From August 5 to August 18 this summer, a 21-member Research Team visited mainland China and gathered first-hand knowledge on Chinese people, society, and civilization, which will enrich the curriculum at El Camino College. Their research findings were recorded in daily HOPE Journals.

The purpose of the trip, which took place from August 4-19, 2007, was to gather materials and resources for new course curriculum or curriculum modules that will contribute to the development of an area studies program on China. To provide participants with an opportunity to experience different areas of China, the two-week tour included visits to six cities: Beijing (capital of China), Shanghai, Suzhou, Xi’an (old capital of China), Ji’nan (capital of Shandong Province), and Tai’an and Qufu (hometown of Confucius). We also visited four major Chinese universities: Shanghai Transportation University, Suzhou University, Shandong University, Xi’an Transportation University as well as business and commercial sites, historical and cultural sites and also ordinary people’s homes.

The preparation for the China Research Trip began in fall semester 2006. Call for research proposals was sent out to ECC faculty listserv in January 2007 and 11 grant-sponsored proposals were chosen in March. In spring 2007, the China Research Team held 6 meetings, including 3 seminars on Chinese culture, society, and language. In addition, part of the China Research Team attended 2 international conferences at USC—one on “Approaches to the 20th-Century Chinese Visual Culture," and the other on "The Future of U.S.-China Relations" organized by the brand-new China-USA Institute at USC. The chosen China researchers also did their preliminary research and submitted their ‘Preliminary Bibliography’ on their research focus area. The Team had the final Orientation meeting July 23, 2007.