On June 22, the third Visual Anthropology and Chinese Traditional Village Preservation Training Program was launched at SCMU. This year’s program has attracted master’s and doctoral students from over 10 universities, including SCMU, Minzu University of China, Zhejiang University, Lanzhou University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Jinan University. Chinese and international participants will engage in both theoretical study and fieldwork filming, focusing on the application of visual anthropology methods and the preservation of traditional Chinese villages.

Chinese and International Instructors and Participants Pose for a Group Photo at Enshi Railway Station.(Photo by Gong Mengci)

The program is part of the “Young Envoys Scholarship” of the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE). It is jointly organized by the School of Ethnology and Sociology of SCMU and its counterpart at Hubei Minzu University, in partnership with California State University, Long Beach and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The program runs for a total of 15 days. On June 25, all participants departed from SCMU for Enshi, Hubei Province, to begin fieldwork documenting traditional villages through film.

The program’s opening ceremony was held on June 23. Chen Xiangjun, Dean of the School of Ethnology and Sociology at SCMU, delivered a welcome address, noting that the program provides a valuable platform for multicultural dialogue and exchange, and holds positive significance for advancing cross-cultural academic practice. Following the ceremony, Chinese and international scholars gave presentations on topics including the digital documentation of cultural heritage and the application of digital technologies, covering the digital presentation of traditional vernacular architecture, the visual communication of ethnic cultures, and academic ethics in fieldwork filming. Faculty and students in attendance engaged in thorough discussions on these topics.

The fieldwork will take participants to multiple traditional villages across Enshi, where they will employ professional visual anthropology methods and digital imaging tools to capture footage on village daily life, intangible cultural heritage, architectural features, and cultural memory, with both traditional documentary and emerging new media formats as the primary means of presentation.

Program Participants Conduct an Interview during Fieldwork.(Photo by Gong Mengci)

Traditional Chinese villages carry unique ethnic memories and regional cultures, serving as vital carriers of local cultural heritage. Grounded in visual anthropology methods and integrated with digital imaging technologies, this program’s documentation of traditional village culture not only explores pathways for preserving and disseminating the cultural heritage of traditional villages, but also establishes a platform for academic exchange and mutual cultural learning among young scholars from China and abroad. The visual documentation produced during the fieldwork will subsequently be showcased through film screenings, academic sharing sessions, and other formats.