Founded in 1923, Yunnan University is located in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, one of the 100 key universities accredited by the Ministry of Education in China. It is the only comprehensive university in Yunnan, with about three thousand faculty and staff, and 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The campus is quite beautiful, basked in tropical sunshine and balmy weather all year around and covered by rows upon rows of green palm trees and plants next to old colonial style architectures left by the French who built railways from Vietnam to Kunming. Established in 1984, the School of Chinese Studies of Yunnan University adopted its current name “School for International Students” three years ago, offering Chinese language and cultural courses to over a thousand international students from over 20 countries each year. The school has 25 full-time language instructors teaching courses at nine levels to students from such American programs as Middlebury College, Oklahoma University, Washington University, and CIEE program in China.

With the rapid change and social transformation in China, Kunming is quickly becoming a modern metropolis. Our students will find a variety of food in restaurants less than ten minutes walk from their dorm: Indian food, Thai food, McDonalds fast food, Starbuck café, and authentic Chinese food. Located at the center of Yunnan, Kunming is an ideal place from which to take weekend long and short exploratory trips to the communities of ethnic minority such as the Tibetan, Yi, Dai, Naxi, Hani, etc. in Shangri-la in the north and Xishuangbanna in the south, as we did in 2007 from Xi’an. We plan to fly to Kunming by way of Xi’an, where we will spend four days in China’s ancient capital, visiting the tomb of the first emperor and the terra-cotta warriors, the Famen Buddhist Temple, Beilin Museum (the forest of steles) with inscriptions of China’s best and most famous calligraphy, and the National Museum of Shaanxi History, as well as the communist headquarters and the military basis for the Red Army in Yan’an. On the fourth weekend, students will fly to Guilin for a two-day tour of the city in the nearby Guangxi Province, to enjoy the stunning beauty of rural southern China on a boat ride along the Li River. On the way home at the end of this seven-week intensive language program, students will spend three full days exploring Beijing, China’s cultural and political center, visitng the Great Walls, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and other famous historical sites and architectures, prestigious universities, museums of history, film, and avant-garde arts, as well as the National Center for the Performing Arts. As is already proven by the experience two years ago when Wooster students these same cities, a summer program can be a once-in-a-life-time experience for the participants that expands their cultural and intellectual horizons, and deepens their appreciation and understanding of world civilizations.

While in Xi'an, we will be staying at Xi’an International Studies University (XISU) is a medium sized school, with 8,000 students. (Click here to view a short clip of the new XISU campus and the School of Chinese Studies.) The university has accommodations for foreign students and has a regular program established to receive them. (Click here to watch a short clip of XISU Hotel on campus where students enrolled in 2007 Wooster in Xi'an Summer Program will be staying.) In 2007, Wooster students participated a speech competition at the School of Chinese Studies at XISU. (Click here to watch some samples of the speech competition)

The range of courses offered at the School for International Students can certainly meets the differing needs of our students who might take Chinese in the summer of 2011. A senior faculty member of the school, Yanping Zhang is currently teaching upper level language courses for us and will be assistant director as well as academic adviser for the program. Youlan Zhang and others are experienced instructors able to work for this program on a need-to basis. Professor Zhang would see to it that we have the best living arrangements, and that our students have the full academic and administrative supports from her school, as well as continuity for language their studies. This intensive summer language program running from May 13th to the second week of July would be able to offer multiple language courses and open to (1) those wishing to take Chinese from scratch, (2) those having completed beginning Chinese courses at the College or the equivalents, or/and (3) those having completed intermediate courses at the College or have the equivalents. Classes meet four hours a day and five days a week for 7 weeks, which is in terms of contact hours equivalent to two semesters of language courses (28 weeks) here at the college that meet 50 minutes a day and five days a week. In addition, our students will attend each week to one lecture on such topics as the customs and cultures of the ethnic minorities, government official policies on ethnic minorities, the impact of modernization and tourism on local cultures, pollutions and eco-protections, and so forth.

In addition, in the course of seven weeks, there will be lectures on ethnic history, customs of minority nationalities, calligraphy, and tours to historic sites on weekends. To ensure absolute continuity in language training, the same textbooks (Integrated Chinese) as used in Wooster are adopted for first and second year students. (Click here to see tentative course syllabi and required textbooks.)

IV. Projected costs and expenses, subject to change as oil price in 2011 may rise dramatically

It is hoped that this summer program is to be offered every year for those who have taken first and/or second year language classes. With this intensive language training program, it becomes possible for the laguage student to be proficient within his or her four-year study at the college. Beyond the language skills that are developed there, the participants of the program also have 7-weeks experience of living inside Chinese culture and society, interacting with the people whose language they study. In some way, the program prepares the student both linguistically and culturally for future visits and travels in China. The places on the itinerary include the capital, mid-size cities, as well as rural towns; in other words, the participants have a chance of looking at different strata of the Chinese society.

If we still put as much emphasis on textbook learning in China as we have done in Wooster, we miss the whole point of going to study the language in China. We want to emphasize the skill in oral communication more than reading and writing while in Yunnan. To develop and strengthen your skills in oral communication, we want you to do language practicums at least three times a week when you go out in pairs to do an errant, whether to the bank to do foreign currency exchange, to a barber's to get a hair-cut, to a restaurant to order food, to a cinema to see a movie, or to a supermarket to buy cheese and diary products. You need to learn the necessary vocab before you leave, remember and record your conversation with your Chinese interlocutor in writing while there, and turn in the actual log of the conversation after you return. It is hoped that by doing these task-oriented practicums, you quickly narrow the gap between what you think you can do and what you actually accomplish when you communicate in the culture. We still use the textbooks, but we hope you can all return with a level of oral proficiency that would allow you to take advanced Chinese where you do more reading and writing than listening and speaking.