Vermont high school students go to China

Fellow travellers to China should take note of several wonderful educational programs in Vermont. At Leland & Gray High School in Townshend, Vermont. Journey East has just completed its fourth year and trip to China. Funded in part by the Freeman Foundation of Stowe Vermont and the Asian Studies Outreach Program at the University of Vermont, the group of high schoolers study Asian culture; literature; language; and a music/drama workshop (which they actually perform in China), for the semester culminating in a trip to China. For more information read the Vermont Magazine article on this exciting program.

Another program through the Asian Studies Outreach Program is the Asian American Cultural Exchange , which "...is an educational opportunity for high school students from southern Vermont and Kunming, China to learn about each others’ cultures. This course is interdisciplinary in nature and will be offered in a hybrid format: two weekly face to face class meetings and asynchronous class meetings through the Internet."

High school programs such as these will prepare our future leaders in business; education; arts & culture; to understand,interact, and compete with their Asian counterparts.

Librarians' Index to the Internet

One of the best search engines going is
Librarians' Index to the Internet : "Information You Can Trust." Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) offers two services: a searchable, browsable collection of over 16,000 high-quality Websites, and a weekly newsletter, available by email or RSS, of high-quality Websites related to current events, holidays, and popular and important issues. LII's purpose "...is to provide a well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources, serving California, the nation, and the world."

I have added several valuable China links that I heartily recommend since they come annotated and reviewed by the folks at LII.

Xiaolong Qiu, master Chinese mystery author

I have just completed reading Xiaolong Qiu's When Red is Black, a mystery novel that takes place in modern day Shanghai. This author--an Edgar Award nominee and Anthony Award recipient--really gives the reader a lasting impression of regular people living in Shanghai. Foods; housing; medical practice; functioning of the police; all provide a glimpse into the society. In addtion, poems by Chinese poets and Confucian aphorisms are sprinkled throughout the pages.

According to Publishers Weekly, and I quote,

Deftly depicting a China fractured along class and party lines even in matters of love, Qiu also dramatically demonstrates how the past affects the daily lives of Chinese people today.

Qiu's other two mystery novels are Death of a Red Heroine (2000) and A Loyal Character Dancer (2002).