constantly. We arrived at the Ming tombs and had to queue for almost five hours.

Then, because we’d shown an interest, the Chinese PE teacher who was there taught us some t’ai chi I Day 4 I When we discover where the rest of the group are, we learn that the teachers want to tell us something important - so we huddle under some trees.

They told us that Britain and America have made a joint attack on Afghanistan, a very limited air strike where they believe Osama bin Laden is hiding. It came as a complete shock and worries me. Miss McPherson and Mr McKenzie don’t know the extent of the attacks or what everyone’s reaction is in Britain and America, but they assure us we are safe.

It’s not that I don’t trust them, but I would prefer to be at home with my family and could read the papers and see the television.

The teachers are saying that back in Britain it’s not a big deal and that it was expected, but it’s kinda scary when you’re all the way in China. We’re not supposed to call our parents and worry them. And we’re not allowed to discuss our views on it with our homestay - quite reasonably, in my opinion, considering we don’t know what they believe about the American and Afghanistan bombing.