Ag Industry Tour of China

May 16-27, 2011 - CLOSED - This trip is Full. Led by Dr. Dave Nichols and Tim Carson ASI 660, Ag Industry Tour of China (3 cr). An 11-day intensive Animal Science study tour that will introduce students to the agriculture industry in China, including livestock and crop production and management practices, food markets, government operations as well as other historical and cultural educational opportunities. The course will include preparatory class meetings during the spring semester to acquaint students with the language, commodities, government and geography of the country and locations that will be visited. Pr. ASI 102 and at least one of the following courses: ASI 515 or ASI 535 or ASI 645 or instructor consent. This tour will have students traveling along the eastern half of China from Beijing to Shanghai. The price of the trip is $3996 (split over 4 payments) plus 3 hours of tuition (all students pay the in-state tuition rate). The price includes roundtrip airfare out of Manhattan, KS to China and back, all in-country transportation, lodging, food, visa, OIP administrative fee, class materials, insurance and contingencies. College of Ag students are eligible for $500 in assistance from the college. In addition, students are also eligible for scholarships from the Office of International Programs and for financial aid to help with trip expenses. Pre-application forms can be picked up in 134 Weber Hall and are due back there by October 1st.

Program deadlines and Requirements:

2010

Oct. 1 - Submit pre-application to Mishelle Hay, 134 Weber. Oct. 4 - Preliminary Student Acceptance list will be available Oct. 18 - F irst payment of $850 due (non- refundable) to Mishelle Hay, 134 Weber. Submit formal application with payment Nov. 15 - All students must be enrolled in ASI 660 for the Spring 2010 semester. Dec. 6 - Second payment of $1000 due to Mishelle Hay, 134 Weber. 2011 Jan. 18-May 6 Pre-trip class meetings W 4:30-5:20 p.m. in WB 121. Jan. 31 - Third payment of $1000 due to Mishelle Hay, 134 Weber. Mar. 7 - Final payment due to Mishelle Hay, 134 Weber. May 4 - Written Summaries Due to Dr. Nichols May 16-27 - travel to China June 18 - Final Reports due to Dr. Nichols Kansas State University to the Peoples Republic of China May 16 – 27, 2011 Itinerary

Monday May 16 L* , D*

Kansas City – Beijing. Arrive at the airport three hours prior to departure to check-in for your flight. Flight info TBA. You’ll enjoy the meal service and feature films as you cross the international date line heading across the Pacific for China!

Tuesday May 17 D

Beijing ! – Capital City. Your flight is scheduled to arrive at Beijing International Airport at TBA. With more than 17.4 million inhabitants, Beijing is the political, educational and cultural capital of the PRC. Meet our professional Agrotours tour guide outside the customs hall and transfer to the hotel for check in. Today the first opportunity you have to change the currency is at your hotel. You could exchange money at the front desk or use your credit card to withdraw the Chinese Yuan from an ATM machine. In the evening we will have welcome dinner in a good restaurant, then early to bed for much-needed rest after the long flight! Overnight at: Beijing hotel

Wednesday May 18 B , L , D

Beijing. Following our first Chinese breakfast this morning, we will take a sightseeing tour to the Tiananmen Square, the largest city center square in the world and the place where Mao's Mausoleum is located. We go on to walk into the Forbidden City, the imperial palace complex which was home to the Emperors for over 500 years. Grand halls and courts gradually give way to more intimate domestic quarters, giving an insight into the pampered isolation of the emperors. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. After lunch we have a 2:00 PM briefing by the Foreign Agricultural Service at the US Embassy. Then we visit a big cattle farm which belongs to the Fuhua Meat Co., Ltd. The company was established in 1997, covers 130 hectares, and specializes in cattle fattening and the slaughter of 80,000 cattle and 200,000 sheep per annum. Fuhua Co. Ltd. is a member of the China Muslin Food Association and 80% of its 1800 employees are Muslin Hui. The company has its own pasture areas to support its feedlot facility. It also has a vast silage storage area with a capacity of 20,000 tons and they are in the process of developing a second one. Tonight we will enjoy the special high quality beef hot-pot dinner at the farm, then return to our hotel for overnight.

