Humanities teacher Laura Davis was selected as one of 15 educators from the United States to participate in a study tour with the China Institute in Summer 2011. The Freeman Institute partially funds the program, which is chartered by the State University of New York. This was the first time it was offered to teachers outside of New York state. The tour focused on exposing participants to the history and culture of China and developing awareness of current issues facing both the People’s Republic and Taiwan.

For four weeks, Davis was immersed in the culture, history and sights of ancient and modern China. “I have been exposed to Chinese and Taiwanese culture for years,” said Davis. “However, I lacked a framework of historical events with which to help me interpret Chinese paintings and stories. This study tour was a wonderful introduction to a 4000 year old civilization that I wanted to know more about.”

Traveling from Beijing to Guangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai, Davis saw a lot of the country. She visited famous sites like Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in Beijing, but also got to meet villagers and school children. Along with sightseeing, the tour participants heard from Chinese university professors on a variety of subjects, historical and modern, and met with business and international relations professionals.

Davis with Chinese school girls.

The World History Association annual conference was in Beijing this year, and the China Institute tour was scheduled to offer participants time to take part in that conference and meet with historians from around the world. As a result of her summer study, Davis has already started teaching a unit which she designed as her culminating project for the China Institute program.

At the end of the month’s tour, Davis was in Taiwan to learn about both the cultural similarities with the People’s Republic, and the political differences that divide the two. Davis says that, while she learned a lot, her summer experience also made her realize how much there is to learn about China and Taiwan. “I now have a reading list of books over 30 titles long,” she reports.

Davis watches Chinese children play a typical rope game.

Meanwhile, her students have launched into reading Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, sections of The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li. To class discussions Davis brings many first-hand observations and experiences from her trip to enrich the students’ understanding of the themes in the literature.