Daito School of Oriental Studies Grand Tour Research

Author: [Japan] Yasukazu Usui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-01-01
Features: The great journey was not only a novelty for China but also uncommon for other universities in the world. The great journey of students at Dongyue College in East Asia lasted two to three months in terms of time and spanned three to four provinces in terms of geography. Each group of students was divided into several teams, each selecting a route and planning the items to be investigated during the journey. Over the decades, the scope of investigation covered everything, extending across the entire country of China, with journeys as far west as Xinjiang and as far southeast as the coastal regions. The content of the investigation was very broad, ranging from the scope of local government administration to the living customs of ordinary farmers, from the exchange methods of money exchange houses to the specific forms of cave dwellings. Every detail with distinctive features was meticulously recorded in the travel diaries, and on the basis of these diaries, a travel report was written for each period (one period refers to a student from enrollment to graduation).