Amid the everyday vitality of the fields,

in October 2025, Huawen CIC students

began an outdoor practical lesson in Million Orchard: a dialogue with the fruits of autumn.

Dew on the Citrus: Tasting the Autumn Harvest

In the orchard at midday, green citrus fruit covered the branches,

and students stood on tiptoe and reached up, carefully picking the unripe fruit. Only when their fingertips touched the rough texture of the peel did they understand the weight of sowing in spring and tending in summer.

“So an orange really has to wait a whole year before it becomes sweet!”

A student holds six freshly picked green oranges in both hands
Students pick citrus fruit among the branches inside an orchard greenhouse
Students share pieces of a freshly peeled orange in the orchard

Rooted in the Soil: Growth Leaves a Sweet Aftertaste

The experience in the sugarcane field made the idea that nothing comes easily tangible:

gloved hands gripped the thick stalks, which took considerable strength to pull from the soil;

and peeling them with a machete required complete concentration and careful control, as the flesh could be cut with the slightest lapse.

Gloved students harvest tall sugarcane stalks in the field
A student and an adult work at the base of sugarcane stalks in the field
Students trim and peel harvested sugarcane beside the greenhouses

When the students held up the sugarcane they had prepared themselves, smiling brightly despite the fine pieces of leaf on their faces,

the experience had already gone far beyond picking crops:

during the Double Ninth Festival season, it allowed them to touch the deeper meaning of harvest through labour and understand the weight of cherishing resources through sweat.

From greenhouses to open fields, the sight of everyone bending to work

offered the most vivid explanation of remembering hardship and appreciating sweetness. When food changed from a product on a shelf into the result of their own harvest,

finishing every meal was no longer a slogan, but a gentle response to every act of cultivation.

A student holds up a peeled piece of sugarcane while a classmate tastes the harvest

Autumn Light at Its Best: The Classroom Continues Across the Land

The Huawen CIC classroom has never been confined to books.

This journey of farming and learning allowed growth to take root in the soil:

students picked fruit and harvested enthusiasm for life and respect for resources.

The autumn light was at its best, and growth was in full swing.

At the next practical classroom, we will continue to read ten thousand books through life and travel ten thousand miles across the world around us.

A student holds a freshly picked orange among dense citrus branches
A student holds a leaf-tipped orange beside their face in the orchard