The "10,000 college students visit Zhangjiagang" campaign kicked off in Yonglian village of Nanfeng town in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province on April 18.

Shao Junmin, vice-mayor of Zhangjiagang, extended a warm welcome to the visiting students and gave a brief on the city's tourist attractions.

The first stop for the students was Yonglian village, a modern and well-kept "model" settlement with advantageous economic benefits. The students said they were impressed by the village's natural beauty. Later, they visited the Tianzhuang old street in Fenghuang town and the Jiangnan Farming Culture Garden.

Meng Xin, a student from Hohai University who loves travelling said, "I have long heard that Zhangjiagang is a national civilized city and has won the Habitat Scroll of Honor Award. Now I have seen the city with my own eyes and its environment really fascinates me." He added that he would recommend Zhangjiagang to more of his friends as a place to visit.

"College students are vanguards of the new era. They are active in using new social media such as Weibo and WeChat, which can help raise Zhangjiagang's tourism profile," said Zhou Jianjiang, vice-director of Zhangjiagang tourism bureau. This is the first group of college students and the tourism bureau plans to invite more students to visit Zhangjiagang and promote its tourism, according Zhou.

Edited by Jacob Hooson