“Yunhe Centre is a base for nature education and community development projects located in the Tibetan village of Zhonglu. The Centre carries out different environmental & cultural education activities for young people, empowering the locals to become excited about their natural and cultural heritage, develop important skills, and finally run the Centre independently. We dream this Centre will become a continuous driving element in the sustainable development of the village. “
About us

Social Impact
As a social enterprise, Yunhe Centre dedicates itself to uplifting communities in rural Tibet. Through our variety of in-depth community development and cultural revitalization projects, we are paving a path of sustainability while embracing the beauty in tradition. We employ a holistic strategy to foster all aspects of the community, addressing issues such as environmental degradation, a decline in traditional knowledge and lack of communal health facilities. Through the efforts of our community workshops in traditional knowledge and career building as well as our sustainable development projects we are fostering the community’s capacity to succeed, revitalizing local tradition and paving the path to a future of sustainability.

Community
Located in the Zhonglu Tibetan village, the Yunhe Centre was created in response to the growing need to support vulnerable Tibetan communities who are experiencing depopulation and are at risk for over tourism development. We aim to provide a framework in which knowledge and ideas are shared, local resources are used efficiently and effectively, with efforts of centre’s staff, participants, local village neighbors, we are working together to inspire
And encourage each other to live purposeful live.

Green Architecture
The Centre is aiming to demonstrate a greener and more comfortable Tibetan architecture in modern times. Make full use of natural resources, reduce pollution to the environment, and make traditional house a low-carbon and eco-friendly green building thereby improving the overall ecological environment of the village.

Programs
The Yunhe Centre is a community-based centre rooted in the wisdom of the local culture. We not only provide opportunities for foreign children and adults to learn and understand local traditional culture, but also hope that local young people and children can understand their own culture and traditions through the activities of the Centre. In doing this, they can build confidence and love in local culture, return to home and ignite the dream of rural development
Our team

Jo-Ann Liu
Marketing & Business Partnership Director
Jo-Ann is responsible for overlooking the strategy and business development, monitoring and evaluating project activities of Yunhe Centre. Before joining Yunhe, she has been working over 10 years years with multinational companies, in business consulting, loyalty marketing initiatives and corporate relations.

Apple
Founder and Director of Yunhe Centre
Apple Liu is an advocate and practitioner of responsible travel in China. In 2004 she founded Dragon Expeditions and worked as a strong proponent for responsible travel in China ever since. In 2015, she founded the Yunhe Centre in Zhonglu as part of her devotion to supporting vulnerable nature reserve and communities she encountered in the Tibetan region in China. She is the expert invited by the Global Environmental Institute (GEI), to develop an eco-tourism development strategy for Sanjiangyuan Region, the first National Park in China. In 2017, she was invited as the only national park leadership training expert in China by the US Federal Government.
Apple Liu has got Wilderness Advanced First Aid Training Certificate by MMA(Wilderness Medical Associates)

Rong Yao
Co-founder and Chief Designer of Yunhe Centre
Rongyao is a professional urban planner; He is the co-founder and Chief Designer of the Yunhe Centre. Adhering to the concept of “overall design” and using the method of “experiential place design,” he is good at creating delicate and vivid public spaces and places. He has extremely rich experience in the control of structures and scales as well as the human space design. He has worked out a large number of wonderful works in community planning, science, and education parks, urban design, featured towns, village planning, and tourism planning. He is dedicated to contributing professional strength to the creation of towns and villages and the harmonious development with nature.

Xiaomei Liu
Executive Director of Yunhe Centre
Xiaomei Liu is the first Chinese winner of Rotary Foundation World Peace Fellowship and is working on the strengthening of local Chinese communities, support their cultural and environmental conservation. She has over six years of work experience in environmental protection and non-profit organization development before joining Dragon Yunhe. She has a passion for promoting nature education and workshops on sustainable community development.

Shuchin Shen
Director of Educational Programs of Yunhe Centre
Shuchin is the Director of Educational Programs of Yunhe Centre. A lifelong nature lover, she studied for a master in Environmental Art in Helsinki, Finland after obtaining her bachelor degree in Architecture Design. She has volunteered on a range of community construction projects, she participated in the reconstruction of the primary school affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and went to the small country of Swaziland to volunteer to build a local school. After joining the team, she has led young volunteers from more than ten different countries and regions to participate in community projects.

