China Folk House

China Folk House

A farmhouse saved from a dam in Yunnan becomes a bridge of friendship in West Virginia.

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Our Pillars

China Folk House creates a space for experiential learning, people-to-people exchange, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.

Experiential Learning

By offering students an opportunity become fully immersed in their education, CFH captures the potential in experiential learning and community building. Through our programs, we empower students to engage in their own education and join our local community to build common ground. We give them a chance to be part of a big idea, and they respond with commitment, coming back year after year to build themselves into the China Folk House.

Cultural Exchange

China Folk House opens a bridge of people-to-people exchange and mutual understanding with China. We believe that cultural exchange can lead to transformative change at international, community, and individual levels. We are committed to providing accessible cultural exchange opportunities through our programs and exhibitions. 

Environmental Stewardship

Our strong sense of place and commitment to the wellbeing of future generations drives our programming around environmental stewardship. At China Folk House, we teach innovative and sustainable building practices and give students an opportunity to form a unique bond with the natural environment through our garden programs.  

Community Engagement

Our community is our backbone. From language teachers to timber framers to textile artists, everyone has a place at CFH. We work with the West Virginia Timber Framers Guild, homeschool groups, museums and civic organizations, and local volunteers to build community in underserved rural counties of West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. We enrich local cultural life by providing an experience of rural China.

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“No matter the tension between the two governments, people-to-people ties cannot be interrupted. This channel must maintain its civilian position and not be contaminated by political dust. Yunnan is a good choice to maintain a channel for people-to-people exchanges between the China and the United States because it was initially a critical connection in the history between the West and China”

Dao Feng He

President, Dao Feng & Angela Foundation

“I grew up in Yunnan, spending a large part of my life there, traveling throughout my hometown and often seeing similar traditional houses. However, it was only through my experience at the Folk House– learning about its architecture, its connections to local minority cultures, and the story of its owner, Jianhua Zhang– that I began to appreciate the deeper cultural, architectural, and social meanings of these houses, in my homeland.”

Jingyi Zhou

Vice-Chairman, Greater Washington Yunnan Association

Many dedicated donors have made the China Folk House possible

We are grateful to the Daofeng and Angela Foundation, the Bedrock Foundation, and Dalio Philanthropies for their outstanding generosity as leading supporters, as well as Kurt Campbell and Lael Brainard.

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