Stories from Abroad

A China Experience

After almost a full 24 hours of traveling, I was in Beijing. I was traveling with a group of UW students and we were all tired, dirty and bewildered. Even in the airport, it was clear that we were in a foreign country very different from home. We drew a lot of stares; the language sounded bizarre in our ears and the isolation of not being able to read even the restroom signs was daunting. Still, I couldn't help being thrilled and excited, even if I was terrified.

Once we arrived at our hotel around midnight, one of the students, a Chinese MBA student named Xiao Dong, suggested we all go out for a late-night snack. He took a group of us to a restaurant around the comer and did all the ordering for us. This became the habit for the rest of the trip, allowing Xiao Dong to do all the ordering and watching with amazement (and, at times, some alarm) as what he ordered arrived at the table. We had a great time that first night, too tired and out of place to worry about manners and pretense. Everyone laughed, ate and laid the groundwork for some good friendships.

The historical significance of Beijing was amazing. We saw the Forbidden City, home to generations of emperors, Tiananmen Square, which holds important social and political history, and the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was a rainy day, which cut both the heat and the crowds that had become tiresome in the city. We climbed for hours, dripping wet in the rain and taking dozens of pictures. To see such an incredible structure, built by hand ages ago, was breathtaking.

We left Beijing, headed for Nanjing and then onto Yangzhou, by overnight train. We left again the next morning on a bus to Yangzhou. We crossed the Yangtze River in a thick fog and drove through the countryside for an hour and a half before arriving on the Yangzhou University campus, where we were to spend the next week. While on the bus, we saw wheat fields, plowing oxen and other rural sights we hadn't seen yet. It was only a tiny taste of what the next two weeks would hold for me. The focus of the trip took a sharp turn from business and economics to rural agriculture.

At the end of the third week, our group separated. Most went on to Shanghai, where they boarded a plane to fly home. Nine of us went on to Kunming, in the southern part of the country. We then flew to Shangri-La, where the sights, sounds and smells were almost unexplainable. We stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, surrounded by mountains, fluffy clouds and the smell of pure air and evergreens. Tibetan women in their formal dress stood to the side, chanting and welcoming a group of travelers. I was blown away. Was this the same China I had spent the previous three weeks in?

We spent three days in Shangri-La and they were the best three days of the trip for me. Our lecturer, Li Bo, was fascinating; his area of work addressed the clashing of Tibetan culture and tourism, along with the negative impact on the fragile ecosystem of Shangri-La. He was busy building a guesthouse for eco-tourists in a nearby village. The guesthouse was being built in traditional Tibetan style and was to be a village enterprise, managed by the local Tibetan farmers. One a rainy day, Li Bo took us to the village to visit the guesthouse and village. The road got rough as we turned into the mountains and eventually ended. We put on the rain gear, dug out the umbrellas and walked for about an hour through pastures to the village. We were soaked and muddy when we arrived, and it was well worth it. Even under construction, the guesthouse was beautiful. Painting, carvings and hand-hewn paneling adorned the walls.

Li Bo had been doing interviews with locals in the village for several years and had become good friends with a family living on the other side of the village. They hosted us for lunch and that afternoon was special for everyone in our group. The family included two parents, their daughters, the husband and child of one daughter and an aunt. They laughed and joked amongst themselves as they made us lunch. Despite the Tibetan headdresses worn by the women and the food cooking over a fire, they were a typical family in every sense. They were kind and warm to us and made an incredible meal. We ate yak cheese, fried bread and potatoes.

The experience of spending time with that family will always stick with me. We were all a little moved that day by them. We took few pictures, as we were guests and not tourists in their home. None of us wanted to leave that afternoon. Their warm, friendly home sure beat the rain outside. That day posed a sharp contrast to some of the cultural exploitation we would see later in the week. Spending time with the Tibetan family was authentic, some of the cultural tourist spots we visited later felt phony and forced.

My experience on the China Study Tour was not a vacation. I learned a lot about the country, the people I was traveling with and myself. It was the most valuable month of my college career. I was so nervous going into the trip that I considered not going and now I want to go again. I encourage all my fellow students to consider a study tour. There's no other way you can learn so much in only four weeks!

Liz Leazer
China Program
May-June 2004