Six teachers and 26 students, 12 from Red Cliffs Secondary College and 14 from Merbein P-10 College, will stay with families in China’s southern cities Dali, Kunming and Lijang.

Red Cliffs Secondary College principal David Browne said the trip was a combined effort between the two schools, which had both hosted Chinese students during a recent Sunraysia trip.

“The most important thing is for our students to experience life in China, both as a student but also as a tourist and a person living in China, so they can understand and appreciate the differences in culture,” he said.

“Also they’ll probably learn to appreciate their own way of life and how good things actually are in Australia.

“It’s something you don’t realise until you go somewhere else.”

Maddie Alessi, 15, from Merbein P-10 College, said she had stocked up on Tim Tams and Vegemite for her first overseas trip.

“I reckon it’ll just be a great experience,” she said.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Saturday’s Sunraysia Daily 04/09/2010.