Peng Liyuan, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wife, met with a group of students and teachers from Sydney, Australia Tuesday afternoon at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in central Beijing.

In a merry atmosphere, Peng, together with the 11 girls and 5 teachers, watched a video recalling her visit to the Ravenswood School for Girls in Sydney in November 2014 during Xi’s state visit to Australia, and listened to the girls telling their experience over the past ten days in China.

Prior to Beijing, the girls went to Shanghai and Nanjing in east China, Chengdu in the southwest and Xi’an in the northwest.

They had conversations with students in Nanjing No.1 Middle School - a sister school of Ravenswood - took a high-speed train between Shanghai and Nanjing, saw pandas in a research base in Chengdu and the terra cotta warriors in the ancient city of Xi’an.
They also visited the Great Wall and the National Stadium, or the Bird’s Nest, the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Calling their visit "fruitful and rewarding," Peng said the girls not only saw the picturesque scenery of China and had a taste of the Chinese history and culture, but
also knew quite some Chinese friends.

"I hope the visit will help deepen your understanding of China," said Peng.

She encouraged the girls to make the best of their youth to study more and travel more, and continue to learn the Chinese language and culture so as to be "young ambassadors" and contribute greater share to the friendship between Chinese and Australian peoples.
Speaking highly of the booming development of education cooperation between the two countries in recent years, Peng expressed the hope that both sides can further expand two-way education cooperation in the hope of nurturing more successors to the cause of China-Australia friendship.

"As UNESCO Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls’ and Women’s Education, I am fully aware how important education is for all girls and the world," Peng said.

"We need to work together to ensure the equal access to education for all girls in the world so that they can enjoy a happy life," she said.

The students and teachers, headed by Deputy Principal David Garner, expressed their honor to receive Peng in 2014 and their excitement to be in China.

"There is no better way to learn the language, history and culture of a country than to visit that country, " said Garner.

Chloe Verman, a 10th grader, said she loved China more than ever through the visit.
"I have great interest in learning the Chinese language and history. I think I will come back to China one day,"she said in fluent Chinese.

During the gathering, the girls also sang the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in both Chinese and English.

Established in 1901, Ravenswood School for Girls is an independent day and boarding school for girls from kindergarten to grade 12.

As one of Australia’s leading girls’ schools, it set up a Confucius Classroom in 2014 to provide Chinese language education.

4月19日下午，中国国家主席习近平夫人彭丽媛在北京市中心的钓鱼台国宾馆接见了一群来自澳大利亚悉尼的师生。

在欢快的气氛中，彭丽媛和其它11位女孩和5位老师一起观看了一个视频，回忆起她在2014年11月随习近平主席出访澳大利亚时，访问Ravenswood女子学校的情景，她还听取师生们讲述了在中国这10天里的所见所闻、所思所感。

在到北京之前，她们先去了中国东部的上海和南京，中国西南部的成都以及中国西北的西安。

在南京，她们还和Ravenswood学校的姐妹学校——南京第一中学的学生们交流，还乘坐了上海到南京的高铁，在成都的研究基地亲距离接触了大熊猫，在古城西安参观了兵马俑。

在北京，她们登上了长城，访问了2008年北京奥运会主场馆、又被称为鸟巢的国家体育场。
彭丽媛称赞他们的本次访问“成果丰硕”，她表示，姑娘们这次不仅领略了中国优美的自然风光和悠久的历史文化，也结识了不少中国朋友。

她说，“我希望这次访问能加深你们对中国的理解。”

她鼓励姑娘们抓住美好的青春时光，读万卷书，行万里路，继续学习了解中文和中华文化，以成为“友好小使者”，为促进中澳两国人民友谊作出更大的贡献。