The 250-member University of Georgia Redcoat Band made a two-week concert tour of China, traveling to five Chinese cities May 15-27 at the invitation of the U.S.-China Cultural and Educational Foundation.

The tour included concerts and marching performances in Chengdu, Kunming, Xiamen, Changsha, Nanjing, Xizhou and Shanghai. The Redcoats and their directors had opportunities to interact with the musician counterparts at Yunnan University and Nanjing University.

“This was an extraordinary opportunity for our students to participate in what may be UGA’s most unique study abroad experience,” says David Romines, director of the Redcoat Band. It was through Romines’ professional association with Song Yang of the U.S.-China Cultural and Educational Foundation that the invitation came to pass.

“The Foundation in recent years has invited smaller groups, such as a wind ensemble from the University of Kansas, but this will be the first time a full American collegiate marching band has made a tour of China,” Romines said.

The trip for the Redcoat Band, which is a component of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, was approved by UGA’s Office of International Education as a “non-traditional” study abroad program, bringing the trip under UGA study abroad guidelines. The university already ranks eighth among American universities in the number of students who study abroad annually. The Redcoats are drawn from across the university representing a cross-section of UGA academic disciplines.

“This is unique in my experience,” says Judith Shaw, associate vice president for international education and director of UGA’s study abroad program. “I don’t know of another university that has sent this large a group of students on a two-week trip to China, much less a full-blown marching band with all its equipment and uniforms.”

In China, the band traveled by plane and bus. The performance venues ranged over an 1,800-mile distance from Beijing.