The Definitive Dali Experience

There are only a few select places in China where you are the big fish in a small pond.  A nation with well over 1.3 billion people, more than 4,000 years of history and an incredible ability to tailor the land for human benefit has helped cities like Beijing and Shanghai grow to host over 10 million people each.  While these cities capture the headlines and are the face of China in the 21st Century, it is easy to become a small fish in a big ocean.

Big Fish, Small Pond Education
Then there is Dali in quiet Yunnan.  Most people outside of South East Asia have never heard of Yunnan and for that reason it has peacefully grown into the perfect destination to study Chinese.  Besides our stand-out Language Immersion and Intensive programs at Dali University, this year we are also offering The Definitive Dali Experience.  This is a senior program that specifically helps students whose Chinese is already at an advanced level and have already traveled to China.  In this program, students will attend classes at Dali University in the morning and then each afternoon the students will participate in an activity that will have a theme attached to it, which will teaches students how to use Chinese on a practical, street-ready level. 

These activities will vary day to day, however it will always include one of the following components: community service (i.e. Pollution and Social Progression in China), round-table discussions with local leaders (all conducted in Chinese -- i.e. An Introduction to Politics in China) or a side trip (i.e. Seeking out Religion in China.)

You Won’t be Left Out at Sea!
In addition to all of this, the students will also be using multimedia tools to help improve their Chinese.  students who are enrolled in this trip will receive monthly updates from the Director of China on how to improve their Chinese and use it outside the classroom. Sometimes this will be in the form of a YouTube video, other times it will be an introduction to forums online that Chinese people use on a daily basis to conduct business or spend time with friends. The Director will also be available at any point for a DDE student to submit a paper for corrections or added advice on calssroom topics.  Then each day during the program, several students will be tasked as the leaders of a certain activtity that would mirror how a Chinese person lives day-today. This may be a trip to the market with our local chef who will speak only in Chinese and ask them to pay, bargain and set up a meal for the whole group or another role could be to serve as transportation coordinator, which means they need to call local drivers to come pick us up, drive us to an activity or back home from class. All of these roles are aimed to make you feel at home in China and learn how to succeed in several different forums and reinforce proper ways to express your wishes in Chinese, all backed by supportive staff members.

The Big Fish in Shuanglang
Your class time at Dali University will be split into two sessions with a break to Shuanglang, a 1,000 year old fishing town on the other side of Lake Erhai.  Where Dali Old Town offers a great assortment of local leaders, businesspeople and baristas to talk to, Shuanglang is a town full of local Bai culture and rock climbing.  Yunnan is the melting pot of China and Dali plays host to several different minority cultures, the most prominent being the Bai.  As you stay in a lodge located right next to the lake, the unique Bai culture surrounds you at every turn.  In Shuanglang we turn in our books and pens into open hearts and minds.  Each day we will wake to explore a different facet of this kaleidoscopic village, so whether it’s visiting the local community center to help senior citizens stay active in their wise years, planting young saplings with local middle school students or engaging the local culture by helping them cook a traditional Bai meal you will walk away with different impression of the China you see on the nightly news.

Are you Experienced?
This trip will also be personally lead by the Country Director who has spent the past 10 years as a mentor for students and can safely put them into situations each day where they would have to use their Chinese in a creative and advanced context.  In total, this trip offers 28 hours of group class instruction by University professors and 18 hours of community service.  Since this trip is so unique, there is very limited space so you should sign up as soon as possible.

 This trip connects easily with all of our other programs in South East Asia.

For more information e-mail us at china@rusticpathways.com