Gabi Netter, a freshman at Yale University, said her knowledge of Chinese culture is limited to ordering sweet and sour shrimp from her local Chinese restaurant and checking out the "Made in China" tags on her clothes. That's all set to change next month when she, along with 99 of her schoolmates and teachers, make a special trip to China as the guests of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"I haven't been anywhere like China before. I will definitely have my eyes open and learn about the culture," Netter said, adding that she is looking forward to meeting her counterparts at Chinese universities.

Netter said it's her first trip to the Eastern hemisphere. The students are set to visit universities in three Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an. The group is visiting on a special invitation issued by President Hu in April 2006 during a visit to the Yale campus. Yale will pay for air travel and the Chinese Government will cover all other expenses during the trip.

Many Yale students in the group said the words of President Hu resounded with them during a speech given at Yale: "To enhance mutual understanding between young people and educators of the two countries, I announce with pleasure here that we have decided to invite 100 Yale faculty members and students to visit China."

Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College, said Hu's announcement was an exciting surprise for both the students and the faculty. Salovey will join the delegation to China. The trip is scheduled for 10 days, from May 15-25.

"I'm really looking forward to the trip and I think it will be a good opportunity for young people from Yale to get to know China," Yale President Richard C. Levin, who plans to lead the delegation, told reporters at a press conference on April 12.

Levin said that the firsthand experience with Chinese culture would help Yale students better understand and appreciate China's development, which could be a "very important contributor to developing strong and peaceful connections between the United States and China."

Levin also denied a rumor that a third-party group arranged President Hu's visit to Yale last year, telling reporters that all the invitation procedures went through the embassies of both countries.

According to Donald Filer, Director of the Office of International Affairs at Yale, the delegates will visit Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. They will have the opportunities to talk to Chinese government officials, interact with their university peers, tour major cultural and historical sites in the three cities and also meet local families in Xi'an.

Many Yale students and faculty applied for the trip, but only 100 were chosen. Filer said the selections were made on the basis of having not been to or spent any significant time in China. In addition, the selection process also placed an emphasis on diversity because organizers want to "get a group in total that very much show the diversity of Yale," he said.

The lucky 100 delegates who made the final cut include 62 students--mostly freshmen and sophomores--20 faculty members and 18 administrators and staff.

Not all of the delegates are unfamiliar with China. Two students are from China themselves. The two Chinese students are going to act as cultural bridges for the U.S. students. Yuan Ren, a Chinese junior from Beijing currently studying architecture at Yale, will be on the trip. Unlike Gabi Netter who is going to expand her knowledge of Chinese culture, Ren said he has different expectations for the trip.

"It's a great chance for me to show China to Yale," Ren told Beijing Review.

As president of Chinese Undergraduate Students at Yale, Ren said he was selected for the trip due to his organizational abilities. "I'm looking forward to showing my home country to fellow delegates," he said.

Ren said quite a number of people he has met on campus have a limited knowledge of China. His classmates also tend to believe that China is closed and rather conservative, he said, adding that he is looking forward to showing Yale students the true nature of China.

Now one month before the delegation leaves for China, preparations have already begun. Orientation classes have been held regularly to answer all the questions the delegates may have about China, said Fawn Wang, Assistant Secretary of Yale University. Wang is working with students to answer their questions or address their fears in advance of the trip.

Though this is the first time that a Yale delegation is expected to visit China at the invitation of Chinese president, the school has a long history of strong ties with China. The ties go back nearly 200 years when Yung Wing, the first Chinese national to earn a degree from an American University, graduated from Yale in 1854.

Yale now has 336 undergraduate and graduate students and 300 post-doctoral researchers and visiting scholars from China. They comprise the largest group of international students and researchers in residence at the university, Wang said.

(Reporting from New Haven)