Chinese Students Take Environmental Tour Of Southern Wisconsin

A group of middle and high school students from China are touring southern Wisconsin this week as part of a cultural exchange program aimed at protecting water resources.

The students from three of China’s top high schools began the week at the Ho Chunk casino in Baraboo, where they were greeted by a Ho Chunk drum and dance performance. In return, Chinese-American students from Milwaukee performed the traditional Dragon Dance. Tribal members then used an Eagle wing to offer the Chinese visitors a smoke blessing from a smudge pot filled with cedar and sweet grass.

Xiaojun Lu heads the Environmental Network for Chinese Students and Scholars who helped organize the event. He hopes this is a first step in building cultural bridges that will lead to collaboration on environmental protection between Chinese and American students. “By bringing those young people over to the U.S. to meet the local people [and] to view the local culture,” he said, “we hope those Chinese students and teachers can better understand and appreciate the different cultures they experience.”

From the Ho Chunk side, tribal member and cultural dance and art expert Melanie Tallmadge Sainz says she hopes the future collaboration among the Ho Chunk and Chinese youth will address the harmful waste created by consumer culture, “[by] being conscientious about what we call ‘planned obsolescence,’ [so] that in years to come these plastic items made from China won’t be filling our landfills,” she said. “We as humans … need to healthfully survive on our Earth mother and be a good steward for her.”

The Chinese students are earning high school credits during their visit that will include a visit to the PCB clean-up project in the Fox River in Appleton.