Summer Field Program: Heritage, Tourism, and Development on China’s Ethnic Frontiers
June 10th – July 1st, 2012
This program takes GW students into the field to experience firsthand the development challenges faced by state authorities, community leaders, and regular citizens in the interior regions of the People’s Republic of China. As part of a national campaign to ‘Go West’, Chinese authorities have promoted tourism and heritage projects as development tools in marginalized minority areas. The purpose of this program is to learn about these projects and their impact on citizens by traveling overland through the Tibetan cultural frontier area of historic Amdo and Kham.
After arriving in China we will spend five days in Beijing, where we will visit cultural sites in and around the city such as the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and the Dongtian Daoist Temple complex. During this time we will also visit the National Minorities University for a discussion of state ethnic policies, and Beijing International Studies University, for a discussion on tourism policies and objectives. After traveling by train to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province in Northwest China, we will travel overland through the Amdo and Kham regions of historic Tibet. Our first stop will be the Tibetan pilgrimage town of Xiahe, site of Labrang Monastery, a key intellectual center for the Gelukpa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. We will then continue by road to the monastery town of Taksen Lhamo (Chinese Langmusi), located along the Gansu-Sichuan border on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, and then to Jiuzhaigou National Park, in Northern Sichuan province. From Jiuzhaigou we will fly to Xian, the former capital of the Tang Dynasty and site of the Terra-Cotta warrior museum. Our trip will conclude with a return journey to Beijing by train.
Over the course of this three-week field study students will interact with Chinese tourism and heritage scholars, local Tibetan and Han Chinese business owners, Tibetan pilgrims and nomads, and Chinese students. In keeping with the focus of the program, our overland trip will be arranged and hosted by Nomad Travel, a Tibetan-run agency located in Xiahe, Gansu province.
The total fee for this program is $5,432.This includes GWU tuition ($3,679) for three credits), train (soft sleeper class) and air travel within China, all accommodations, site visits, admission fees, travel insurance and most meals. Parts of this journey will be at elevations of 3,000 to 3,500 meters (10,000-12,000 feet), so good health is a must.
The program will be led by Robert Shepherd, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and international Affairs.
For more information, feel free to email him at rshepher@gwu.edu or stop by his office in the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Suite 503, 1957 E Street.
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