Jie(Tiger)
Art curator
“Tiger” is Yunhe’s resident art curator, and specializes in utilizing breathtaking visual mediums to convey powerful stories. His love for filming documentaries and exploring the wilderness has made him an invaluable asset to Yunhe’s mission. In 2014, he joined Dragon Expeditions with the goal of sharing his passion with younger generations by empowering them to appreciate the beauty of the natural world and work towards its preservation.

Lei Lu
Lei Lu graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2015, with a Master’s degree in Earth System Science. After work for enterprise for years, he has decided to switch his career in education field. He joined in the Dragon Expeditions in 2019, and became a nature educator. He expects he would guide children in the nature to explore the environmental science and local culture.

Tsering Dolma
Travel and culture guide
Dolma was born in Bomi, a little Tibetan gem hidden away in the Kham Batang. She is a guide and is experienced with hosting both Chinese and international tourists in all Tibetan areas, especially in Sichuan’s Tibetan autonomous prefectures, Aba and Garze. She is a gifted communicator, capable of speaking three dialects of Tibetan, English, Mandarin Chinese and basic Hindi. She first joined Yunhe last year and has diligently served us ever since, giving a much-needed insider perspective to the local culture of Kham Tibet.

Lingdang
Outdoor guide and nature educator
Lingdang has been a part of the Dragon Expeditions family since it’s very founding. She has served as a professional nature educator, alpine guide in China and France and is a junior learner of Leave No Trace (LNT). Also, she is a recipient of the WAFA certificate and is a certified mountain rescuer in China. She has more than 13 years’ experience of hosting both domestic and international tourists from different parts of the world and is an especially skilled chef.

Li Yue(Luna)
Nature educator
Li Yue is a enthusiast for everything natural. Having graduated with a masters degree in Environmental Ecology from the South China Botanical Garden at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, she is adept at understanding the lay of the land. She is particularly interested in botany and zoology and loves encountering new plant and animal species. Additionally, she is very interested in Chinese traditional culture and customs of Tibetan communities.

Dawa Chu
Dawa Chu is the head of logistics, community coordinator and serves as a guide at the Yunhe Centre. She is a local to Jiarong Tibet and is well versed in the local dialect as well as knowledge of local customs and history. Dawa graduated in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. Her hobbies include literature and dance and she is especially skilled in the local guozhang dance.

Veronique Qin
CSR Director
Trained to be a cultural anthropologist in KU Leuven (Belgium), she is curious about all human being and cultures in the whole universe. Years-long studying and working in China and Europe made her a global citizen. She has volunteered for one year in Golden Triangle area and worked in a charity foundation in Shanghai for 5 years as secretary general before joining Dragon Yunhe. Traveling back and forth between underdeveloped areas and Shanghai the super city, she is a strong supporter of social enterprise and believes in business for good. She also obtained two bachelor degrees in French and Law from Xiamen University, China.
We are learning Tibetan embroidery techniques from local women and then embroider our own pieces.
Join us now!
Read more
News

Education in Danba
December 18, 2019
With the help of both Danba Education Bureau and local school teachers, we’ve shared new optimized courses with 274 students from 6 classes, [Read More…] ...Read More

Nature Education Conference
November 6, 2019
On Friday October 25th, Yunhe Centre was invited as keynote speaker to the 3rd Nature Education Conference of China held at the Chengdu museum. We sha [Read More…] ...Read More

Study abroad opportunities for university students in California
September 11, 2019
Sep 11Early this month, a delegation of the Yunhe team was invited to discuss future partnerships in America; in particular, these partnerships wou [Read More…] ...Read More
Call for Volunteers !
Affiliation
Contact us
Find out more about the possibilities of working with us:
Phone: 028-85 08 27 70
Address: Room 2104, No. 8th East 5th section, 1st Ring road, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R.China
For partnership opportunities, please contact joann@yunhecentre.com, other enquiries please send to info@yunhecentre.com