US students showcase China through documentary

SAN FRANCISCO - A field trip to an ancient Chinese town has changed the stereotyped impression of China held by a group of American students and gave them an opportunity to better understand the country, a veteran film director said on Sunday.

Last year, a group of 18 students from the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University made a life-changing, three-week journey to Huizhou in eastern China's Anhui province, to shoot a documentary about China using information they collected locally, says Duffy Wang, a film director and the president of San Francisco-based TV company D3 Productions.

He says the students' first trip to China quickly got rid of some of the misconceptions they previously held, such as China being a backward or an unsafe country, which is sometimes suggested by US media reports.