Twenty-three Lehigh Valley and 15 Texas students left June 27 from the Tilghman Square Shopping Center, South Whitehall for a trip to China. The group left June 27 and returned July 13.

Barbara Campbell, former Parkland elementary teacher, and her husband, Tom, an engineer for Mack Trucks, led the People to People group.

While in China, they visited Shanghai where they had a breath taking view of the city on the glass sky walk of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the tallest in Asia and the third tallest in the world.

In Shanghai, the students visited with special education students, a silk factory and the City Construction Museum, where there are replicas of the city with its thousands of high rises.

The group also ex-plored the Bund area.

They traveled to Hangzhou, regarded as heaven on earth, by high speed train and climbed the Six Harmonious Pagoda.

While in Hangzhou, the group visited a local school and helped Chinese students practice their English skills.

The next stop was Wuzhen, a very picturesque water town, where they learned traditional techniques of garment dyeing.

They also played games with local students and viewed the town at night during a canal boat ride.

The group journeyed to Suzhou, a city in the middle of the Yangtze River.

The group practiced Chinese calligraphy at the Yipu Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the evening, they practiced their ping pong skills at a ping pong school. The People to People students were no match for the ping pong students.

The delegation re-turned to Shanghai and flew to Guilin, a picturesque city in the south of China.

This region is known for its natural beauty. The group explored caves by boat, rail carts and elevators.

This region has very unusual mountain ranges. The students visited a tea plantation and picked tea leaves.

The type of tea is determined by the part of the plant and number of leaves picked.

A highlight of the trip was staying with a Chinese family. The students and leaders stayed in a minority village. The Hongyan Village has 600 residents.

The ambassadors were greeted with a welcoming ceremony. They had to cross a bridge where each person was given a sip of tea and had their ear pulled and then jumped over bamboo sticks.

The students did a service project for the village by picking blemished persimmons so the remaining fruit would be of higher quality.

On their return from the home stay, the group floated down the Yulong River on a bamboo raft.

The group flew to Xi'an where they were greeted and given the key to the city at the city gate.

This ceremony is reminiscent of the Tang Dynasty welcoming foreign visitors. Xi'an was the original capital of China.

In the evening they enjoyed the Tang Dynasty show and dumpling banquet.

Xi'an is the location of the Terra Cotta Warriors museum. The warriors were discovered in 1974 by a group of villagers digging a well.

These life-size warriors were made 2,200 years ago for the emperor's army for protection in his after life.

From Xi'an the delegation took a 12-hour overnight train to Beijing, China's capital and home to 22 million people.

Their first stop was Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world.

While in Beijing, the delegates visited the Forbidden City, the world's largest and well preserved Imperial Palace.

Only members of the royal family were allowed in the city.

One of the highlights of the trip was walking the Great Wall of China. The group walked the Juyongguan section.

Another stop was a vocational school where the students practiced making dumplings and watching a tea ceremony.

The delegation visited a Chinese Kung Fu School where the students got to do Kung Fu with the masters. This school was used in the movie "Karate Kid" and its members performed at the 2008 Olympics.

The last day in Beijing was spent visiting the Beijing Zoo, where the group had a special tour and saw the pandas being fed.

They visited the old section of Beijing where they took a rickshaw ride and visited a home to see how a family lives.

The group also climbed the Drum Tower to watch a performance.

The delegation visited the Summer Palace, used to greet foreign visitors.

There the group took a boat ride on the lake.

Students from The Press coverage area included Devon Devers and Lauren Anderson from Northwestern Lehigh High School, Rachel Baker and Norma Lebron from William Allen High School, Sydney Cope and Brandi Scott-Braxton from Parkland High School, Patrick Golden and Robert Rapp from Salisbury High School, Jade Hayslip-Leo and Katrina Koch from Emmaus High School.

Other students were Nailah Blanchard, Mason Buskirk, Lanesa Cumberbatch, Jasmine Isaac, Jasmin Leath, Zemirah Moffett, Isaac Moodie, Caroline Peterson, Jillian Power, Zahiyah Roberts, Kristen Toppeta and Rachel Williams.

For more information about People to People, visit peopletopeople.com.