Guizhou province, boasts many superlatives – the world’s largest cave chamber, the world’s highest bridge, and Asia’s biggest waterfall. It’s an incredibly diverse area, both naturally, and culturally, as a home to many of China’s minority groups.

For this event, we are proud to be partnering with our friends at Global Heritage Fund to hear about their work in Guizhou’s rural Dali Dong village. Since 2012, Global Heritage Fund has been working with local institutions and NGOs to promote community and economic development in this area through heritage conservation within ethnic minority communities. Part of this effort included a collaboration with Beijing’s Studio Atlas in order to platform the hand-made indigo textiles unique to the Dong minority – both to preserve this ancient tradition and to make it accessible in the modern-day market across China.

Both Global Heritage Fund and WildChina have a foundational commitment to promoting sustainable tourism, and as such, we are also excited to announce that we will be taking this event further than just raising awareness. This May, we are teaming up again to host an in-person journey to Dali Dong village in Guizhou. We will be limiting the group to 12 people, to keep things intimate and in-line with our vision of eco-tourism. More details will be announced during the virtual event, but please sign up for our newsletter to be the first to get updates as we continue to announce the trip.

Donate to the Global Heritate Fund

More information on Global Heritage Fund’s work in Dali Dong village
can be found at globalheritagefund.org/places/guizhou-china

Media Partner

Speakers:

Dr. Kuanghan Li (李光涵)

Director of Programs @Global Heritage Fund

Dr. Kuanghan Li is the Director of Programs for Global Heritage Fund, where she is responsible for strategy and management of the organization’s global projects. She also serves as the Director Assistant for the UNESCO World Heritage Institute of Training and Research in the Asia and Pacific Region (WHITRAP Beijing).

She graduated with a degree in architectural studies and went on to study historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania, and received her Ph.D. in archaeology from Peking University. She lectures regularly at universities across China and speaking engagements in global forums including TEDx, Asia Society, UNESCO conferences. Her projects have been featured by the New York Times, CNN, Financial Times.

Jenny Chou (周貞徵)

Co-Founder @Studio Atlas

Born in Taipei, Jenny Chou earned her Architecture degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2004, and her master’s degree in Urban Design at Columbia University in 2008. She Co-founded ATLAS in 2015 in Beijing China. The studio has shown work both in China and internationally, including at the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture, the 2016 International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, the 2016 Shanghai Art & Design Biennale, Design Shanghai, and Beijing Design week 2016, 2015, and 2014.

They have won numerous awards including being put on Architectural Digest’s China 100 list in 2019 for their contributions to public architecture, being included in the top 10 emerging China-based design studio platform by Architectural Digest in 2016, and winning the award for best food and leisure space in 2019 by Elle Decor. They have also been written about and published internationally in publications such as The New York Times, CNN, ICON, Demo, Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, and more.

Howard Huang (黄端)

WildChina Guizhou guide LIVE from Dali Dong village

With over ten years of experience in the travel industry, Howard has become an expert in logistics and managing all different types of groups, ages and nationalities. A graduate of Guizhou University with a degree in English, he has worked in all aspects of tourism operation since becoming a guide after graduation. Howard has served as a national tour leader for 3 years and has led touring, hiking, and family journeys.

He was voted as one of the “Top 10” Guizhou Tour Guides in 2005 and 2006, a fact that usually comes as no surprise to his clients, who adore his ability to simultaneously be so fun and informative. Howard is an active athlete and loves to play soccer, ping pong, and badminton. When not hiking in the mountains of Guizhou, he escapes to the ocean to go swimming.