Directed by Doug Blandy and John Fenn,the field school focuses on comparative cultural and artistic practices in Jiangou Village and Song Zhuang. Jiangou is a pilgrimage destination situated near an important temple, and has a nascent tourist industry. Song Zhuang is a cluster of villages that have become the home of several thousand contemporary artists. Participants will investigate, document, compare, and contrast the cultural development of these two districts. Emphasis will be placed on discovering how the creative process and individual and collective identity occurs in these everyday settings—especially in light of the ways in which these districts are attracting regional, national, and international attention. Participants in the field school will contribute the results of their investigations for posting to ChinaVine.org and Vine Online http://aaablogs.uoregon.edu/vineonline/

The hashtag for the field school is #CVFS. The field school website can be accessed at http://aaablogs.uoregon.edu/beijingfieldschool/