SPIRIT OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
Yunnan Provence, SW China & Shangri-La, Tibet
The Linden Centre
Travel/Destination Workshop
with Douglas Beasley
March 16 – 29, 2025
‘South of the Clouds,’ also known as Yunnan, is a fabled land of breath-taking scenery, saffron-clad Buddhist monks, rich ancient cultures, and year-round spring-like weather. This region hosts an intersection of many of Asia’s leading traditions: Hindu beliefs from the west and the Khmer south, Confucian conventions from the northeast, Tibetan, Thai, and Burmese Buddhist teachings from the north and southwest. All of these cultures left a lasting impression on the local people and their unique iconography.
In Yunnan, we will touch the ‘old’ China that is elusive to most visitors and enjoy transformational experiences of a lifetime. We will photograph Taoist Temples (as well as temples with local gods unique to each village), gracefully decaying buildings, unique homes, elderly residents, exquisite landscapes, marketplaces, and ancient walled cities. Join us for a true immersion experience into authentic China.
This is an amazing journey to a beautiful, ethnically diverse corner of China that still has very few Western tourists. Our home base is the stunning Linden Center, an award-winning boutique hotel known for its service and level of accommodation.
The Linden Centre, (rated the top boutique hotel in China) offers a true immersion into authentic China. Guests reside in the private, expansive, and luxurious courtyard home in the heart of the pristine village of Xizhou, in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The facility, a nationally protected heritage site, has been restored to its former dynastic elegance but now includes a rooftop patio, a bar in the center of the compound, and wireless internet. Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, guests enjoy a year-round spring climate and direct access to rich, undisturbed cultures in a true melting pot of the region. We will touch the ‘old’ China that is elusive to most visitors and leave with enriching experiences that last a lifetime.
You can expect much fun, light-heartedness, and serendipity while learning from Doug how to better respond photographically to the world around you as well as how to make less generic, more personal travel images with feeling, meaning, and depth.
The high level of accommodation and transportation, the quality of our guides, and the gourmet meals made by our own chefs at the Linden Centre are all a part of the all-inclusive price, which even includes round trip airfare from Los Angeles. This will be Doug’s 10th year of doing this workshop (and maybe his last for awhile) so we strongly recommend you join us while this workshop is still available!
Linden Centre Accolades:
• Tripadvisor.com Hall of Fame
• China Hotel of the Year: Tripadvisor.com
• Top Small Hotel in China Tripadvisor.com
• CNN Top Heritage Hotel in China
• Travel and Leisure’s Global Vision Award
• Voyager Magazine’s Sustainable Tourism Award
View from the Linden Centre Rooftop Terrace
Who Should Attend: This workshop is open to all levels but students should have a good working knowledge of their camera and want to take their image making to a more meaningful and personal level. Both digital and film, in all formats, are welcome. This is also a perfect workshop to bring non-photographer partners or spouses. There will be plenty for them to enjoy and they are welcome to accompany us on all field trips.
Note: This workshop runs concurrently with the Open Air Places Retreat, “A Watercolor Journey in Yunnan” with Andy Evansen. It’s a perfect opportunity for couples or friends who want to share a trip but enjoy different arts. Find more information and registration for the watercolor retreat on the Open Air Places Retreat site.
DATES: 10 days in Mid March 2025 (Dates to be announced soon!)
CLASS LIMIT: 12
This one fills fast so best to sign up early before there is a waiting list!
COST: Will announce soon. (Last trip in 2019 was $4995.)
Includes: Round-trip airfare from L.A. (LAX), high-end lodging, all meals including Western & Eastern breakfast buffet, gourmet lunches, and dinners
This is always the highest value of any trip we offer.
($500.00 deposit paid directly to the Linden Centre)
REGISTRATION: Contact The Linden Centre
• View Doug’s photos from this workshop
• View Portfolios of Doug’s photography
Student Testimonials About This Workshop:
“This workshop is a tremendous value. The Linden Centre is impeccable and the workshop was life changing, even for a beginner like me. I would suggest you go now before the rest of the world discovers Yunnan Province and the price goes up!”
– Gary Bieniek, Saint Paul, MN
“Thank you for the wonderful trip to China! All aspects of the trip exceeded our expectations! Your pre-planning and on-the-ground leadership was outstanding. Doug¹s photography guidance was meaningful and spiritually significant. The Linden Centre and the other hotels are beautiful and comfortable. The Linden Centre staff is great, an important element of the trip. The food was great. We enjoyed our personal contacts with Chinese people throughout our trip. They are much more outgoing than I expected.”
– Al and Cynthia Johnson, Baileys Harbor, WI
“I can hardly believe that it’s only 14 days today since I said cheerio to you and ‘the gang’ in Shangri-la! I would like to thank you so very much for leading and being such a warm and generous guiding presence on our photo-journey. It was a pleasure to be on the receiving end of your thoughts, advice and suggestions, always offered in a calm soothing voice, so melodic and expressive, with a gentle cadence that made listening a pleasure!
Thank you also for welcoming our contributions and for creating an atmosphere that encouraged the sharing of thoughts, ideas and experiences that we could all learn from. I certainly feel as though I came away with more of a sense of trusting my instinct and of living in the moment. I still need to feel my way in terms of photographing people. If only everyone was as keen to have their photo taken as the children at the kindergarten!
The photo-journey was for me what I hope is the beginning of a voyage of self-discovery, or maybe just a welcome change from too much routine!
I felt that sense of community at the Linden Centre so strongly. What a wonderful place Jeanee and Brian have created and what insight, energy and commitment to believe it was possible. I also love the way they invite and work with other people and help them with their projects, businesses, studies and dreams, like the Tea & Horse caravan trail and the students from Shanghai International School. I had a strong sense that everyone who was there was meant to be there and that’s another reason why it is such a special place.
The whole Shangri-la hotel complex was just sublime, from the ginger tea welcome to the tapestry wall hangings in the restaurant and that wonderful feeling of entering a warm cozy room with a log fire and the hotel staff all dressed in their lovely long coats. Definitely somewhere to return to and soon I hope.
Thanks once again Doug for making our journey such a wonderful one. It was very special for me, so I am deeply grateful to you for following your heart and for encouraging me to follow my own.”
– Juliette Wiles, London, England
“The trip was absolutely incredible, far surpassing any expectations one could have. Doug is a great teacher and leader as always and the Lindens provided unlimited knowledge, passion, and access to a side of China rarely seen – its heart – through direct contact with families and communities living the old ways. For the cultural and photographic opportunity of a lifetime, race to nail your place in the next workshop!”
– Judy Nayer, New York, NY
