Background and Purposes

In recent years, the people in Dali has been focusing their efforts on industrial transformation, sustained and rapid rural economic development, and constant income growth for local farmers. Strong support has gone to walnuts, dairy products, biomedicine, tea, fruits, vegetables, sericulture, and plants. Continuing progress has been seen in brand building for its agricultural produce and their quality and safety have been improving. Its distinct plateau agriculture has enormous potential for development. But as agricultural production costs and ecological crisis loom large, the plateau agriculture in Dali is confronted with volatile circumstances and emerging challenges.

The following challenges are plaguing Daliin its plateau agriculture development: underdevelopment of plants for local agricultural produce, limited processing capability of agricultural produce , the needs to make the industry larger, and more intensive , the urgence to extend value-added  chain, lack of branding and standardization in industry operations, and backward agricultural science and technology. In the meantime, economic development has been found threatening local ecosystem . To help Dali break bottlenecks for its plateau agriculture and protect the local environment, through the Dali Ecological Economy Development Creativity Challenge Camp we hope that young participants can provide their input on ecology-friendly development based on field research, and thus help the people in Dali to promote and improve their plateau agriculture.

General Outline

The 15-day project is set in Shanghai and Dali, members including 10-20 students from universities in Hong Kong and Macao and 20-30 students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong and Macao students will get involved online  to jointly tackle the ecological and economic problems of Dali with their SJTU counterparts. The project will start in Shanghai on the first day with a opening ceremony, participatory training, and safety training. SJTU students can partake in the activities on site and get in touch with their Hong Kong and Macao peers through livestreaming or Vlogging. After the orientation, the participants will leave Shanghai for Dali for their 14-day field visits. 4-5 teachers from SJTU on the team will supervise the research and project progress and help the participants to resolve any problem in the project. The industry experts in Dali will be invited as technical advisors to deliver lectures and provide online and offline coaching.

Management Guidelines

The organizers shall perform the following duties:

(1) Formulating and releasing a guide for the Dali Ecological Economy Development Creativity Challenge Camp

(2) Engaging with local competent departments for visits and field research

(3) Inviting advisors to provide guidance for the project

(4) Inviting experts for the final evaluation of the project

(5) Managing and supervising the project throughout the process