Sister Rivers Build Cultural Bridge Between US, Ch
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Date: 5/28/2010 8:11:23 AM
Sender: Voice of America
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Sister Rivers Build Cultural Bridge Between US, China
The River Spirit Exchange took students down the Kickapoo River, a tributary of the Mississippi, past towering sandstone outcroppings
The Mississippi is the major river system in the United States. The Yangtze is China＇s longest river.
Although a world apart, the two waterways share conservation concerns that provide a cultural bridge between students in the United States and China, as well as from around the world.
Cross cultural experience
The Mississippi flows almost 3,800 kilometers from a small lake in Minnesota, gathering the waters of 250 other rivers and streams before reaching the Gulf of Mexico.
In mid-May, as spring flowers began to open, about 41 students from a dozen colleges, mostly in the Midwest, explored a section of the river in Wisconsin and Iowa, to learn about the environment, and each other.
The students, from the U.S., China and around the world, came to join the River Spirit Exchange program.
The cross-cultural educational experience - set up by the University of Wisconsin, Madison-based Environment and Public Health Network for Chinese Students - focuses on the Mississippi and China＇s longest river, the Yangtze.
The International Crane Foundation is one of the groups supporting this sister-river program. Jeb Barzen, the foundation＇s chief wildlife biologist, gave the students a tour of the preserve.
She told them that, to successfully breed and produce healthy young, the giant birds need to stop in the middle of their long migration to rest, eat, socialize, mate, and build their strength for their long flight north. The Mississippi and its tributaries provide that sanctuary.
Barzen explained while these students learn about the problems challenging the Mississippi and Yangtze, they will also learn about the challenges - and importance - of bridging each other＇s culture.
"Americans in the Midwest, they＇re very funny," he told them. "They do things very differently from what you might expect in China. Or if Americans interact with you in China, they might think, ＇Whoa, they do things very differently in China.＇ But what＇s important is that we are more similar to each other than we are |
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