It’s relatively common for a group of college students to travel abroad as they work toward earning their degrees. But for a group of University of Colorado Colorado Springs students over the summer, they became the first to experience one that was equal parts culture shock as it was on-the-job training that looks to continue in years to come.
For the first time in its history, the university participated in the “Looking China Youth Film Project,” an initiative by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture and the University of Beijing sponsored by Beijing Normal University.
UCCS joined a group of more than 80 colleges and universities around the world that co-sponsor the program, which has been around for about a decade. It was the only Colorado university to participate this year.
Every summer, students who have never set foot in China are invited to tour the country before creating a 10-minute documentary film on an aspect of Chinese culture from start to finish in just two weeks. The films are then presented at their own screening before being distributed throughout various Chinese media.
UCCS graduate Jaxon Fox posing for a photo on the Great Wall of China during the summer of 2024 while participating in the Vision China program.
The university’s involvement with Vision China began through assistant professor Jay Hubert based on his previous experience with the program and the country.
“It’s really about finding a way of showing positive portrayals of China not through their eyes, but through the foreigner’s eyes,” he said.
Hubert previously lived in China during his career as a filmmaker, working with prominent filmmakers and directing numerous short films and commercials. His initial exposure to Vision China, however, came during his tenure with the University of Hawaii, where he was asked to be a supervisor for the 2017 cohort.
Impressed by the program and the experience it provided students, he quickly got to work getting UCCS to participate in 2023 when he arrived at the university.
Over three weeks, five UCCS film production students became completely immersed in the people, places and day-to-day living of China as they honed their technical skills and refined their cultural palate.
“I felt like my expectations were immediately shattered,” said UCCS senior Will Leech. “It’s like everything I thought I knew going into it was completely different.”
Shaolin monks training in martial arts, the hustle and bustle of nighttime street vendors, the history of Chinese architecture and a dolphin rescue center were among the subjects the UCCS cohort explored in its films.
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When they weren’t busy working, students were able to take in the people, sights and sounds of the city of Xiamen and other areas of China, which they described as “chaotic” at times, due to the amount of people and traffic, but also “fun” when reflecting on how they adapted to it all.
Along with the splendor of the country, students were equally immersed in the rigors of location scouting, scheduling, shooting, reshooting and editing required to make a documentary film. Many had little to no prior experience.
“You really throw them into the deep end; it’s really trial by fire,” Hubert said. “This is more than half a semester of lab work in just two weeks.”
Another challenge that was more expected was the language barrier that students encountered with both their film subjects, which was mitigated through a combination of artificial intelligence programs, native-speaking producers assigned to each group of students and the time spent getting acclimated to their new surroundings.
“At first, every single one of us had trouble at some point with communicating with them, like language barrier stuff,” Leech said. “And as we got through the program, that got easier and it was just so much fun getting to learn who each person is over an intense, short amount of time.”
What came as one of the biggest surprises to these foreigners was the shattering of their own preconceived notions of a country that has been widely viewed negatively in recent years.
A common takeaway among participants was the warm, welcoming reception of the locals who possessed a general curiosity for what they were doing, sometimes a stark contrast to what they were accustomed to back home.
“What I learned is the same thing that I learn going anywhere, which is: people are people,” said Jaxon Fox, a recent UCCS graduate who participated in the program. “And we’ve got much more in common than what separates us.”
The Pew Research Center reported this year that more than 80% of Americans view China unfavorably, but Vision China has developed a strong reputation over the years as an effective tool to depict and portray the country in a positive light.
The program’s intent isn’t propagandist, however, Leech said. Students are welcomed to film just about everything they come across, including less-glamourous aspects of Chinese society. For Leech’s film this was shooting local vendors and the challenges they face serving food illegally without permits.
There were only a few instances where students were denied video access, including locations and personnel that required government approval, which Hubert noted “isn’t much different than how it is here,” but shooting days were generally easier than they would be in the U.S. due to both a lack of waivers to sign, a less-litigious society and a general interest from locals to watch Americans make a movie.
“I think, for all of us, we were surprised we didn’t get shut down more,” UCCS senior Vitezslav Rasl said.
The only major scene left on the cutting room floor was, in fact, something seemingly harmless at an initial glance.
While shooting in and around the Shaolin temple, Loghry happened to capture a scene of some of the younger boys fishing in a nearby pond to showcase their individual personalities.
“And they actually caught a fish and it was super-cool and when I showed them (producers) the edit, they said ‘Monks aren’t allowed to harm animals,’” he said. “So, I can’t show that.”
UCCS senior Cameron Loghry films a demonstration of Shaolin martial arts demonstration at the Quanzhou Shaolin Monastery in Fujian, China, for the Vision China film program.
In instances like this, Hubert explained the programs desire to depict Chinese culture and people while still protecting these people rather than their government or government interests.
From the successful completion of their documentaries to the countless friendships made in the process, the batch of budding filmmakers agreed that they had made the most of their unique opportunity.
“I definitely feel like now, if I were ever to do it again, I would be able to make a really damn good film,” Leech said.
With the feedback from the inaugural run resoundingly positive, Hubert hopes to keep this momentum going with or without him.
“My goal is to establish it so that it can continue in the years ahead at UCCS,” he said.
The UCCS students’ Vision China films can be viewed for free on YouTube here.
