Shi, who has visited the College twice before, is working with professors and students at Whittier to plan a MayTerm course that will take students to her home country. Led by Associate Professor of Religious Studies Jason Carbine, the course, which will focus on diverse cultures and the environment, is in the works for 2020. Shi spent two days on campus and was able to speak to students in four classes. She spoke about her experience as an activist, her personal struggles, and her work as a reporter in China. Shi began her career as a journalist in China, writing for the English language newspaper China Daily. She then moved to the U.S. to study film at UC Berkeley where she became interested in observational documentaries. After Berkeley, she moved back to China where she worked alongside her husband on a documentary about the endangered snub-nosed monkeys, and launched a series of films to protect endangered species and her career as an environmental activists. Footage from her work appears in “Waking the Green Tiger: The Rise of the Green Movement in China,” which can be found in the Bonnie Bell Wardman Library. Through the NGO they founded, Wild China Film, Shi and her husband are now working to bring attention to another species on the brink of extinction—the green peacock.
