Visiting foreign Mandarin learners get a taste of China

Luise Maralda Senst, an 18-year-old college student from Germany, cooked and dined with a Chinese family. She also learned some words from the dialect of the Bai ethnic group. "It was so much fun," she said.

Senst said she has been learning Mandarin for three years and that she has progressed quickly because she has received help from an aunt who is Chinese. A Sinology major at her college, she said she will "definitely study in China for at least a year".

Satawat Phansankor, a 16-year-old from Thailand, said he is impressed by the unique way that Bai people drink tea with guests, who are offered three kinds in a sequence: the first is a bitter tea; the second is a sweet tea with red sugar, rushan cheese and cinnamon; and the third is a tea mixed with honey, Sichuan peppers and walnuts. "Just like life, it's bitter before it's sweet, and then slowly becomes savory," he said.

Phansankor said he was also impressed by the electronic flower auction hall at the Dounan Flower Market. "It looks like a stock exchange," he said. "I heard that over 4.5 million fresh flowers are traded here every day, and some of them will be exported to my country."

He added his dream is to become a successful businessman, so he also wanted to obtain some business knowledge in China.