Chinese students taste life in West Gippsland

Ties between secondary schools in Baw Baw Shire and their Chinese sister city Jiujiang continued with a delegation of Chinese staff visiting local schools recently.

The Chinese delegation gained an insight into education in the region with tours at Drouin Secondary College, Warragul Regional College and St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School.

The delegation comprised four te4achers and 21 students.

Their visit included trips to Healesville Sanctuary and to a local dairy farm and a local apple farm.

A community dinner was held at Warragul Regional College prior to their departure.

Warragul’s sister city relationship with Jiujiang was established in December 1993, with the original emphasis on exchanging agricultural knowledge. Jiujiang’s municipal people government’s mayor Lin Binyang had extended a ‘sincere invitation’ to Baw Baw Councillors and officers to make a visit.

The Baw Baw Shire was the first international sister city for Jiujiang.

Annual educational exchanges commenced in February 1996, in which students and teachers from each municipality visit each other to build their knowledge of the other’s culture.

Jiangxi province, in which Jiujiang is located, has a recorded history dating back 22,000 years, covers an area of 18,000 square kilometres and is home to 40 million people.