Yarmouth China Studies Project students

During the summer of 1999, seventeen enterprising young people became the first group of public high school students from Maine to travel to the People’s Republic of China.

The inspiration for this trip has its roots in a groundbreaking visit to China by a Yarmouth High School history teacher, John Beebe, who made this trip 20 years ago as an eighth grader from the Bank Street School for Children in New York City. At the time, the students in the Bank Street China Study Project were the youngest group of Americans ever to visit the People’s Republic of China — a trip that was approved before the US officially recognized the People’s Republic of China. What John saw and learned on that trip forged a deep interest in the tremendous diversity in the world. When his students heard about the trip, they asked him to take them. Yungmei Tang, the exceptional woman who coordinated the first trip to China, had already been thinking about organizing a return visit. Together they have put together an exciting program that allows the next generation of students to experience a new China.

Why China? Why in 1999?

It is a timely moment to visit China. In addition to marking the 20th anniversary of the Bank Street China Study Project, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the 20th anniversary of the United States official recognition of the PRC and the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Students will step into a country creating its own history. As the most populous country in the world and one of the fastest growing economies, China is shaping the future of the world. This trip will connect students to this critical region of the world. While the students will walk on the Great Wall and experience the thriving streets of Shanghai, their primary reason for going is to meet young people. Students will discover what it is like to be a teenager in China today. They will return home and share their experiences with others — both locally and nationally. We will help students develop journals and reflections of this trip, and contrast them with the writings of the students 20 years ago so they will think about how the world has changed in their own lifetimes and understand that history is not in the past but unfolding around them.

John Beebe