APPLETON, Wis. (WPR) There are increasing links between universities in Wisconsin and China.  The most recent one consisted of Lawrence University students touring the Yangtze River to study everything from water quality to flood management.

Lawrence economics professor Marty Finkler led the group of a dozen students on the study tour in December. He says aside from the obvious benefits of study abroad programs, visiting China at this time in history offers a students a unique opportunity to look at what he calls “the most incredible economic growth story on record”, where 300-million people have been moved out of poverty over a few years. 

Students were most interested in how water management fits into China's phenomenal economic growth. For thousands of years, China's survival has depended on building dikes and dams to manage floods and irrigate farmers’ fields.  Student Niko Staple says before he went, he was skeptical of the China's centralized approach to managing their rivers. But he found that students he talked to there were unexpectedly open to learning from him about how Wisconsin manages its water resources, including how to best protect the environment.

In fact, talks are underway between Wisconsin and Chinese officials about how China might learn from Wisconsin's approach to cleaning up the Fox River. More university exchange projects are also in the works.

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Information from Wisconsin Public Radio, www.wpr.org