Author: Tiffany Luers

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center 

Often when you visit a new country you hit all the tourist spots. And while those sites are important to see, sometimes it is also worthwhile to get away from the tourist traps and see sothumb_img_0933_1024me of the lesser known and more authentic areas.  I had the opportunity to do just that during our time in Xian.  While we did all the tourist activities such as biking on the city wall, visiting the Wild Goose Pagoda, and gawking at the Terracotta Warriors, it was a nice change of pace to spend a day visiting a dairy farm a few hours out of the city of Xian.

Xian is filled with the richest coal reserves in China, contributing to the lower air quality within the city.  In addition, Xian is surrounded by mountains, thumb_img_0954_1024and while the mountains add to the feng shui, the pollution and dust is trapped and sits in the city.  The air at the farm was noticeably fresher than in the city of Xian although there was an evident trace of cow manure and corn mixed in the air.

The dairy farm belonged to Li Zhi also known by his American name, Bruce Lee.  14 years ago he knew nothing about cows.  His father had oxen so he knew how to raise oxen, but raising cows is a whole different venture.  Yet, Bruce persevered and thumb_img_0922_1024learned through trial and error how to successfully run a dairy farm.  He began with around 16 cows and today tends to approximately 500 cows.  One of the ways he was able to successfully run his farm was by researching farming methods utilized in other countries.  On his dairy farm he uses tactics from Australian farmers and technology that efficiently milks each cow 3 times a day for 5 minutes each.  He also gave us a tour of his gardens, where he grows a variety of fruits and vegetables. We learned that the irrigation system he uses for his strawberry fields was inspired by irrigation methods used in Israel.

thumb_img_0955_1024Lunch was a delicious assortment of dishes made from ingredients grown on the farm.  We also tried creamy milk and sweet yogurt courtesy of Bruce’s cows.  Well fed and more knowledgeable about farming in China, we headed back to the city of Xian.