Roanoke alumna studies heritage tourism in China during Fulbright year

Just two days before Kathleen Ouyang graduated from Roanoke College in May 2013, she learned that she had been admitted into the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program for postgraduate research.

Two months later, Ouyang was on a plane to Xi'an, China, where she planned to spend the next 14 months researching the city's heritage tourism at XiBei University (Northwest University).

In addition to the traditional 10-month Fulbright research grant, Ouyang also received a four-month grant for an intensive language study program. 

While investigating the full influence of heritage tourism in Xi'an, one of the oldest cities in China and the starting point of the Silk Road, Ouyang also took courses about the industry's interdisciplinary nature in Chinese.  

Ouyang, who said she now can speak Chinese, has become so passionate about her heritage tourism research that she plans to pursue it as a career in the future. 

"My research really opened up my eyes to the different opportunities that are involved in the tourism field," she said.

But she made some of her favorite memories outside of the classroom. 

"I was really lucky that I got to travel around China during some of the holiday seasons," she said. "So, for example, I took a trip to Inner Mongolia. Experiencing this new Mongolian side of China, you could see the grasslands. We spent the night in the desert. It was really one of the highlights of my year."

While at Roanoke, Ouyang majored in history and had a concentration in East Asian Studies. Before her Fulbright trip, she traveled to China with history professor, Dr. Stella Xu, and three other Roanoke students through a Freeman Foundation grant. It was during this preliminary trip that Ouyang discovered her research inspiration. 

"With the Freeman...we made a stop in Xi'an, and it just struck me how many tourist sites were in the city," Ouyang said. "I realized this is a big part of the economy of Xi'an, this is a big part of the livelihood of many of the people in Xi'an, so I thought that would be really interesting to research."

After the Freeman trip, Ouyang said Xu encouraged her to pursue her research through the Fulbright Program. Then, she started the demanding application process, consisting of months of writing, feedback and editing. 

Ouyang said she made lasting international friendships through the Fulbright experience.

"With Fulbright, you get to meet a group of really interesting people," she said. "They all have really good research topics, they're all dedicated, they're all interested in the same country you are."

Since she has returned from China, Ouyang is living in Washington, D.C., and pursuing work in the heritage tourism field.

Published Nov. 26, 2014

Story and video interview by Hannah Cline '15