Yangjuan and Pianshui Villages
Baiwu Township
Yanyuan County
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
Sichuan

Yangjuan and Pianshui are adjacent villages of the Nuosu, or Yi minority, located in Yanyuan County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the mountains of southwestern Sichuan. MAP The Yangjuan-Pianshui area is the site of the Yangjuan Primary School, of an innovative arts education progam directed by Benoit Vermander of the Taipei Ricci Institute and Li Jinyuan of Sichuan Normal University and of a multidiciplinary anthropological-ecological research project carried on by the Sichuan Provincial Institute for Minority Studies, Sichuan University, and the University of Washington.

Yangjuan Primary School
 In Fall, 2000, the Yangjuan Primary School, built with the support of Chinese and foreign friends and dedicated to comprehensive education for the children of Yangjuan and Pianshui, opened its doors to kindergarten through second grade. The first class will graduate from the sixth grade in June, 2005. In addition to the regular school curriculum, the Yangjuan Primary School offers children opportunities to study art, music, and natural science in innovative ways, and also presents adult education opportunities for the people of the two villages. Friends interested in supporting the Yangjuan Primary School should contact the Cool Mountain Education Fund

Research in Yangjuan and Pianshui
Since 2000, the University of Washington, Sichuan University, and the Sichuan Province Nationalities Research Institute have carried out multidisciplinary research aimed at understanding the culture, society, economy, and ecology of the area.