Harvard students visit Party newspaper in Beijing

About 30 Harvard students visited the offices of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, on Friday, capping a China tour designed to give them an overview of the country's politics and economy.

They learned about the newspaper's history, visited its new-media center and studio before attending a seminar with editors and officials.

The group was led by a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and it included students from various Harvard schools.

Their nine-day tour, which began on March 12, saw the students visit Alibaba in Hangzhou, the China Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai, the Development Research Center of the State Council in Beijing and other government organizations and historical sites in Nanjing and Beijing.

The tour was organized by World Youth Development Forum, an organization working to influence worldwide elites' understanding of China.

Anjali Thakkar, a MD/MBA candidate at Harvard Medical School/Harvard Business School, said China was very different from what she expected.

Liu Xi, founder of World Youth Development Forum, said, "When I was at Harvard, I found the bias towards China was mainly based on incomplete information and so we wanted to invite them in to learn about a real China and to promote mutual understanding."