Recently, the flagship course of the “China-UK Study Tour Pilot Program,” Silk Road Threads: Exploring Chinese Textile Technology and Culture, was held at Donghua University. Faculty and students from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom visited Donghua University’s campus, where they gained firsthand insight into the academic strengths and vibrant openness of Chinese universities through textile technology, traditional crafts, cultural experiences, and youth exchanges.
This course represents a vivid practice of Donghua University in serving the “Study in China” brand building and advancing education for international students and the development of an internationalized curriculum system. The course is led by Associate Professor Sun Xiaoxia from the College of Textiles as project leader. With support from Donghua University’s International Education Center and drawing on the university’s strengths in textile disciplines, it transforms professional expertise, research platforms, and cultural resources into distinctive course content for international students, creating an international learning environment that integrates classroom teaching, laboratory experiences, intangible cultural heritage practice, city visits, and Sino-foreign exchanges.
Building on its disciplinary foundations and strengths in international education, Donghua University has used this course as a vehicle to transform its professional resources in the textile field into an important window for international youth to understand China‘s scientific and technological innovation, cultural heritage, and industrial development. The course presents the beauty of materials, the ingenuity of structures, and the refinement of craftsmanship in Chinese culture through traditional textile experiences such as bead embroidery, Songjiang cloth, and hand weaving. It also showcases the application value of modern textile technology in health protection, high-end equipment, and future industries through specialized topics including smart textiles, medical textiles, and aerospace textile materials. For British students from diverse backgrounds in the humanities, arts, and economics, textiles are no longer merely professional terminology, but a vivid gateway to understanding China’s cultural heritage, scientific and technological innovation, and industrial development.
The course reflects Donghua University‘s philosophy of open and collaborative education. The university has connected its on-campus classrooms and laboratory platforms with intangible cultural heritage spaces in the Songjiang area and the Shanghai Textile and Clothing Museum, as well as related social organization resources, extending its short-term programs for international students from the campus to the city, and from professional learning to real social settings. Through a three-dimensional teaching model integrating “disciplinary strengths + cultural resources + urban experiences + youth exchanges,” the course not only showcases the profound heritage and innovative vitality of textile disciplines, but also demonstrates Donghua University’s organizational capacity to serve international exchanges, connect with local culture, and tell China‘s story well.
Youth exchange added warmth to the course and further enhanced its educational outcomes. Donghua University student volunteers participated throughout the week, assisting with campus tours, classroom sessions, route guidance, interpretation, and daily logistics, building connections with their UK peers through shared study and visits. At the end of the course, the UK students spoke highly of the course content, organization, and volunteer support, saying that through the week-long program they had not only learned about Chinese textile technology and traditional culture, but also felt the warmth and friendliness of the Donghua community. Many UK students became friends with volunteers and look forward to continuing their exchanges in the future.
As one of the flagship courses of the UK-China Study Tour Programme, Silk Road Threads: Exploring Chinese Textile Technology and Culture, represents Donghua University‘s active exploration in leveraging its disciplinary strengths to enhance international communication and using international courses to expand the substance of education for international students. In the future, the university will continue to build on its disciplinary features and strengths in international education to develop more courses for international students that embody Chinese substance, Donghua characteristics, and international appeal, enabling more young people from around the world to learn about, understand, and connect with China through Donghua.
