Trips to the United States are nothing new to many Chinese people but they are gaining an added momentum in recent years, as children from China have begun making such trips not only for fun, but also for educational purposes.

Zhu Weishan, an English teacher with a school in Beijing, recently finished a study tour to the US with his pupils.

About 50 pupils aged between 10 and 11 from his school participated in the month-long trip, enjoying the "rich English and culture classes" and a wide variety of sports a school in Michigan offered, as well as touring cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia, Zhu said.