A unique region boasting both rich culture and biology, Xishuangbanna is home to 13 of China’s ethnic minorities and 16% of China’s plant species. This past Spring, a group of students and teachers flew over from ISB Bangkok to Xishuangbanna for one week of trekking, biking, rafting and exploring the area’s diverse biodiversity found in the deep mountain, valley, evergreen and seasonal rainforests we sought out. Click here for more information on our Southern Yunnan program.

Through basic soil and water testing trials, we were able to compare and contrast our findings in both natural surroundings and among the dominating cash crop plantations of rubber, banana and Pu’er tea.

Engaging with fascinating characters along our journey, our group enjoyed the privilege of sipping tea with a traditional Bulangshan monk who spends his days reading and studying Buddhist scriptures, sitting down with a minority village’s chief and asking him questions about his village’s historical and current use of natural resources, and exploring a wild mountain full of medicinal herbs with a traditional Dai medicine doctor who has spent the past few years cultivating this mountain into a therapeutic retreat destination.

Based on their contacts with individuals, industries and resources throughout their adventures in Xishuangbanna, students will complete a community conflict simulation where each student takes on a role of a local personality that is grouped into an interest group to examine how limited resources can create conflict (discussing topics of biodiversity, monoculture, environmental challenges, rubber and tea plantations, tourism and long-term development issues) and how examining mutual self-interests and cooperation can minimize that conflict.

A transitional region that is moving away from indigenous modes of cultivation to cash cropping to keep up with the market economy makes Xishuangbanna and its ethnic villages a particularly interesting place to examine and grow to understand.