The Nelson Branch of NZ China Friendship Society is hosting a group of two teachers and eight students from Liangyang Senior High School in Yangjiang, China, one of Nelson’s several sister cities.
The group is set to arrive on Wednesday, March 13.
The society, which has been operating for 60 years, aims to foster people-to-people links, through sister-cities, sister-schools, and friendship associations.
Its goal is to promote friendship by encouraging visits and exchanges of ideas, information, culture and trade between the two countries, and assists visiting students and new migrants from China requiring help to fit into New Zealand society.
The Nelson/Tasman exchange is a yearly reciprocal exchange, and a group of students from schools in Nelson and Tasman travelled to Yangjiang in April 2018.
Six students, including some from Waimea College and Garin College, spent 10 days early last year immersing themselves in the Chinese culture in Yangjiang, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province which has a population of nearly 2.5 million.
While there the students did activities such as lion dancing, martial arts, calligraphy and dumpling making. They spent time with the students of Liangyang Senior High School, sharing aspects of their culture and learning how daily life differed between the two countries.
This year’s group from Liangyang will visit several schools in the region, including Garin and Waimea colleges. The students will be hosted by local families.
They will also tour the newly-opened Pic’s Peanut Butter World, visit Oaklands Farm, camp overnight at Whenua Iti Outdoors, and tour the Abel Tasman and Nelson Lakes national parks.