There are more than 200,000 Chinese students studying in the US, more than from any other country. Since Obama announced the 100,000 Strong Initiative in 2009 to increase the number of American students studying in China, that number has reached 20,000 every year.

In Xi'an, an ancient city in northwest China, Mrs Obama will visit the Terracotta Warriors and the Walled City. In Chengdu of southwest China, she will deliver her second speech at a local high school, the No 7 School, and meet young people there. The high school is known for its technology and its reach beyond just Chengdu into the rural areas.

Tchen described all those activities as sending a strong message on the importance of education.

Tchen, a first generation Chinese American, believes the Chinese will also appreciate the fact that Mrs Obama will be traveling with three generations. "Chinese would appreciate the ties and bonds the Obama family has with one another across the generations," she said.

Mrs Obama announced her China trip on March 3. The next day, she visited the Yu Ying Public Charter School in Washington that is known for its Mandarin immersion program.

She has encouraged US students to follow her activities in China on a daily blog that she will be posting, complete with videos and photos, as well as answering questions from children across the US.

Mrs Obama learned a few Chinese phrases from the children at the school. Sasha, the younger daughter, had studied Chinese earlier, but is learning another language, according to Tchen.

Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the first lady's visit will emphasize issues that the US and China have in common, like education and family.

"Hopefully, it will help to slow or reverse the current trend, which is toward more negative opinions about each other, that is evident in recent polls," Glaser said.

Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the New York-based Asia Society, believes Mrs Obama's trip offers a symbolic expression of a genuine commitment on the part of the US to do everything it can to achieve some new breakthrough in relations.

"The first lady's upcoming personal visit to China is the perfect prelude to meeting between the US and Chinese presidents later in The Hague," Schell said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com