Thursday May 19 B , L , D

Beijing. Today we will take the whole day for agricultural visits, starting with the Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market (open-air market about 40 minutes drive to the Southwest), which was founded in 1988 and covers an area of 150,000 square meters. At present, the Xinfadi Wholesale Market is the largest wholesale market for agricultural products in Beijing city. The main wholesale products are: vegetables, fruits, meat, seeds, oil, aquatic products, seasoning, eggs, etc. Then we drive for about an hour to visita modern ecological farm which was founded in 1982 and became the first "ecological village" in China. In 1987 it was selected as one of the United Nations' 500 environmental models for the world. Now, it is a diversified farming enterprise with grain production, greenhouses for vegetables, an orchard, nursery, and facilities for animal husbandry. The farm makes use of organic wastes, solar energy, and other ecological approaches. After lunch at the farm we drive an hour to a Southwest suburb to visit a Soybean Farm, established in 2000. The farm is mainly engaged in the business of bean research, development, promotion, production and processing, with a growing area of 120,000 acres. Some of the bean products are exported to Japan. We will also visit the processing lines. This eveningwe enjoy Peking Duck Dinner at a good local restaurant. After dinner if you like we could stroll on the night market near our hotel.

Friday May 20 B , L , -

Beijing – Xian. This morning will be one of the highlights of our China tour, the climbing of the Great Wall! No visit to China would be complete without seeing the Great Wall. The Great Wall was first built in the Warring States period (475-221 BC) as a series of earthworks erected by individual kingdoms as a defense against each other as well as from invasions from the north. Its main objective was to keep out Genghis Khan and the Mongolian hordes. This proved only partially successful. The present day wall was left from the Ming dynasty and it represents one of the wonders of the world. We will also visit the most famous Cloisonné factory in Beijing. In the afternoon, en-route to the downtown, we will look around the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium where the 29th Olympics were held.Wealso take a look at old Beijing with an easy rickshaw tour through the old Hutong district. This is where we will get a feel for the real China. Away from all the tourist attractions we will have a chance to experience real Chinese life and culture firsthand. You will have the chance to speak with the local people about work and family life here in Beijing. We will have dinner by ourselves and then we take the soft sleeper trainNO. Z19 (9:24pm-08:25am+1) (shared 1st Class compartment, 4 berth soft sleepers in each cabin) to Xian. (Daily necessities should not be packed because we need them overnight in the train. Hot water is always offered on the train, and the train attendants will offer snacks and drinks.) Xian, the capital city of Shanxi province, is one of the oldest settled regions of China, with remains of human habitation dating back to prehistoric times. It is from here that caravans started on the Silk Road to Europe, changing the Western world forever. As the Wei River, a branch of the Yellow River, cuts across the middle of the province, this fertile land became a centre of Chinese civilization. The earliest evidence of human habitation dates back 6000 years to Neolithic times, when the plain was lush and green and primitive Chinese tribes established their villages.View the countryside from your train windows! Overnight: in the train

Saturday May 21 B , L , D

Xian. We arrive in Xian at 08.25 am in the morning and transfer to our hotel to have breakfast. After a short break at the hotel, we’ll drive for about two hours to visit the Northwest A&F University in Yangling, founded in 1934 and one of the most famous agriculture universities in China. Situated 82 km west of Xian, the university is located in China’s only State Demonstration Zone of Agricultural Hi-Tech Industries- Yangling, Shanxi. A faculty member will welcome us to the University and give us an overview of some of the work in agriculture and animal breeding being done at this very large facility. You could exchange your ideas with our hosts from the University. Then we visit the National Agriculture High-Tech Industry Demonstration Zone. Founded in July 1997, it is the only one in China, especially for demonstrating the best agri-achievements and providing technical and personal support for the development of China’s agriculture, which implements the management pattern of “scientist + corporation + farmers”. China is depending on this group to develop a large-scale breeding and reproducing method to help and encourage thousands of peasant farmers to be comparatively well-off. There are 110 laboratories with 5,000 science and educational experts in agriculture in more than 70 projects. Research is currently being carried out on wheat breeding, dry farming, plant protection, poultry procreation incretion and embryo engineering. Technologies in animal cloning, stem cell research and crossbred wheat rank in the forefront of the world. We will also visit student experimental fields. Lunch will be at the University. After spending the day in the suburbs of Xian, we drive back downtown to have dinner. Enjoy a Tang Dynasty Show with dumpling dinner in the evening. Overnight at: Xian hotel

