This program in our series offers a unique, three-week opportunity for high school students to visit and investigate an extended geographical section of China, learn about the lives and culture of local people through in-depth conversations, and create a thoughtful travelogue portfolio (comprised of expository writings as well as more creative efforts such as poetry, drawing, and photography) under the guidance of a China Studies scholar, a creative writing instructor, and bilingual Teaching Assistants.

Students will start with a week-long study of Beijing: one of China’s most dynamic, imaginative, and international cities, where politics and business, trends and traditions, artists and intellectuals converge.  From the capital we will head west via train to survey the vast and varied terrain in northern China, the cradle of Chinese civilization for millennia.  Students will see powerful images of a rural and urban landscape (often referred to rather anonymously as the ‘hinterland’), places less frequented and very different from first-tier cities, but which give the country its dimensions, complexity, and potential.  Our train journey will end in Lanzhou, historically a crucial city along the Silk Road, at the doorstep of the Tibetan plateau.

Along the train route we will visit three regional cities: Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Xi’an (all of which are renowned ancient capitals), as well as Muslim and Tibetan areas south of Lanzhou.  Lastly the group will travel by air to Chengdu, one of the largest commercial and cultural hubs in the west, and home to many of China’s pandas, temples, and spicy dishes.

We have selected for this program a key conceptual theme: ‘Tradition vs. Modernity’ to help students appreciate and analyze their experiences.  Our goal is to guide students in their investigation of how traditional concepts and modern ideas interact to form the multi-faceted, complex, and fascinating reality that China is today.

Media in the West often gives detached images of China, focusing on one story in one place.  Or it tends to give the impression that China is a single, undifferentiated whole – communist, authoritarian, economic superpower – without capturing the profound variations in the lives and traditions of people across the country.  We hope to add texture, depth, and nuances to the way students perceive and analyze China, and give them a starting point to what may become a lifelong interest in one of the most important and fascinating countries in the world.

We have designed this program for students who have visited China before and want to extend their horizons, as well as others who are looking for a starting point. This program should be of particular interest to those who want to learn travel writing, or who may be interested in China Studies.  Prior experience in Mandarin is not a pre-requisite.