This summer found seventh- and eighth-grade history teacher Adele Madelo in China as one of fourteen California teachers who were recipients of a University of Southern California US-China Institute travel-study grant. Applications were highly competitive for places in the three-week program, and Adele's past involvement with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education was a definite plus. Participants were selected based on how eagerly and effectively they have incorporated East Asia content into their curricula and are expected to bring their study tour experience into their classrooms by completing a curriculum assignment upon their return.

The group's planned itinerary included visits to sites of historic significance, schools, industrial factories, and cultural performances throughout China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. "Our days and nights were packed wall-to-wall," notes Adele."I almost forgot the meaning of 'free time.'"

"I've taught Chinese history for seven years and traveled to China twice in the past, but it wasn't until this travel-study trip that I truly got my head around the vastness of Chinese geography and the interplay between history and place. Six plane rides, one train ride, and a l-o-n-g bus ride opened up a far greater range of Chinese regions and experiences than ever before. I was also deeply struck by the pervasive display of state power in Chinese culture, both past and present: from large-scale sculpture from China's Buddhist past, through Taoist and Confucian influences, and up to the present day. One of the most stirring moments was revisiting the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square with a former CNN reporter who had been there, on the ground, during the protests of 1989. That first-person account cemented for me that history happens around us all every day and that we are all history-makers."

"Although China is a formal part of the seventh-grade history curriculum, the lesson plans that I've developed out of this travel-study will mainly intersect with the eighth-grade world history survey since 1776 at RDS. I'll be presenting these in L.A. at USC's US-China Institute next weekend, and students can expect to apply some of our familiar questions to the unique position of modern and post-modern China round about April and May. The growing gap between the urban rich and growing middle class and the rural agricultural poor in China and the tremendous regional disparities will bring new dimensions to questions like "What are the roots of conflict in a society?" and "Can union come from diversity?"