In ancient folklore going back to the original reports of Marco Polo in his travels across Asia to the Middle Kingdom of Kublai Khan, those who crossed the great Gobi Desert often found themselves spellbound by the "singing sands," whose strange melodies led many a wayfarer to experience the ecstasy of a place so mysterious and distant from the rest of the known world, that many who heard these stories did not believe that such fantastic places even existed. Come with us today, and you will see a China that is rarely seen by westerners, and even more rarely appreciated for its place in the past and future of China today. The Silk Road, along with its mix of cultures and peoples, will come alive as never before in this Summer Camp experience in China and Mongolia.

Earlier this year, a group of 30 students and teachers from Hartford, Connecticut and Central Connecticut State University traveled to the city of Yinchuan in the province of Ningxia (actually, its full name is Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) in the middle northern part of China, bordering on the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Shaanxi. According to an article published in the Yinchuan local People's Daily newspaper, it was the largest delegation of American students and educators to ever visit this city, which lays claim to being the northern gateway to the ancient Silk Road.

The response of the people in the city of Yinchuan, and the culturally and historically rich experience of the students and teachers, made this experience as memorable as any they have ever had. We're now putting together a Summer Camp visit to Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and this experience will give students a complete educational and cultural immersion into a part of China rarely seen or visited by western tourists.

This trip is designed to give students who are soon going to college or early in their college careers, an opportunity to experience the possibilities for cultural ties and learning that will represent a real building block in creating the future, in a global economy, that they will want to live in. The relationships they build on this trip, with their fellow travelers and the students and people of Ningxia province, will stay with them for a lifetime.

This amazing experience will take American students into the heart of China. Students will stand on the ancient Great Wall and peer out onto the steppes of Inner Mongolia, with yurts dotting the horizon. Students will visit ancient Buddhist shrines and holy mountain retreats of the Taoist religion. They will visit the beautiful and grand mosques that are the pride of the Hui and Uyghur peoples who make up 30% of the population of this ethnically and religiously diverse region. They will visit the rural countryside and see a China that may very well disappear as modernization takes root in every province and village. They will stand on sand dunes 500 feet high and look out over the great and forbidding Gobi Desert, where camel caravans still make the long march to ancient oasis stops on the old Silk Road. They will cross the Helan Mountains onto the Mongolian steppes and spend a night under the big sky in a traditional style yurt house.

Students will also visit classrooms at universities and high (middle) schools as part of an educational exchange. They will share dormitories and meals with Chinese students and visit overnight with a Chinese family in the city of Yinchuan. They will participate in kite festivals, visit the parks and museums, and even visit the site of an authentic movie studio that played an historic role in Chinese filmmaking during the rise of Mao.

They will also spend 2 days in the city of Shanghai, perhaps the most visible and exciting image of the modern China and it's role in the global economy. They will stand before the 10,000 soldiers of the Terracotta Army in Xian. All of this over a glorious 2 weeks in China during the peak summer season.

Students will return home with an authentic experience unlike any they have had before. This website contains all the information needed about our educational and cultural exchange programs. This site also contains forums where anyone can ask questions and where discussions can occur between interested participants. Slots in each program are limited so please use the form below to register and express your interest in future educational and cultural exchange programs.

We're preparing our next series of "camps" for cultural and educational exchanges. Keep your eyes on this space and check back periodically. Over the course of 2009, we're planning at least 6 Ningxia Dragon Student Ambassadors Camp experiences for US and Chinese students. Some of these experiences will be extraordinary!

In the meantime, encourage your friends and family to sign up as members of this community. Be sure to have your friends and family identify you as the one who referred them to this site (It's a question on each profile page... "Who referred you?") For every referral you receive, you'll earn a $5.00 credit towards the cost of any Camp experience you qualify for. (For example, if you refer 100 friends and family who sign up as part of the Ningxia Dragon Student Ambassadors community, you'll earn $500 in credit towards the cost of one of our Camp programs for which you qualify. This applies to both Chinese and US participants.)

If you are interested in applying to be a participant in future Ningxia Dragon Student Ambassadors Summer Camp Experiences, please complete the registration form below: