Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been on two very interesting class field trips — one to a Christian Miao minority village and one to an organic farm.
As part of my Ethnic Minorities in Yunnan class, we visited an isolated Miao (Hmong, in English) village about 3 hours outside of Kunming. Besides honoring Miao traditions, this village was unique in that almost everyone practiced Christianity. Over 100 years ago, Western missionaries arrived in this village and constructed a church. They also gave the Miao language a written form and translated the Bible into this written language. None of the surrounding villages practice Christianity, but religion is a big part of peoples’ lives in this village and the church is a very central place in the community.
We visited on Sunday, so that we could observe the church service and singing.
As part of my Environment and Development class, we visited one of China’s largest organic farms, about 2 hours outside of Kunming. On the way, we stopped at the Bamboo Temple, a Buddhist temple about an hour outside of Kunming.
After stopping at the temple, we made our way to Haobao Organic Farm. The concept of “organic” is very new in China, and this farm was one of the first organic farms, established in 2002. This farm has been certified organic the longest out of any farm in China. And unlike Pomona’s organic farm, this farm is huge! It’s about 500 acres of mountainside, with farms, greenhouses, and naturally-raised animals. Most of Haobao’s produce does not stay in Yunnan province — instead it goes to large, developed cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, where there is much more demand for organic products. Food safety is a big issue in China, so it’s good to know that there are farms like Haobao growing chemical-free organic produce!
At the farm, we ate a delicious lunch of freshly cooked vegetables from the gardens. We then toured the farm and spent the last hour relaxing on a field and playing frisbee.
On the way back to Yunnan University, we stopped to buy local apples — which are supposed to be some of the best in China!
