LETTER FROM CHENGDU - A DOUBLE EDUCATION

Educating American twins in China revealed two disparate systems, despite a history of mutual influence.

- PETER HESSLER

At 7:01 A.M. on September 2, 2019, more than an hour before my twin daughters, Natasha and Ariel, were scheduled to begin third grade at Chengdu Experimental Primary School, the first message appeared on the WeChat group for parents. The group name was Class Six, and every time somebody posted a message, my phone beeped. The initial beep came from somebody called Number 16 Zhou Liming’s Mama:

Regarding today’s weather, is it fine to wear shorts?

It took less than a minute for the next beep. This time, the writer was Number 35 Li Jialing’s Mama:

We are wearing shorts, it’s not cold.

Each message appeared in the standard WeChat format: a time stamp, the sender’s name, an avatar, and the text within a bubble. The bubbles scrolled down the screen like the dialogue of a play in which characters had been both named and numbered:

7:08 A.M.
Number 13 Zhao Fan’s Mama:
There will be lots of people inside the class room, it won’t be cold.

7:17 A.M.
Number 16 Zhou Liming’s Mama:
Fine, then we will also wear shorts. Thank you, dears @Number 35 Li Jialing’s Mama and @Number 13 Zhao Fan’s Mama.