China: The Search for Meaning, Sample Itinerary
This is a sample itinerary. No two Dragons courses are the same. Every itinerary considers the unique strengths of the instructor team and interests of the student group.
| WEEK 1 | Arriving in Beijing, we leave the city for Orientation in the village of Gubeikou, at a family farmhouse on a remote section of the Great Wall. Here, we get to know each other, explore the village and the Wall, familiarize ourselves with program themes, how we’ll approach travel in China, and health and safety on course. Transitioning from the village into the city of Beijing, we explore the connections between politics, religion and history in China today. We also spend time practicing basic skills like buying bus tickets, ordering food, and getting directions. Next, we board an overnight “sleeper train” for Xi’an – China’s ancient imperial capital and eastern terminus of the Silk Road. After surveying the city from atop its Ming Dynasty city wall, we explore the richness and diversity of its religious communities. We visit China’s oldest operating mosque and the surrounding Hui Muslim neighborhood, learn about the roots of Chinese Buddhism and the travels of Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang, and get to know Shaanxi Province’s Christian community at Xi’an’s oldest Catholic church. |
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| WEEK 2 | We travel by train to the city of Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province and economic hub of the upper Yellow River. From Lanzhou, we travel south through one of the centers of Islam in China, through ethnic Hui and Dongxiang farmlands and small towns including Linxia, a significant historic site for Chinese Muslims sometimes called China’s “Little Mecca.” As we continue south, both the physical and human landscape changes and we find ourselves in what was historically part of the Tibetan kingdom of Amdo. We arrive at last in the town of Xiahe, home to Labrang Monastery, one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. Here we begin our exploration of Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhist practice. From Labrang we leave Gansu Province and cross into Qinghai Province, making our way to a village outside the town of Tongren. Here we're welcomed by village host families and experience life in rural Tibetan homes firsthand. |
| WEEK 3 | Going deeper into Qinghai Province, we travel to the banks of the massive lake from which the province gets its name. Here, we meet our second home-stay families, living in tents in a nomadic herding community. We spend our days helping with household chores and eating staple Tibetan foods (yak butter tea, toasted barley meal, and yak meat) with our host families. After a several days together, we say goodbye to our host families at the edge of the lake and head to Xining, capital of Qinghai where we board a train for Chengdu – capital of Sichuan Province and cultural and economic hub of China’s southwest. After experiencing the rich and hearty foods of the Tibetan Plateau, Sichuan’s spicy, complex flavors alert us to the fact that we’ve entered yet another cultural realm. Here we learn about how the city’s large ethnically Tibetan population interacts with the ethnically Han majority, and look at some new alternatives for “finding meaning” in the city’s incredibly active parks and counter-culture scene. We also visit one of the region’s sacred mountains and observe the ways that tourism and religion intersect in China today. |
| WEEK 4 | From Chengdu we take a quick bullet train ride to Chongqing, a city of 11 million at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. In Chongqing we spend time digging into China’s ongoing urbanization and the experiences of rural migrants in China’s cities. We then head to Laitan, an ancient town outside the city and site of Er Fo (Second Buddha) Monastery. We’ll live for a few days at Er Fo Monastery learning about the history of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China at how Buddhism is practiced and understood in China today. In what may be one of the most challenging activities of the program, we engage in two full days of “silent retreat”, observing happenings at the monastery and reflecting on our experiences so far. |
| WEEK 5 | We travel from Chongqing by train, south into Yunnan Province, one of the most ethnically and ecologically diverse regions in the world. We arrive in the ancient town of Dali, once the capital of an independent kingdom and one of Asia’s most important sources of marble (the word for “marble” in Chinese, in fact, is dali.) From Dali we head to the spectacular Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze River for a few days of hiking in this ethnically Naxi area. |
| WEEK 6 | We spend the last few days of The Search in the town of Weishan and visiting Wei Bao Shan Monastery – a Taoist Monastery. Here we learn about Taoism, what some refer to as China’s “only indigenous religion” and see how monks and a growing number of young people interested in religion understand and practice Taosim. Just as we began the program with Orientation, we spend our last few days here in Transference, reflecting on everything we’ve experienced and preparing for the return home. Finally, we depart for home from the capital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, the “City of Eternal Spring.” |