What does art teaching mean in the context of rural China and how are art classes a benefit for children? I grew up in an urban Chinese city and had opportunities for a good education that included the arts. In China, there is a big difference between rural and urban education, and there are many rural places without conditions to build schools and they to teach children in very poor environments. Some people in rural places have never heard about art education. I wondered how the arts could be taught in rural schools and what method would be most appropriate for the students. I began my research by asking: What occurs when an art curriculum based on expeditionary learning methods is facilitated in Chinese rural elementary schools? My participatory action research took place in a rural elementary school in Shuanghe Town, Sichuan Province, China. In Summer 2013 I spent 11 days with nearly 500 students in this school and I used the model lesson, "Austin's Butterfly" from the Expeditionary Learning Schools in the United States to teach 274 local students from Grades 1 to 5. I collected many different resources as my research data. I took photographs at the school, recorded my teaching videos, collected students' artwork, and conducted interviews with students and teachers. In order to understand the effect of my teaching directly, I asked the students to draw a butterfly before and after I used the teaching model. Also, I compared their drawings from different grades, hoping to figure out for which students the teaching method of Expeditionary Learning is suitable. Through my research, I found that the teaching method championed by Expeditionary Learning can effectively improve the quality of the education for children in China's rural areas. I also found that teachers need professional development in order to teach the arts well. A good art teaching model can help rural schools that are in dire need of assistance in their art education. After my research in a rural school, I now know more about local students' and teachers' real lives and the benefits of art classes in school. As a student engaging in educational research, I hope more people will strive to improve the quality of education for rural children in the future. I hope my research results could serve as reference materials to help others carry out further thinking and discussion.