On April 7th 2017, 19 international students, under the organization of the Institute for International Education, attended the tourism and art festival in Puluzhou Village, Qingyuan City, in a bid to savor the rural life in China and have a real feel for its drastic changes in the new era.

The main arena of the festival, surrounded by pomelo trees, was infused with the alluring odor of pomelo flowers. Led by LI Jin, First Secretary of the village and two other officials, the international students had an opportunity to fully enjoy the scenic view along the local river in the tourist boats. What's more, they undoubtedly became a group of A-listers in the village and drew much of the spotlight, ceaselessly asked by many other tourists to take photos with them. The dynamic and "exotic" students and the innocent and amicable villagers together formed a congenial picture in no time.

A student gets a self-portrait

First Secretary LI Jin then introduced to the students the work related to poverty alleviation they have carried out since they came to office. He said many efforts have been made to increase the income of the poorest peasants and to improve the infrastructure and the public services in the village. Besides, the students also paid a visit to a neighboring village where they learned about silkworm.

Students listen attentively to LI Jin's speech

Students get to know silkworm

A student from Kazakhstan said, "We don't have chances to live a rural life because we usually just stay in Guangzhou. I want to engage myself more in such kind of activities." In fact, many of them also thought highly of this trip, since it was their first time to attend a rural tourism and art festival in China, which was filled with vitality and natural beauty. Having got the idea of the relative poverty-alleviation policies and local culture, they considered it a fruitful and worthwhile trip.

International students dine in a peasant's house

Group photos