When a group of students from the United States visited Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the sight of countless rows of containers and distant ships stretching beyond the horizon sparked a flood of thoughts.

For them, China, previously an abstract concept across the ocean, began to take on a clearer image.

"I never could have imagined all the things that I use were being made so far from where I live and the process of them getting to me…It really shows the important role China plays in the world… providing for other countries," said Annaliz Yazici, 18, from Santa Monica College in California.

"I was able to connect the dots between the port and the Yiwu market, where goods are wholesaled and then exported through the port to destinations around the world," said Kiara Verenice Flores, 18, who lives in Los Angeles and studies in Franklin University Switzerland.

Yazici and Flores, along with 18 other US students, visited the port in the Yangtze River Delta region of eastern China on July 21.