The East Asia Institute of Visual Anthropology (EAIVA) is the first institute for visual anthropological research and professional training. EAIVA is a joint Sino-German project between Yunnan University and the Institute fuer den Wissenschaftlichen Film (IWF), Goetingen, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation Germany. The preparation work started as early as 1994 and the EAIVA was established in 1998. The aim and objectives are: to establish and develop an institute of visual anthropology in China; to train professionals in visual anthropology; to provide them not only with the necessary knowledge in the theory and history of visual anthropology but also to give them a practical hands-on training in video-filmmaking so that they are able to produce their own ethnographic documentary films; to preserve and record vanishing cultural and ethnographical material with the help of modern digital visual technology.

From March 1999 to March 2003, EAIVA held two visual anthropology graduate training classes. Twenty students were trained to conduct practical fieldwork, film shooting and editing. With the instruction of the ethnographic film experts, they made sixteen films, four of which were selected by international ethnographical film festival in Goetingen, Germany in April 2000 and three of which were selected by eighth RAI international festival of ethnographical film scheduled in June 2003. During this period, EAIVA also offered a teaching professionals training program and held the visual anthropology summer school in August 2002.