Annual Forum 2004

In summer 2004, Dream Corps held a half-day conference on China's rural development in Peking University, Beijing. Dream Corps organized this conference to bring together experts of rural China research, such as Tianjian Shi of Duke University and Laoshi Liu of China Economic System Reform Agency, experts of NGO, such as Tong Zhihui of Tsinghua's NGO Institute, and representatives and volunteers from other NGOs and student organizations devoted to rural development as well as the principals of three schools for migrant workers' children in Beijing.

The Dream Corps volunteers presented their work and reflections. Other experts and NGO representatives then introduced their work in the field. While the participants amply commended the Dream Corps' cross-Pacific volunteering stride, they never hesitated to voice their concerns. "How do you make sure your endeavor will persevere when bursts of enthusiasm subside? How are you to avoid top-down imposition of a 'solution' conceived without bottom-up participation? Will what you call 'information' that comes through a dialup connection turn out to misinform in the local context? How will you manage your organization's relationship with the government at various levels?" are some of the questions that generated engaging discussion at the conference and continued reflection among the Dream Project's volunteers afterwards. Another two subjects also attracted the attention of the Dream Project's volunteers - the ongoing debate about "education for excellence" versus "education for exams" and the burgeoning schools for migrant workers, getting them to think hard about how their future work may fit in such complicated social dynamics.

Hongsheng Jiang, Dream Corps 2004 volunteer, a PhD. student in literature from Duke University is making a presentation on the forum.