Sunday May 22 B , L , D

Xian – Jinan. After breakfast at the hotel we visit some important historical sights including the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Ancient City Walls andwe’ll have the opportunity to bike along the wall! We also visit the buried army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. This 2180-year-old terracotta army of more than 800 soldiers was discovered in 1974. Then we take an evening flight to Jinan, the capital city of Shandong Province, an important agricultural area in China. Overnight at: Jinan hotel

Monday May 23 B , L , D	Jinan . The whole day will be devoted to a visit to the Shandong Jiaxiang Cattle Breeding Farm. (About 2.5--3 hours drive.) We will visit two or three farms, each with thousands of cattle. Overnight at: Jinan hotel
Tuesday May 24 B , - , D	Jinan – Shanghai– Suzhou. This morning we take a flight to Shanghai. Upon arrival we drive about 2 hours to Suzhou, a city with over 2,500 years of history and regarded by Marco Polo as the "Venice of the Orient". Also known as the Silk Capital of the World and “Paradise in Heaven”, Suzhou is an attractive city with an extensive network of canals and is well known for its beautiful gardens. We will take a canal cruise to view people’s daily life, and then visit the Suzhou Silk Institute, where we will learn the traditional art of making Chinese silk products by hand. Overnight at: Suzhou hotel
Wednesday May 25 B , L , -	Suzhou – Shanghai. After breakfast this morning,we drive for an hour to visit a large G oose F arm which breeds over 5,000 geese by the Lake Tai, the third biggest freshwater lake in China. We will tour the goose meat and egg processing lines, and then we’ll visit the Tea farm. In this season you can see the tea trees and talk with the growers. After lunch in Suzhou, we drive back to Shanghai and check in to the hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure and dinner is on own. Overnight at: Shanghai hotel

Thursday May 26 B , - , D

Shanghai. Breakfast at the hotel, and then we board the coach to visit the Yu Garden, which is characteristic of the architectural style of the Ming dynasty. It was a private garden in the southeast of Shanghai, with a history of 400 years. The garden features more than 30 halls and pavilions. Outside the Yu Garden there is very interesting market with everything that you can think of for sale at bargain prices! Then we’ll enjoy sightseeing including Nanjing Road, one of the busiest and biggest shopping streets in China and take a stroll on the Bund, Shanghai’s famous waterfront. We finish our China travel Seminar with a F arewell Dinner and an evening performance of Chinese Acrobats who show off their amazing skill and agility! Overnight again at your Shanghai hotel.

Friday May 27 B , - , D*, B*

Shanghai – Kansas City. Breakfast at the hotel and then you’ll have a couple of hours for last minute shopping and getting your bags packed before we depart by coach for the Shanghai International Airport. Flight info TBA. Thanks for traveling with Agrotours and Welcome Home!!

Contact Information

	Dr. David A. Nichols Professor/Teaching Coordinator 133 Weber Hall Manhattan KS 66506 Phone : 785-532-1239 dnichols@ksu.edu
	Tim Carson Computer Information Specialist/Instructor 134B Weber Hall Manhattan, KS 66506 Phone : 785-532-1191 tcarson@ksu.edu
	Mishelle Hay McCammant 134 Weber Hall Manhattan, KS 66506 Phone : 785-532-1262 mhay@ksu.edu