As a representative of the Kenya overseas Chinese community, Han encouraged the students to serve as the bridge of the people to people exchange between the countries.

According Huang Peixi, the Chinese director of the Confucius institute, this is the first time that the university has sent a group of students to China to attend the summer camp.

Upon receiving the recruitment notice, 20 students from all departments at Moi University, who are also learning Chinese at the Confucius Institute, applied for the unprecedented opportunity to travel to China under the sponsorship of the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) in Beijing.

Ten were selected, based on their Chinese language level and their interest in China, after being interviewed by Huang and his Kenyan counterpart, Peter Simatei. Unfortunately, one of the students wasn't able to make the trip due to a family problem.

Machang'a Catherine, a sophomore studying tourism management, said the most attractive part of the experience is that the Kenyan students will not only study the Chinese language in China but also tour some famous landmarks, such as the Great Wall, the Palace Museum and Tian'anmen Square.

She believes the trip will be of great benefit to her because after graduation she wants to run a tourist agency geared to attracting more Chinese to visit Kenya and help the two peoples know each other better.

Huang said the students will arrive at Shanghai on Sunday and study at Donghua University for two weeks, where they will meet and talk with Chinese students there. Donghua University operates the Confucius institute with Moi University.