Summer in Shanghai Student Journalism Project -- 2007

In May and June 2007, five undergraduate students from the School of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami traveled to the People's Republic of China . It was quite a journey for all of us.

In addition to spending almost six weeks living in our base city of almost 20 million residents, Shanghai , we visited the international business center of Hong Kong and China's capital of Beijing.

We also found time for trips to Xi'an and Chengdu in the central regions of the country.

Along the way, we met dozens of interesting people, spent time hanging out with Chinese students, and we learned about Chinese culture, modern life, and its amazing history. Our group members wrote feature stories, took photographs, and prepared entries in our blog.

Student travelers (in the photo at the right) were Ryan Watzel, Karina Smuclovisky, Greg Linch, Taylor Murphy, and Karyn Meshbane. They formed our team of writers and photographers for the 2007 study abroad experience.

Our experiences are reflected in our work. We hope you will take a few minutes to read the feature packages and the blog entries. And give us your comments.

We believe you will learn something about China and its amazing impact on the world. We certainly did...

Photographs above by Bruce Garrison and Cai Yan

Suzhou Creek adds color of modern art to the cityscape

KARYN MESHBANE

SHANGHAI, PRC --- White walls bathed in graphic paintings illustrating images of a man undergoing an excruciating sex change operation and women tied up by strings baring every inch of their bodies to the viewer might be typical of an exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York City...